Ordinals, a pressure cooker – Since the start of 2023, and all the more so this month of May, the word Ordinals is on everyone’s lips. Network activity Bitcoin hasn’t been this intense for a long time. The proof by the numbers. Focus on the boiling volcano hidden behind the flat calm of the bear market.
Bitcoin on the front of the chain with BRC-20 tokens
The Bitcoin blockchain, ancestor of cryptos, which some considered immutable, described as old-fashioned, even outdated, has just, in this month of May, silenced them all. For better and for worse, by the way. Immutable, Bitcoin is always more or less so. But, something new has appeared.
Admittedly, the creation of Ordinals had already been possible for quite a while. Whether it’s NFT where the famous BRC-20 tokens recently emerged from the bowels of the Bitcoin blockchain. The real novelty of the last few months, on the other hand, are the tools. Their accessibility, above all. Suddenly creating a BRC-20 token on Bitcoin, a nod to ERC-20 tokens on Ethereum, becomes very simple. In fact, everyone wants to try it.
In addition to NFT collections of this beginning of the year, then begin to appear many new tokens, more or less relevant. Often less than more, moreover. Except that all this little world needs transactions to exist. Using the mother blockchain has a cost, and the Bitcoin network makes this known. Those who are delighted in the story are Bitcoin miners, obviously. Those who didn’t expect so much after a particularly difficult end to 2022. The months following the fall of FTX have undermined the BTC reserves of these companies on the verge of bankruptcy. We can say that it was worth gritting your teeth until 2023.
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Ordinals Boosts Transaction Fees To Delight Bitcoin Miners
In fact, in May, transaction costs represented not far from 15% the total amount of reward a miner receives after successfully validating a block. A percentage out of proportion with previous months, according to data from our colleagues from The Block.
And when we talk about increased fees, that’s saying something. It is even more of an understatement. Explosion would be fairer. This percentage, which literally soared in May, had not been seen since April 2021. That is to say at the peak of the previous bull run when Bitcoin reached the $60,000. Today, in the midst of a dead crypto calm, rebelote. The contrast is striking.
Ordinals: fleeting hype or real underlying trend?
In fact, throughout May, Bitcoin continued to be the most widely used blockchain in terms of NFT transaction, just behind Ethereum. Thus crushing blockchains like Solana or Polygon. THE bitcoin frogs generated over $2 million in volumes. This NFT collection on Bitcoin has even exceeded the trading volume of the monkeys of the world by one day. Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC)the flagship collection of Ethereum.
Proof by Ordinals: accessibility is key
Without seeming to touch it, this phenomenon highlights the real key to crypto adoption. The Holy Grail sought by all aficionados who try against all odds to convince their neighbors, friends, families to take a look at this sector so decried by the media, bludgeoned by prejudice. The key ? There simplicity of tools. Ease of access. When the distance that separates the general public from the crypto world is just a tap on their phone screen, then the fight will be won. Because between freedom and simplicity, people very often choose simplicity.
However, the very essence of Bitcoin, and to a lesser extent of cryptos via the emergence for example of the DeFi (Decentralized Finance), it’s freedom. The absence of censorship. Return to property rights. This freedom must now dress in simplicity. Today, that marriage takes the form of BRC-20 tokens on Bitcoin.
Some see this movement as a threat, others as the free right to use all the means of creation that the Bitcoin blockchain makes available. Technically, however, the creation of these tokens remains more or less a “ DIY which uses detours of Bitcoin’s mechanism not intended for this purpose. The future will therefore tell us if this craze for BRC-20 tokens is a simple passing wave or a real tidal wave ready to register over time and capable of convincing. Bitcoin’s staunchest critics such as Peter Schiff.
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