Offchain: Bitcoin's never-anticipated utility is JPEGs - the maxis are not amused

February 8, 2023
Naomi
AuthorNaomi
Offchain: Bitcoin's never-anticipated utility is JPEGs - the maxis are not amused

The Ordinals protocol brought good old community fights back to Bitcoin. Are you on team meme?

If you've been on crypto Twitter recently, chances are that you have come across some angry Bitcoin maxi not condoning JPEGs while others are having fun exploring what Bitcoin can do outside of being an inflation hedge (hard sell to the people who bought at $69k anyway).

Let's start from the beginning.

When Bitcoin was created, it sought to be a peer-to-peer digital currency. Fast forward to today, we have a flourishing DeFi ecosystem on other chains like Ethereum but little of that on Bitcoin. It's not even used as cash - except maybe in El Salvador, where people had little choice. Nowadays, it's touted as a store of value, and if you want to earn some yield on it, you either give it to a centralized party (and accept you might lose it all, as Celsius has demonstrated) or you wrap it and use it on Ethereum.

Ordinals - anything but ordinary

Enter , a protocol that enables people to add arbitrary content to a Satoshi (the smallest unit of Bitcoin; 1 BTC = 100 million satoshis). Or, put another way, create something comparable to NFTs. Yet the creator Casey Rodarmor stresses that these NFTs are actually of higher standards because all the data has to be stored on-chain, making it immutable and censorship-resistant. He also refers to them as 'inscriptions' rather than NFTs.

Unlike other Layer 2’s (L2s), such as Stacks that brought NFTs to the Bitcoin ecosystems, inscriptions live directly on the Bitcoin blockchain without requiring a protocol upgrade or Hard Fork. In a sense, Satoshi Nakamoto laid the foundation for them when creating Bitcoin.

NFTs on Bitcoin sound awesome, but some Bitcoiners disagree.

Why the outrage?

Blocks are limited in space; the more JPEGs are in blocks, the fewer transactions can go in. It's like a train where only so many people fit in. And then there's the question of node runners having to store these images forever. Bitcoiners that are all in on the payments narrative hate to see blocks full of images.

This is hypocritical if you consider that it was also due to the Magic Internet Money meme that the Bitcoin community grew in its early days. Nevertheless, with the demand for block space increasing, fees go brrrr, and some fear marginalized people will be unable to afford Bitcoin transactions. Bitcoin OG Adam Back didn't hold back and outright

The fun side

Maybe Adam would be helped to embrace the power of memes and its newfound utility. After all, when we hear Bitcoin, we don't think of innovation or fun.

Other Bitcoin proponents see the positives and even created an entire project around it, sharing referencing the initial Bitcoin community meme.

A classic Reddit meme of 2013 vintage.

The recent Ordinals hype drove and could change the social dynamics by bringing a more diverse set of people into the fold. Some of which were horny.

What had to happen happened: someone uploaded a very explicit image to Bitcoin, shown on the Ordinals website, before quickly being taken down. Such is the nature of the protocol.

Yet, in good news, anyone can build their own clients and establish moderation policies. So if you, for example, only wanted to display Pepe art on your site, you could.

All in all, despite the outrage, Ordinals has managed to breathe more life into Bitcoin and made it fun again. I, for one, consider that a net positive. Now excuse me as I try to figure out minting my own.


Naomi from CoinJar


Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high‑risk investment and you should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong. Take 2 minutes to learn more: .

Cryptoassets traded on CoinJar UK Limited are largely unregulated in the UK, and you are unable to access the Financial Service Compensation Scheme or the Financial Ombudsman Service. We use third party banking, safekeeping and payment providers, and the failure of any of these providers could also lead to a loss of your assets. We recommend you obtain financial advice before making a decision to use your credit card to purchase cryptoassets or to invest in cryptoassets. Capital Gains Tax may be payable on profits.​​

CoinJar’s digital currency exchange services are operated in Australia by CoinJar Australia Pty Ltd ACN 648 570 807, a registered digital currency exchange provider with AUSTRAC; and in the United Kingdom by CoinJar UK Limited (company number 8905988), registered by the Financial Conduct Authority as a Cryptoasset Exchange Provider and Custodian Wallet Provider in the United Kingdom under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017, as amended (Firm Reference No. 928767).

EU residents: CoinJar Europe Limited (CRO 720832) is registered as a VASP and supervised by the Central Bank of Ireland (Registration number C496731) for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism purposes only.

On/Offchain

Your weekly dose of crypto news & opinion.

Join more than 150,000 subscribers to CoinJar's crypto newsletter.

More from CoinJar Blog

Opinion

December 19, 2024"Everything goes, everything comes back; eternally rolls the wheel of [memes]" - Nietzsche, slightly adjusted.  As the German philosopher knew, things come back more often than...
Company & Product

December 17, 2024Dia duit Éire! CoinJar is now live in the Irish Republic.
Company & Product

December 5, 2024Crypto bros and crypto sisters: Our time has come. Bitcoin just blasted through the US$100,000 mark!
CoinJar
Company
Support
Legal
Crypto on CoinJar
App storeApp store

CoinJar’s digital currency exchange services are operated by CoinJar Australia Pty Ltd ACN 648 570 807, a registered digital currency exchange provider with AUSTRAC.

CoinJar Card is a prepaid Mastercard issued by EML Payment Solutions Limited ABN 30 131 436 532 AFSL 404131 pursuant to license by Mastercard. CoinJar Australia Pty Ltd is an authorised representative of EML Payment Solutions Limited (AR No 1290193). We recommend you consider the and before making any decision to acquire the product. Mastercard and the circles design are registered trademarks of Mastercard International Incorporated.

Google Pay is a trademark of Google LLC. Apple Pay is a trademark of Apple Inc.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the and apply.

CoinJar logo
CoinJarGet the app.
Install app