Ordinals Inscriptions Surge Following BRC-69 Launch

Activity surrounding Ordinals, an inscription method enabling the creation of NFT-like assets on the Bitcoin blockchain, is picking up again following the launch of a token standard that significantly reduces the fees associated with creating them.

On July 3, Luminex, a Bitcoin Ordinals launchpad, published BRC-69, a modified version of the Ordinals-based BRC-20 standard for fungible tokens. Luminex said BRC-69 reduces the fees associated with inscribing Ordinals by 90%.

BRC-69 has proved extremely popular so far, with data from Dune Analytics showing the number of inscriptions steadily rose from 62,775 on July 3 to 385,920 on July 9.

The fees paid for Ordinals inscriptions trended sideways alongside the increase in activity, demonstrating the efficacy of BRC-69.

While fungible and non-fungible tokens have been a mainstay of the Ethereum ecosystem since 2017, the launch of the Ordinals inscription method in January 2023 kicked off an unprecedented explosion of activity on the Bitcoin network.

In April, the number of daily transactions executed on Bitcoin hit all-time highs above 350,000, according to Ycharts. On-chain activity peaked at around 682,000 daily transactions in May but had since dropped 55% as of last week.

However, Bitcoin’s on-chain activity is quickly rebounding since BRC-69 went live, with the network processing more than 594,000 transactions on July 9.

Bitcoin Dominance Rises

Bitcoin has consistently outperformed most top-100 digital assets during 2023, with the growing popularity of native tokens and anticipation for next year’s Bitcoin halving driving bullish sentiment for BTC.

BTC ended the second quarter with a year-to-date gain of 85%, outperforming all other global benchmark assets by at least 250%.

Bitcoin’s market dominance also rose to a 26-month high last month. According to CoinMarketCap, BTC represents 49.9% of combined cryptocurrency capitalization, roughly its highest level since April 2021.