Bitcoin Ordinals Don’t Fight Money TXs: Glassnode Blockspace.
Despite fears that Bitcoin Ordinals is clogging up the network, there is little evidence to suggest that cryptography is taking over the blockspace from high-value Bitcoin (BTC) remittances.
“There is little evidence that blockchains are displacing financial transactions,” on-chain analytics firm Glassnode explained in its September 25 “The Week On-Chain” report.
The firm explained that this could be because the writing algorithms set users lower payment rates, expressing their willingness to wait longer for confirmation.
“Graphics seem to be buying and consuming the cheapest blockspace, and are easily displaced by more urgent money transfers.
Bitcoin Ordinals were introduced in February 2023 and since then have accounted for the lion's share of network activity in terms of daily transaction counts.
However, this isn't necessarily reflected in the share of mining fees, with scripts accounting for around 20% of Bitcoin transaction fees, according to Glassnode.
More articles mean more income – but there's a catch
As inscriptions bolster blockchain demand for baseload and increase miners' fees, Glassnode says Bitcoin's hashrate has increased 50% since February.
This has led to more competition for miners looking to earn revenue, says Glassnode:
“With intense mining competition in the game and the halving event looming, miners may be under income stress, unless their profitability increases in the near term and the price of BTC increases.”
Bitcoin currently trades at $26,216, but many industry experts expect some level of price appreciation upon the Bitcoin halving event scheduled for April 2024.
Related: Bitcoin Ordinals Creator Casey Rodermore Introduces BRC-20 Alternative ‘Runes'
Currently, most of the articles are due to BRC-20 tokens, which were introduced in February, a month after Casey Rodermore launched a standard protocol on Bitcoin.
On September 25th, Rodermore listed “Runes” as an alternative to BRC-20s, suggesting that a funnel token protocol based on unused transaction output will not leave much “garbage” unused transaction output on the Bitcoin network.
Magazine: Blockchain games aren't exactly decentralized… but that's about to change.
