• Bitcoin’s average block size has hit an all-time high of 2.5MB following the creation of the Ordinals protocol in January 2023.
• Participants from the Bitcoin mining ecosystem have already made over $600,000 processing transactions of Ordinals.
• Ordinals allow the creation of Bitcoin „digital artifacts“ on the network, such as JPEG images, PDFS and video and audio files.
Bitcoin Average Block Size Hits All-Time High
Bitcoin’s average block size has hit an all-time high of 2.5MB following the creation of the Ordinals protocol in January 2023. This jump in block size is a result of participants from the Bitcoin mining ecosystem having already made over $600,000 processing transactions of Ordinals, which are dubbed as Bitcoin-based NFTs (nonfungible tokens).
What Are Nonfungible Tokens?
Nonfungible tokens are digital assets that are unique and cannot be replicated or exchanged like traditional money or cryptocurrency. They can represent different types of physical or digital objects such as artwork, collectibles and even real estate rights.
Ordinals Protocol
The Ordinals protocol was launched by software engineer Casey Rodarmor in January to enable users to create these digital assets using Bitcoin on its network. The type of assets that can be created include JPEG images, PDFS, video and audio files which can then be inscribed to individual satoshis that make up a whole Bitcoin (which is composed of 100 million satoshis).
Growing Popularity
As more people become aware and interested in this technology, it is important for them to understand how Bitcoin’s block size works so they can predict when it could reach new highs or lows in relation to market demand for blockchain services.
Conclusion
Overall, with the launch of Ordinal’s protocol, we have seen an increase in both average block sizes as well as activity around nonfungible tokens built atop a variety of blockchain networks – including Ethereum and now Bitcoin too – which shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.