Crypto News: Developer Discovers Bug in Bitcoin’s Non-Fungible Inscriptions
Bitcoin and Lightning Network developer, “Supernestnet,” uncovered a bug while exploring Ordinals, a Bitcoin protocol. The protocol attempts to inject excitement into Bitcoin by allowing text, images, and code to be engraved on a satoshi, making them non-fungible like NFTs.
Each satoshi has a unique number assigned in the order of mining, and each Ordinals inscription has a number, with over 3.7 million to date. However, Supernestnet discovered a way to break inscription numbers by inscribing a satoshi he did not own, exposing a flaw in the software.
Despite the edge case, the recent transaction fees for Bitcoin have surged by 300% in the past two weeks, which currently costs $5 to $6 to get through the Bitcoin mempool.
Ordinals’ creator, Casey Rodarmor, considers this a “strong positive” of the proposal, as it requires a robust fee market. Although some view it as a “fun and good” experiment for Bitcoin, others are frustrated.
Galaxy Research notes that this recent bump in transaction fees may be attributed to “DeFi on Bitcoin” efforts around the BRC-20 token standard, which shares a similar technique with Ordinals but is utilized differently.
Nonetheless, the impact of the surge in transaction fees on Bitcoin’s long-term significance is still unclear. Regardless, the experiment with Bitcoin continues with slightly higher transaction fees.
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