In recent weeks, the popularity of Bitcoin Ordinals and the BRC-20 token standard has skyrocketed amongst a Bitcoin userbase looking to join Ethereum’s supporters and issue non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on their favorite blockchain. BRC-20, introduced in March 2023, is an experimental token standard allowing users to issue fungible tokens by utilising the Bitcoin Ordinals protocol. This has seen fee rates on the Bitcoin blockchain reach a two-year high and congestion on the world’s largest blockchain rapidly increase.

In response to this demand, the cryptocurrency exchanges OKX and Huobi have both integrated Unisat, an open source Chrome wallet extension, to further support and streamline BRC-20 transaction indexing on the Bitcoin blockchain. Furthermore, Huobi has announced a partnership aiming to help promote the development of BRC-20 industry standards and better support the BRC-20 ecosystem.

Despite the success, Bitcoin purists have been vocal in their displeasure at the new token standard, believing that it veers away from Bitcoin’s initial use as a medium exchange and decentralized store of value, and instead introduces aspects of centralization that jeopardize the idea of a decentralized currency. As the congestion on the network continues to mount and fees remain high, there is even some talk of delisting the Ordinals and BRC-20 tokens.

It remains to be seen how the situation will develop. Although the exchanges OKX and Huobi have integrated Unisat which seeks to be a viable solution to the current congestion and fees, the future of Bitcoin Ordinals in the crypto community remains uncertain.



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