Sales of Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have witnessed a notable uptick this past week, climbing 11.62% to hit 2.02 million over the previous seven days. The most significant transaction was the sale of the ‘Alien’ Cryptopunk #3,100, donning a headband, for million, with Bitcoin-based NFTs claiming the lead in sales volume across 22 different blockchains. […]
Bitcoin News
Ex-President Trump Launches Limited Edition Cards on Bitcoin Blockchain via Ordinal Technology
The ex-45th President of the United States has been engaged in the sale of digital trading cards for a considerable period. On Thursday, the official account for the trading card enterprise announced the launch of Trump cards that are crafted using the Bitcoin blockchain’s Ordinal inscription technology. The creators of this venture have stated that a mere 200 units of the Trump Digital Trading Cards Mugshot Edition Bitcoin Ordinals “will ever exist in the world.”
Trump Reveals Exclusive Bitcoin Ordinal Inscribed NFT Trading Cards
Trump’s collectible non-fungible token (NFT) trading cards are set to debut on Bitcoin. This news comes from the official X account, known as ‘Collect Trump Cards,’ which shared this information on Thursday afternoon. “Trump Digital Trading Cards on Bitcoin Ordinals. The first ever Trump Trading Cards on Bitcoin,” the account said. “Great news collectors. When you purchase 100 Trump Digital Trading Cards using crypto (WETH) on collecttrumpcards.com Mugshot Edition, you also get a one-of-one Trump Digital Trading Card. Your one-of-one card will be minted as a Bitcoin Ordinal.”
The announcement comes in the wake of the ex-president’s December 2023 introduction of the new NFTs, where it was revealed that purchasers of 47 Mugshot Edition collectibles would acquire a piece of the suit Trump donned for his mugshot photograph. Subsequently, it emerged that, in the same month he unveiled this new card series, Trump had reportedly sold 1,325 ether, amounting to million. Screenshots of the “congratulations” message, received upon the purchase of 100 cards, have been circulating on social media. This message highlights that Bitcoin Ordinals represent a distinctive method for data embedding.
“Bitcoin Ordinals are a new innovative way to inscribe data, such as art, collectibles, or Trading Cards, onto the Bitcoin blockchain,” the message notes. Donald Trump has expressed mixed opinions about bitcoin in the past. “I am not a fan of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air. Unregulated crypto assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity,” Trump wrote on July 11, 2019. Suddenly, in December 2022, Trump chose to debut the first collection of collectible NFT cards.
Initially minted on the Polygon blockchain, the NFTs saw their next phase in mid-April 2023 when the former president unveiled his second collection of NFT cards. Trump’s cards consistently provide rewards such as opportunities to have dinner with Trump at Mar-A-Lago or to play golf alongside him. Currently, the website displays images of collectors who have secured some of these coveted prizes. Incorporating the mugshot photograph NFTs into the Bitcoin blockchain as Ordinal inscriptions represents yet another distinctive reward in the series.
What do you think about Trump’s latest move toward minting his digital cards on the Bitcoin blockchain? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.
Bitcoin’s Ordinal Inscriptions Soar Beyond 55 Million, Achieving Third Highest Daily Record
Following the weekend, the tally of Ordinal inscriptions on the Bitcoin blockchain surpassed 55 million. Notably, on Jan. 13, 2024, the blockchain witnessed its third-highest day of inscriptions, settling an impressive 477,751 inscription-based transactions on Saturday. Additionally, from the inception of the first inscription in December 2022, bitcoin miners have amassed 6 million worth of bitcoin, capitalizing on this growing trend.
Miners Net 6 Million From 55 Million Inscriptions
From Dec. 28, 2023, to Jan. 12, 2024, the pace of daily Ordinal inscriptions on the Bitcoin blockchain moderately decelerated. However, a surge occurred on Saturday, Jan. 13, marking a record-breaking number of daily inscriptions. This date became the third-largest in terms of inscriptions, with an impressive 477,751 added to the blockchain. That day, approximately 652,483 transactions were processed, with inscriptions comprising a notable 73.22% of all miner-confirmed transfers.
Continuing the trend, on Sunday, Jan. 14, 2024, the blockchain saw another substantial 446,783 inscriptions being incorporated into the distributed ledger system. This indicates that, of the 591,806 verified transfers, a substantial 75.49% were inscription-based. Furthermore, following these two record-setting days, the total number of inscriptions impressively exceeded the 55 million threshold this weekend. Among these inscriptions, miners have accumulated a total of 5,750 BTC, valued at 6 million, based on the current BTC exchange rates.
Around .7 million in fees from inscriptions were paid to miners on Jan. 13 and the following day, miners accrued another .94 million. Bitcoin miners are reaping the benefits from fees paid by inscriptions and on Dec. 16, 2023, miners nabbed .9 million in fees. Moreover, the number of inscriptions per block has increased a great deal as minters have learned ways to fit in as many as possible. Data further shows that there are 278,296 recursive inscriptions on the chain as well.
Recursive ordinal inscriptions entail retrieving and incorporating data from existing inscriptions to craft new ones. In the realm of Ordinal inscriptions traded on non-fungible token (NFT) markets, Bitcoin has taken the lead in the past 30 days, boasting 9.53 million in digital collectible sales. Ethereum, previously the frontrunner in NFT blockchain, recorded 1.18 million in sales during the same period. Yet, on a weekly basis, BTC’s lead is marginal, with sales of .68 million, narrowly surpassing Ethereum’s .42 million.
What do you think about Ordinal inscriptions surpassing the 55 million mark and the third highest day of inscriptions on record? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.
Less Than 15,000 Blocks to Halving: ETF Hopes and Ordinal Inscriptions Serve as Life Preserver for Bitcoin Miners
As of Jan. 9, 2024, fewer than 15,000 blocks remain before the fourth Bitcoin halving event. This milestone will halve the block reward from 6.25 to 3.125 bitcoins per block. Expected to occur in April 2024, this event will render bitcoin increasingly scarce. However, it may exert considerable pressure on miners, seeing their earnings cut by 50% following the halving.
2 Key Trends Buoy Miners Ahead of 2024 Milestone
The Bitcoin halving event is approaching and is estimated to be just over 100 days away, assuming block times maintain their average of ten minutes. Current statistics, as of this writing, indicate that 14,981 blocks remain until the halving.
This upcoming event marks the fourth halving; the first occurred on Nov. 28, 2012, followed by the second on July 9, 2016, and the third on May 11, 2020. Before these halving epochs, especially preceding the 2016 and 2020 events, certain skeptics of bitcoin predicted a ‘mining death spiral’ accompanied by substantial miner capitulation.
In the past, bitcoin detractors have claimed that a mining death spiral could occur post-halving due to reduced block rewards. They argue that this decrease in profitability may lead to miners exiting the network en masse, resulting in a drop in hashing power, slower transaction times, and potential security vulnerabilities, thus destabilizing the entire Bitcoin network.
However, a 2020 research study by Coinshares dismissed these concerns as “highly theoretical edge cases without any historical real-world precedent.” As the 2024 halving nears, these once-prominent theoretical concerns have significantly diminished.
Up to this point, two key developments have enhanced the earnings of bitcoin miners: the anticipation of a U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) approval and the burgeoning Ordinal inscription trend. Mining revenue saw a substantial rise throughout 2023 and this trend has persisted into the new year.
The positive sentiment surrounding the potential approval of a spot bitcoin ETF has boosted BTC’s value, consequently increasing the network’s hash price. The surge in activity, coupled with the popularity of Ordinal inscription minting, has significantly raised transaction fees. If these trends persist, miners might not experience a significant impact from these changes.
Although current fees are lower than last month, they remain notably higher than the same period last year. The potential approval of an ETF has led crypto enthusiasts to anticipate significant demand for bitcoin from these publicly traded funds, potentially maintaining BTC’s high price for an extended period.
As with previous halvings, the outcome remains uncertain, and bitcoin miners have historically operated under tight conditions. However, major mining operations with substantial capital are scaling up their hashrate significantly by acquiring thousands of advanced mining rigs.
With these more efficient miners and increased hashrate outputs, coupled with the potential price support from an ETF and higher fees due to inscriptions, bitcoin miners are expected to remain resilient, similar to their experience during the past three halving events.
What do you think about the upcoming Bitcoin halving event? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.
Bitcoin Celebrates One Year of Ordinal Inscriptions With 48 Million Mark Hit, Signaling Longevity Despite Ongoing Debate
On Dec. 15, 2023, a significant milestone was achieved in the Bitcoin blockchain world, just a day shy of the anniversary of the first Ordinal inscription. The total count of Ordinal inscriptions has impressively hit the 48 million mark. Despite initial skepticism about their longevity, these inscriptions have not only persisted but now make up half of all BTC transactions confirmed daily.
Bitcoin Marks 1st Anniversary of Ordinals: 48M Milestone Achieved
2023 has seen Ordinal inscriptions gain immense traction, significantly impacting Bitcoin’s ecosystem and vying with other blockchains in the non-fungible token (NFT) space. This journey began almost a year prior, on Dec. 16, 2022, marking the creation of the first-ever Ordinal inscription on Bitcoin’s distributed ledger.
These Ordinal inscriptions are a sophisticated process that transforms a satoshi, Bitcoin’s smallest unit, into a distinct digital asset. Key network upgrades, notably the Segregated Witness (Segwit) protocol in 2017 and the Taproot upgrade in 2021 have been instrumental in making these inscriptions viable.
Particularly, Taproot’s introduction enabled more intricate transactions and the integration of additional data within a transaction. The essence of the Ordinal inscription process lies in embedding the digital asset’s data into the transaction’s witness section, thereby converting satoshis into unique, non-fungible entities.
This innovative process has also facilitated the creation of fungible tokens, known as BRC20s. As of now, on the eve of the first inscription’s anniversary, a total of 48,054,267 inscriptions have been recorded on the chain.
In terms of monetary value, miners have amassed approximately 3,697.38 BTC, equating to 8.36 million, for verifying these inscriptions. The surge in inscriptions has propelled Bitcoin’s daily transaction count to new records.
Notably, on Nov. 19, 2023, the network saw over 710,000 transactions in a single day. Additionally, a record-breaking day on Nov. 12 witnessed over 505,000 Ordinal inscriptions. Currently, inscriptions account for an estimated 40-50% of the daily transactions processed by bitcoin miners.
The introduction of Ordinals and BRC20s has sparked controversy within the Bitcoin community. A segment of Bitcoin enthusiasts argues that the blockchain should exclusively host financial transactions.
This debate has intensified, especially with Luke Dashjr’s Ocean Pool beginning to exclude inscriptions from its mining block template. While Ordinals have indubitably left their imprint in their first year, the debate over their place in the Bitcoin ecosystem remains heated.
The increase in onchain BTC fees and persistent congestion in the mempool due to unconfirmed transfers have been notable side effects of the inscription trend. At press time, more than 200,000 unconfirmed transactions are waiting for confirmation from miners. On Dec. 6, 2023, the average onchain transfer fee reached .55.
In the realm of NFT sales, Bitcoin has emerged as a strong competitor against other blockchains, even surpassing Ethereum in NFT sales in November. This trend continued into early December, with seven-day figures showing Bitcoin NFT sales at 9 million, doubling Ethereum’s million.
Additionally, according to cryptoslam.io, six of the top ten NFT collections in weekly sales are Bitcoin-based. One of the most expensive NFT sales on Bitcoin this week was a Van Gogh painting embedded to the blockchain.
What are your views on the 2023 trend of Ordinal inscriptions? Do you favor the concept of inscriptions, or do you think Bitcoin should be reserved solely for financial transactions? We welcome your thoughts and opinions on this matter in the comments section below.
Bitcoin Transaction Fees Spike Amid Rising Backlog and Relentless Ordinal Inscription Trend
Bitcoin transaction fees have surged again. On Dec. 6, 2023, bitinfocharts.com reported that the average cost of a bitcoin transaction soared to .55. Presently, the average transaction fee hovers around .93, alongside a growing backlog of unconfirmed transactions, currently at 249,000 at the time of this report.
Rising Backlog Drives Sharp Increase in Bitcoin Transaction Fees
The Bitcoin mempool, which logs unconfirmed transactions awaiting miner verification, currently has 249,000 transactions pending verification. This rise in unconfirmed transactions coincides with an increase in Ordinal inscriptions, which consume block space along with financial transactions. As of now, 287 blocks or 493 megabytes of block space must be cleared to reduce the backlog.
Daily, Ordinal inscriptions are consuming over 50% of transactions, with the tally as of today reaching 47.77 million inscriptions on the Bitcoin blockchain. Although transaction fees briefly fell to between and per transfer around Nov. 26 until Dec. 2, they skyrocketed in the following week. By Dec. 6, the average onchain fee had jumped to .55 per transaction, and the median fee rose to .70.
Currently, the average fee stands at 0.00033 BTC or .93, while the median fee is 0.00025 BTC or .75 per transaction. On Dec. 13, Glassnode’s lead onchain analyst, known as “Checkmate,” commented on the full mempool and the discontent it has caused among some Bitcoin users. Checkmate noted that inscriptions, primarily small text files, make up about 50% of daily transactions but less than 10% of block data size.
Despite this, the analyst said that they significantly contribute to transaction fees, accounting for 20% to 40% of the total. These inscriptions benefit from the Segregated Witness (Segwit) discount, making them more space-efficient in Bitcoin blocks, as Checkmate highlighted. The analyst’s key point was that inscriptions boost value and fee efficiency within the existing block size, thereby aiding the Bitcoin network.
“Your opposition is purely ideological and subjective. Fortunately, Bitcoin has a set of consensus rules which are objective and do not respond to our feelings or subjective values,” concluded the analyst.
What do you think about Bitcoin’s rising fees? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.
Bitcoin Developer Luke Dashjr Registers Ordinal Inscriptions Workaround as a Vulnerability
Luke Dashjr, Bitcoin developer and CTO of Mummalin, has registered a method that allows Ordinal inscriptions to be saved on the Bitcoin blockchain as a code vulnerability. The vulnerability, CVE-2023-50428, states that “datacarrier size limits can be bypassed by obfuscating data as code,” as Ordinal inscriptions do to embed images and other kinds of data directly onto the BTC blockchain.
Luke Dashjr Registers Bitcoin Vulnerability CVE-2023-50428
Luke Dashjr, Bitcoin developer and CTO of Mummalin, the company behind the Ocean mining pool, has registered the method that allows Ordinal inscriptions to embed data directly on top of the Bitcoin blockchain as a vulnerability. The vulnerability, registered as CVE-2023-50428, describes how the Ordinals protocol allows this data to be obfuscated and embedded into the chain.
The description of the so-called vulnerability explains:
In Bitcoin Core through 26.0 and Bitcoin Knots before 25.1.knots20231115, datacarrier size limits can be bypassed by obfuscating data as code (e.g., with OP_FALSE OP_IF), as exploited in the wild by Inscriptions in 2022 and 2023.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) National Vulnerability Database (NVB), which hosts a copy of the Common Exploits and Vulnerabilities (CVE) list, gives this exploit a 5.3 score, identifying it as a “medium” threat.
Dashjr, who has already stated that Ordinal inscriptions are a bug and expects to get the issue fixed in the next release of the Bitcoin Core full node software, is facing enormous criticism from the Bitcoin community.
Other developers have conceptually rejected the fix for this “vulnerability,” already proposed as a patch for Bitcoin Core in September. Peter Todd, a Bitcoin Core developer who opposes this change, explained that:
It is very unlikely that miners will give up that source of revenue. Censoring those transactions would simply encourage the development of private mempools – harmful to small miners – while making fee estimation less reliable.
In the same way, Bitcoin contributor Sjors Provoost stated that the approach taken by Dashjr “does not create an incentive to use a slightly less harmful method to post ‘spam,’” encouraging programmers to find more innovative ideas to avoid the proposed filter.
Ocean, a Bitcoin mining pool, uses a fork of Bitcoin Core developed by Dashjr, called Knots, which has been criticized for censoring Samourai Wallet’s private transactions after applying this fix targeting Ordinal inscriptions.
What do you think about the Bitcoin CVE-2023-50428 vulnerability? Tell us in the comments section below.
BTC Dev Wants to ‘Fix’ Ordinal Inscription ‘Exploit,’ Blackrock Updates ETF Filing, and More — Week in Review
BTC developer Luke Dashjr wants to “fix” Bitcoin Ordinal inscriptions, as he views them as exploitative, dividing the crypto community. In other news, in a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) filing update, monolithic asset manager Blackrock has noted the possibility of BTC being legally classified as a security. This and more, just below, in the latest Bitcoin.com News Week in Review.
Bitcoin Developer Luke Dashjr States Inscriptions Are Exploits, Hints at Future Fix
Luke Dashjr, bitcoin developer and Mummolin’s CTO, has reiterated his negative opinion about Ordinal inscriptions, stating these leverage and exploit a vulnerability in the Bitcoin Core full node software implementation. Dashjr also hinted at correcting this “exploit” in an upcoming version of the Bitcoin node software.
Blackrock’s Spot Bitcoin ETF Filing Update Addresses Potential Classification of BTC as a Security by SEC
Blackrock, the world’s largest asset manager, has warned in its latest spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) filing update of the potential for bitcoin to be classified as a security by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), state regulators, or court rulings. “If a digital asset is determined or asserted to be a security, it is likely to become difficult or impossible for the digital asset to be traded, cleared or custodied in the United States through the same channels used by non‑security digital assets,” Blackrock cautioned.
Bitcoin Breaks K Barrier — Highest Value in Nearly Two Years
On Sunday, December 3, 2023, bitcoin’s value surged past the K mark, peaking at ,846 at 8:45 p.m. Eastern Time. Over the past week, bitcoin has witnessed an 8.4% increase and a 3% rise in the past 24 hours, achieving a peak that the cryptocurrency hadn’t seen in 19 months.
Report: Bankman-Fried Struggles With Extortion Attempts Behind Bars in Brooklyn’s MDC
Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), previously a key figure in the crypto sphere, encountered a stark contrast to his past life at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn. Gene Borrello, a past mob enforcer for the Bonanno crime family, shared insights with journalist Tiffany Fong about the daily challenges SBF faces in prison. Borrello’s revelations paint a picture of SBF grappling with threats of extortion and bouts of depression.
What are your thoughts on these stories? Let us know in the comments section below.
Bitcoin Hits Second-Highest Transaction Day Amid Price Surge, Record Influx of Ordinal Inscriptions
Bitcoin marked its second most active day for transactions on December 3, 2023, as the cryptocurrency’s value soared past the K mark. This surge in activity comes closely after the record-setting day of November 19, 2023, when bitcoin miners validated 710,579 transactions. On Sunday, bitcoin miners authenticated a total of 707,876 transactions during the 24-hour period.
Bitcoin Sees Second-Busiest Day Amidst Surging Market Value
As the year draws to a close, the leading digital currency in terms of market valuation continues to see a high volume of transactions. Just a little over two weeks earlier, miners had processed a lifetime record of 710,579 transactions within a single day. Another notable peak in transaction activity was on September 15, 2023, with bitcoin miners confirming 703,692 transactions.
However, surpassing the previous second-largest day for transactions, Sunday, December 3, 2023, set a new benchmark with its 707,876 transfers. This activity relegates the September 15 record to the third-highest daily transfers ever recorded on the Bitcoin blockchain. The surge in these records is primarily attributed to the growing volume of Ordinal inscriptions occupying block space.
Despite the new Ocean pool’s refusal to mine inscriptions, a significant portion of the hashrate is actively confirming such transactions. Data from Dune Analytics on December 3, 2023, revealed a substantial 482,172 inscriptions were created on Sunday, accounting for the majority of the day’s transactions. This not only positioned it as the second-largest day for inscription mints but also indicated that 68.11% of the day’s transfers were inscriptions, while the remaining 31.89% comprised financial transactions.
This influx of transactions has led to a backlog of unconfirmed transactions in the mempool. At present, over 219,000 transfers await miner confirmation. To alleviate this backlog, 319 blocks, or 564 megabytes of block space, need to be processed. Currently, a high-priority onchain fee is priced at .81 per transfer, while a low-priority transaction costs approximately .28 per transfer.
What are your thoughts on Bitcoin’s record-setting day on Sunday? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
Jack Dorsey Backed Bitcoin Mining Pool Ocean Acknowledges Filtering Ordinal Inscriptions
Ocean, a Bitcoin mining pool that recently raised .2 million in a seed funding round led by former Twitter (now known as X) CEO Jack Dorsey, is currently filtering ordinal inscription transactions. Giacomo Zucco, a bitcoiner, confirmed that Ocean was using Knots as a node, a software developed by Luke Dashjr known to filter Ordinal inscriptions.
Ocean Bitcoin Mining Pool Filtering Ordinal Inscriptions
Ocean, a Bitcoin mining pool, has acknowledged that it is currently applying a filter that affects Ordinals-related transactions. The pool, which recently closed its .2 million seed round led by former X CEO Jack Dorsey, excludes certain Bitcoin Ordinals transactions using Knots, a Bitcoin node known to apply these filtering policies.
Giacomo Zucco, who was part of the conference as part of the relaunch of the pool, confirmed this fact, stating that it was currently using several filtering policies, excluding what he called “spam.”
Zucco stated:
Some ‘inscription’ spam is done this way, so it’s filtered away from Knots, which Ocean uses right now for centralized template creation. So shitcoin spammers will have to wait [for] phase2 of Ocean (the real deal) to create their own templates full of sh*t. I guess they are impatient.
Ocean’s Bitcoin Mechanic also acknowledged this, stating that the pool would “continue to filter inscriptions spam,” inviting others to mine with other pools if this bothered them.
The issue was first raised by checksum0, co-founder and CTO at Pow.re, a Bitcoin mining company, when he found that Ocean was excluding high-value transactions “costing on average 5-10% in fees, much more sometimes.” He declared:
Doing spot check of high-paying transactions, I have seen no transactions including any data after op_false … Mining with Ocean WILL cost you money.
The findings divided the cryptocurrency community, with some considering this filtered data as spam and agreeing with the measure, while others rejected this behavior, stressing that this was considered censorship. F2Pool, another Bitcoin mining pool, recently admitted it had been excluding transactions from OFAC-flagged addresses but ceased after facing a backlash from the community.
What do you think about the transaction filtering policies of Ocean? Do you believe they constitute censorship? Tell us in the comments section below.