Bitcoin Core developer calls the possibility of issuing bitcoin-NFT consequence of network vulnerability

What’s new? Amid the growing popularity of BRC20 standard tokens, the bitcoin network is experiencing significant overloads. Thus, according to the mempool data, there are over 270 800 transactions in the confirmation queue, the amount of memory used has exceeded the allowed 300 MB and reached 1,55 GB. The fee for a low-priority transaction is 215 satoshi per virtual byte (sat/vB) or $13,15. In a related development, Bitcoin Core developer Luke Dashjr reiterated his criticism of bitcoin-NFT.

Source: Twitter.com

What else is known? The BRC-20 standard and the Ordinals protocol allow Bitcoin-based fungible and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to be issued. With Ordinals, launched in early 2023, one can tie data/digital assets/NFTs to satoshi, the smallest fractional part of BTC (0,00000001 part of the coin). Bitcoin-NFTs are also called Ordinals or Inscriptions.

Dashjr writes that Ordinals exploit a vulnerability of the network and overwhelm it with spam. For example, since 2013, Bitcoin Core has allowed users to set a limit on the amount of additional data in transactions they make or process.

However, Ordinals disguise their data as program code to circumvent the set limits. According to the developer, this bug was fixed in the Bitcoin Knots v25.1 client, but it remains in the upcoming 26th version of the Bitcoin Core client.

“I can only hope it will finally get fixed before v27 next year,” Dashjr concluded.

Responding to a subscriber’s question, the developer confirmed that if the vulnerability is fixed, bitcoin-NFT and BRC20 fungible tokens will cease to exist.

Dashjr first called for NFT to be banned on the first cryptocurrency’s network back in May. At the time, he noted that this could be done by including such assets in the network’s spam filter.

In July, launchpad platform Luminex introduced a new BRC-69 standard for the Ordinals protocol, which aims to reduce the load on the network and, as a result, fees.

The first BRC20 fungible token became ORDI. It has been listed on the largest crypto exchange Binance since November 7. Over the month, the asset’s rate jumped by 602%, as of December 7, it is trading at $51,11. In addition, the day before, ORDI’s market capitalization exceeded $1 billion, making it the largest BRC20 asset.

As for NFTs, the bitcoin blockchain leads the daily trading volume with $19,5 million. At its peak in May, the figure reached $452 million.