- The Bitcoin community is divided on the impact of the Ordinals NFT project on the Bitcoin blockchain
- Some think it brings more use cases to Bitcoin while others say that Bitcoin wasn’t built for that kind of project
- Ordinals are taking up block space raising fears of a possible increase in gas fees
The Bitcoin community is divided on the impact of the Ordinals NFT project on the Bitcoin blockchain. Some consider the project as a way to expand Bitcoin (BTC) use cases while others think Satoshi Nakamoto wouldn’t be happy to see a digital collectibles project on a platform originally meant for cash transfers. Other BTC supporters lament that the NFT project is taking up too much block space, raising fears of a possible increase in transaction fees across the blockchain.
Use Case Increases, But at What Cost?
A BTC maximalist Dan Held supported Ordinals’ presence on the Bitcoin blockchain noting that it’s good for the BTC-powered protocol since it increases BTC’s use cases. However, he observed that this is likely to come at a cost since more block space usage can translate to congestion on the network hence a rise in transaction costs:
Why it’s good:
– Brings more financial use cases to Bitcoin
– Drives more demand for block space (aka fees)My take:
– If you pay a tx fee, it’s not spam.
– Bitcoin is permissionless. Can’t stop anyone from building it anyway.— Dan Held (@danheld) January 29, 2023
Those against Ordinals finding a home on Bitcoin claim that it can be used by deep-pocketed individuals to sideline small-scale BTC investors by using Ordinals as a status symbol. Commenting on the use of Ordinals as a status symbol, a Twitter user argued that that was impossible because “Bitcoin does not discriminate […] and there is nothing even maxi[malists] can do about it.”
“Sheer Waste” of the Bitcoin Blockchain
Bitcoin core developer Adam Back contributed to the discussion expressing his disapproval of having Ordinals on the Bitcoin blockchain. According to Adam, although Bitcoin is “censor resistant,” having the NFT project on the platform is a “sheer waste” of the blockchain due to its storage inefficiency:
“you can’t stop them” well ofc! bitcoin is designed to be censor resistant. doesn’t stop us mildly commenting on the sheer waste and stupidity of an encoding. at least do something efficient. otherwise it’s another proof of consumption of block-space thingy.
— Adam Back (@adam3us) January 29, 2023
Although Bitcoin is censorship resistant, it’s unclear what will happen to NFT projects on Bitcoin now that even Bitcoin core developers are on the opposing side.
