Bitcoin NFT Mints are Rising, but so are Gas Fees
Ordinals, a new protocol that allows users to add NFTs to the Bitcoin chain, has recorded increased activity over the past few days. On Friday, Ordinals saw the highest number of mints in a day; however, that resulted in higher network fees.
As of Saturday morning, blockchain data availed by Dune shows that users have minted over 1,100 Bitcoin NFTs through Ordinals in the past 48 hours. The figure is four times more than the number of NFTs that were minted on the Bitcoin blockchain on Tuesday.
That said, Friday saw Bitcoin record the highest average fee on the network in over a month. Ycharts data shows that each transaction on the blockchain cost $1.54 on that day, the highest it has been since last December 26.
Ordinals’ launch renewed the prolonged debate among Bitcoin users about whether NFTs should be added to the original chain. Today, Ordinals allows anything, including video games and Bored Apes’ copycats, to be inscribed on the Bitcoin chain, thanks to the Taproot upgrade.
NFTs are unique digital assets representing an item’s ownership and membership to an exclusive online community. While most of the NFTs are found on Solana and Ethereum, there have been several projects on the Bitcoin blockchain since 2015, such as Stacks and Counterparty.
NFTs on Bitcoin and Their Effect
High gas fees are seemingly the consequence of introducing NFTs to the Bitcoin chain. Usually, the data volume in a transaction, alongside the speed that a user needs their transaction to be completed, determines the Bitcoin network fees. One can choose to pay higher fees during high traffic to push a transaction through.
When Ordinals began operations on January 21, the Bitcoin network fee rose by 2.2%, and two days later, it went up by 3.45%. On Friday, it surged by 3.87%, according to Hashrate Index data. The data indicates that this percentage tends to increase mostly in the daytime.
Bitcoin Enthusiasts Blame Ordinals for the Gas Fee Hike
Many Bitcoin maximalists have labeled Ordinals as a violator of Bitcoin principles following the network fee hike. Others claim that the protocol allows spamming on the blockchain. However, Casey Rodarmore, the Ordinals developer, dismisses the claims saying Bitcoin blocks must be full for users to consider paying higher fees.
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