By Danny Yang
Ordinals, an innovative protocol introduced to Bitcoin in early 2023, has sparked a surge in the creation and trading of digital artifacts on the Bitcoin blockchain. This protocol has revitalized the Bitcoin developer community and heralded the beginning of a new era in Bitcoin’s evolution.
Background
Bitcoin’s security and decentralization have always been its core strengths, but transaction fees had been relatively low due to the diminished demand for sending Bitcoin transactions. However, the impending halving of block rewards in 2024 threatened to significantly reduce miner revenue, prompting the search for new ways to support miners.
Ordinals emerged as a solution, driving up the demand for Bitcoin transactions. To date, over $100 million (USD) has been spent on transaction fees solely for creating inscriptions, a type of digital artifact made possible by Ordinals.
Key Points:
- Ordinals is a protocol that allows the creation and storage of digital artifacts on the Bitcoin blockchain.
- Ordinals has reinvigorated the Bitcoin developer community, leading to the creation of new tools and applications.
- The NFT market on Bitcoin is rapidly catching up to those on other blockchains due to Ordinals.
From NFTs to Digital Artifacts
Ordinals has evolved the concept of NFTs, which were initially certificates representing ownership of digital items stored off-chain.
With Ordinals, digital items can now be stored directly on the Bitcoin blockchain, creating true digital artifacts that inherit Bitcoin’s renowned security and immutability. These artifacts are complete, ownable, uncensorable, and permissionless, providing a unique and secure way to own and trade digital assets.
The Ordinal Protocol
The Ordinal Protocol comprises three core concepts:
- Satoshi (sat): The smallest unit of bitcoin, which Ordinals assigns a unique number to, allowing each satoshi to be tracked through every Bitcoin transaction.
- Inscription: The data asset that is written onto the Bitcoin blockchain, known as an Inscription.
- Mapping of ownership: The mapping of an Inscription’s ownership to a unique satoshi, establishing ownership of both the Inscription and the satoshi.
The Importance of Community
The success of Ordinals cannot be separated from the vibrant community that has grown around it. Galaxy Digital reports a total trading volume of $596.4 million (USD) for Ordinals in the first 8 months of 2023, projecting a market capitalization of $5 billion (USD) by 2025.
The resurgence of the Bitcoin developer community, which had been overshadowed by other blockchains in recent years, has been instrumental in the growth of Ordinals.
One notable example is OnChainMonkey (OCM), an NFT community that migrated from Ethereum to Bitcoin due to the innovative possibilities offered by Ordinals. OCM’s core values of Respect, Integrity, Sustainability, and Enrichment align with the ethos of the Bitcoin community.
OCM Genesis: A Pioneering Digital Artifact
OCM Genesis, originally created as art on Ethereum in 2021, was inscribed as a digital artifact on Bitcoin in early 2023. Its inscription number, 20219, represents the year and month of its initial creation.
Inscription 20219 holds the distinction of being the first instance of 10,000 images from a collection inscribed on Bitcoin, pioneering the use of Parent-Child Provenance and Recursive Inscriptions. These techniques are crucial for ensuring the traceability and efficiency of digital assets on Bitcoin.
OCM Dimensions: Redefining Generative Art
OCM Dimensions, launched in 2023, is a prime example of the innovative applications of Ordinals. It was the first to inscribe javascript libraries for compression and 3D graphics, paving the way for others to create complex interactive inscriptions.
OCM Dimensions also showcased the power of generative art on Bitcoin, utilizing the satoshi number to generate unique art pieces. Its high-resolution 3D animated interactive inscriptions achieved file sizes below 500 bytes, demonstrating the optimization capabilities of Ordinals.
tab.classList.add('active') document.getElementById(tab.dataset.tab).style.display = 'block' }) })
Author: Danny Yang
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine. Credit and rights belong to MigBase.com.