Bitcoin could see a long-term impact on the network

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Bitcoin could see a long-term impact on the network

NFT-like assets could be here to stay.

The Bitcoin network has created a million NFT-like assets, as the popularity of the Ordinals protocol surges on the world's most valuable blockchain.

Ordinary use rose at the beginning of the month and went above the million mark on Sunday.

The popularity of Inscriptions' growing popularity a little more than two months after their debut suggests that the new asset class is here to stay, a fact that could have long-term implications for the Bitcoin network's financial health.

Bitcoin has been trading for the first time since June 2022, and it has been trading above $30,000 for the first time since June 2022. This year, the digital asset's value has surged by 80%.

The Defiant spoke with Alex Miller, CEO of Bitcoin developer tooling company Hiro.

In February, former Bitcoin Core Engineer Casey Rodarmor headed the team that developed Ordinals, and the protocol was first used to 'inscribe' data, such as images and videos, directly to the Bitcoin blockchain. Ordinals leverages the upgrades that came to Bitcoin in 2017 and 2021, and has triggered a debate over the proper use of the network.

Because they take up storage space, Inscriptions increase the fullness of each block that miners compete to append to the chain. Fuller blocks are more valuable, and in theory, miners should be willing to invest in computing power to increase their chances of winning the mathematical lottery that gives them the privilege of appending the next block and earning the resulting bitcoin payout.

Inscription-filled blocks are worth more as the Bitcoin-denominated reward for producing blocks every few years is a great deal.

Ordinal initiatives like CryptoPunks have attracted Ethereum-native projects into the Bitcoin network, but have also given rise to grassroots collections, such as Taproot Wizards.

Miller, 59, said in a statement that he did not believe he could have won the election.