Bitcoin Ordinals haven’t wrestled blockspace from money TXs: Glassnode

Despite concerns that Bitcoin Ordinals are clogging the network, determination is small grounds to suggest inscriptions are taking blockspace distant from higher-value Bitcoin (BTC) monetary transfers.

“There is minimal grounds that inscriptions are displacing monetary transfers,” on-chain analytics steadfast Glassnode explained successful a Sept. 25 report.

The steadfast explained that this is apt due to the fact that inscription users thin to acceptable debased interest rates, expressing willingness to hold longer periods of clip for confirmation.

“Inscriptions look to beryllium buying and consuming the cheapest disposable blockspace, and are readily displaced by much urgent monetary transfers.”

Bitcoin Ordinals were introduced successful Feburary 2023, and person since accounted for the lion’s stock of web activity erstwhile it comes to regular transaction count.

However, this hasn’t needfully been reflected successful its stock of mining fees, with inscriptions lone attributing to astir 20% of Bitcoin transaction fees, Glassnode noted.

Inscription interest stock betwixt images, text, audio, video and different information types connected Bitcoin. Source: Glassnode.

More inscriptions means much gross — but there’s a catch

While inscriptions person strengthened the base-load request for blockspace and accrued fees for miners, Glassnode says Bitcoin’s hashrate has besides accrued 50% since February.

This has resulted successful tougher contention for miners looking to swoop successful connected gross fees, says Glassnode:

“With utmost miner contention successful play, and the halving lawsuit looming, it is apt that miners are connected the borderline of income stress, with their profitability to beryllium tested unless BTC prices summation successful the adjacent term.”

Bitcoin is presently priced astatine $26,216 but galore manufacture pundits expect some grade of terms appreciation successful the lead-up to Bitcoin’s halving lawsuit scheduled for April 2024.

Related: Bitcoin Ordinals creator Casey Rodarmor pitches BRC-20 alternate ‘Runes’

Currently, astir inscriptions travel arsenic a effect of BRC-20 tokens, which were introduced 1 period aft Casey Rodamor launched the Ordinals protocol connected Bitcoin successful February.

On Sept. 25, Rodarmor pitched “Runes” arsenic a imaginable alternate to BRC-20s, suggesting that a UTXO-based fungible token protocol wouldn’t permission arsenic overmuch “junk” unspent transaction outputs connected the Bitcoin network.

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