Ordinals and meme coins cripple Bitcoin network, core developer claims

Bitcoin (BTC) Core developer Luke Dashjr has voiced his discontent with the current state of the blockchain, which the growing popularity of meme coins and Ordinals has clogged up.

Dashjr has urged action against the trend, which he believes should have been addressed months ago.

In an email to the community, Dashjr argued that “spam filtration has been a standard part of Bitcoin Core since day one” and that existing filters should have been extended to Taproot transactions. He argued that this was a bugfix, so waiting for a significant release was unnecessary.

However, the reaction to Dashjr’s call to action has been mixed. Some have argued that meme coins and Ordinals benefit BTC miners as transactions and fees have surged due to increased block space demand. Others have dismissed Dashjr’s comments as those of a highly ideological Bitcoin developer.

Bitcoin faces the Ethereum moment

The current situation is untenable for those wanting to use Bitcoin as digital money. Daily BTC network transactions have surged to record highs of over 600,000, according to Bitinfocharts, driving up the price of using the blockchain. Transaction fees surged as high as $30 on May 8 and 9, and the network remains crippled.

The total fees per block have temporarily exceeded the subsidy reward of 6.25 BTC for the first time in six years, exacerbating the problem. Meanwhile, meme coins and Ordinals continue to grow in popularity, with the total market capitalization of BRC-20 tokens surpassing $1 billion on May 9.

The divisions in the Bitcoin community are not new, and it appears that Bitcoin is having an “Ethereum moment,” with fees higher than those on the Ethereum chain. The situation has led some to question Bitcoin’s ability to function effectively as digital money in the long term.