Bitcoin Core developer calls Ordinals ‘fraud,’ announces fix

Dec 6, 2023 at 9:37 AM UTC

Edited by Dorian Batycka

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Bitcoin Core developer calls Ordinals ‘fraud,’ announces fix

With a new set of upgrades, Bitcoin Core developer Luke Dashjr hopes to put an end to BRC-20 tokens as well as Bitcoin-based NFTs.

The Bitcoin (BTC) network is about to undergo a set of upgrades, which are expected to essentially put an end to BRC-20 tokens as well as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) known as Bitcoin Ordinals minted on the network.

In an X post on Dec. 6, 2023, Bitcoin Core developer Luke Dashjr said that a loophole in the Bitcoin blockchain made it possible for users “to spam the blockchain,” calling Inscriptions — a way of storing metadata on the blockchain — a “bug.”

PSA: “Inscriptions” are exploiting a vulnerability in #Bitcoin Core to spam the blockchain. Bitcoin Core has, since 2013, allowed users to set a limit on the size of extra data in transactions they relay or mine (`-datacarriersize`). By obfuscating their data as program code,…
— Luke Dashjr (@LukeDashjr) December 6, 2023

While no timetable has been set, Dashjr said Bitcoin Core is expected to fix the “vulnerability” before v27 next year. And it appears Dashjr’s “crusade” against Inscriptions divided the crypto community, with some saying the efforts made by Bitcoin developers are unlikely to be supported by miners.

You went the ad-hominem route.

I prefer #Bitcoin pure and just being money, we're aligned there.

Still, your argument about miners forefiting profit is simply wrong.
— D. Petkovski (@petkovskix) December 6, 2023

However, Dashjr appears to be standing his ground, saying that NFTs on the Bitcoin network “never existed” in the first place, calling them all “fraud.”

Bitcoin Core developer calls Ordinals 'fraud,' announces fix - 1 — Bitcoin mempool since 2022 | Source: Mempool

According to data from Mempool.space, the Bitcoin network got overloaded since February 2023, a few weeks after Bitcoin Ordinals were first launched on the network by developer Casey Rodarmor. Yet, despite technical issues, Bitcoin-based NFTs turned out to be pretty much profitable for miners as the total amount of Ordinals fees has come close to $150 million, as per data from Dune.

Bitcoin Ordinals are non-fungible asset artifacts that enable the inscribing of data onto a satoshi, the smallest division of a Bitcoin. Since its launch in January 2023, the protocol has seen the inscription trend take off, leading to thousands being minted on the Bitcoin network. This has caused congestion and spikes in transaction fees, reaching a peak in April and May 2023.