​OKX crypto exchange launches blockchain explorer for BRC-20 tokens

What’s new? On May 14, crypto exchange OKX launched a blockchain explorer for tokens issued under the BRC-20 standard on the Bitcoin network. According to the head of the platform Star Xu, the explorer is functioning in test mode and the team is waiting for feedback from users. Currently, the service can be used to view information about the owners and transactions with BRC-20 tokens.

Explorer’s page

OKX is a centralized exchange (CEX) headquartered in Seychelles, founded in 2013. As of May 15, 345 coins and 572 trading pairs are available on the platform, with a daily trading volume of $869,06 million. The exchange’s native token OKT is trading at $17,20, having gained 0,5% per day, according to CoinGecko.

What else is known? The launch of the blockchain explorer is one of the exchange’s steps to systematize and analyze data on BRC-20 performance. On May 12, for example, OKX and browser-based crypto wallet UniSat partnered to establish an industry standard for protocol usage. OKX will analyze the BRC-20 registry and index library, and UniSat will act as the market data provider.

Based on this standard, as well as the Ordinals protocol, the first cryptocurrency network is able to issue non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Ordinals, launched in early 2023, allows data/digital assets/NFTs to be tied to satoshi, the smallest fractional part of BTC (0,00000001 part of the coin). Bitcoin-NFTs are also called inscriptions.

The first interchangeable asset created by the BRC-20 standard is Ordinals (ORDI). According to the explorer, the number of ORDI holders is 9067 addresses. As of May 15, 10:45 UTC, the asset is trading at $16,56, having added 41,9% in 24 hours.

Ordinals’ problems. The popularity of the Ordinals protocol and NFTs based on the BRC-20 standard has led to numerous problems with the Bitcoin network, including dramatic increases in fees and delays in processing large numbers of transactions. On May 8, for example, the average fee jumped by 1156% from May 30, hitting $30,91, according to YCharts. Since August 2021, the figure has mostly fluctuated between $1 and $2,9, only once rising to $4,5.

Leading Bitcoin Core developer Luke Dashjr called on the community to ban NFTs based on BRC-20 because of network congestion. He suggested changes to the blockchain’s spam filter as one countermeasure.