Ordinals, the Beginning of the End of BTC?

Why EPIC Cash is immune to this threat.

Ordinals is a new NFT protocol on Bitcoin Core (BTC) that allows storing of data directly in the blockchain. The protocol is based on tracking individual Satoshis and reusing them as NFTs. This is referred to as "inscriptions". Tracking is based on the order in which Satoshis are either mined or used in transactions. 

A loophole in the 2021 Taproot upgrade, along with earlier SegWit changes, allows virtually unlimited storage of arbitrary data for NFTs on the BTC blockchain, capped only by block size - at mere fraction of the normal gas costs.

Because ordinals use BTC's existing infrastructure, there is no need for a separate token, another blockchain, or changes to the bitcoin code. Ordinals are fundamentally different from the otherwise-common NFT implementations on various smart contract blockchains. 

There, the file and NFT often reside in two different environments. The file may be hosted on a central cloud server or an open file system outside the blockchain. Only the reference to the file path is added to the NFT. If the file storage service deletes the image, fails, or the file is corrupted or the path is compromised, the NFT no longer references an active file. 

Ordinals, on the other hand, store files directly on the blockchain. The information added to the Bitcoin blockchain using ordinals only needs to adhere to the limit of about 4 MB. They are real files and not just references to other files. The ordinals are permanent, immutable parts of the BTC blockchain and must be downloaded and stored by all full nodes.

The introduction of ordinals arguably shows that Bitcoin's original goal of being an alternative to the fraudulent fiat money system cannot be fulfilled and therefore other use cases are to be developed. Ordinals target the passion for collecting that can become an obsession for some, to which everything else is subordinated. Via this, a further spread of Bitcoin ought to be ensured.  

Cryptocurrencies that allow ordinals will either simply destroy themselves from the inside, because the blockchain grows faster than storage space becomes cheaper, and thus more and more full nodes disappear for cost reasons, or there can be some help from the outside, in which illegal content such as child pornography is stored on the immutable blockchain, which each full node then has stored. 

From there, it is only a small step to classify BTC full nodes as illegal and take appropriate legal action. A slow but sure death of the BTC network would thus be ensured. Whether this will happen is secondary - just having created such a possibility is either full intention or a sign of desperation or stupidity. What is still cheered by followers of the Bitcoin cult today may already mean the end of BTC tomorrow.

The very first ordinal minted on Bitcoin, inscription 0, is simply a black skull with white markings. Was that already the hidden hint of what was in mind?

As described above, ordinals are based on identifying and numbering the smallest units of a cryptocurrency. The smallest unit of EPIC Cash, a so-called Freeman, is not identifiable and thus cannot be tracked. However, it is crucial that with EPIC Cash it is not possible to store arbitrary files on the EPIC blockchain like with the ordinals protocol on the BTC blockchain. 

Once again, it proves that less is more. EPIC Cash focuses solely on the use case of money, avoids all the bells and whistles and thus keeps the blockchain lean and extremely effective.

Conclusion:

Bitcoin Core cannot achieve the goals originally set by Satoshi Nakamoto in his 2008 whitepaper (A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System) due to technical limitations. The newly created possibility of ordinals is an attempt to join the NFT hype and give BTC a new use case. This further inflates the already huge BTC blockchain (500 GB, vs <5 for EPIC) and creates the possibility to write illegal files permanently to the blockchain. Over half of ordinals inscribed contain NSFW material. 

EPIC Cash, on the other hand, embodies the DNA of Bitcoin as conceived by Satoshi Nakamoto in its purest and most efficient way. 

For more information, visit www.epiccash.com.