Buterin: Ordinals Revive Bitcoin's Builder Culture

Bitcoin is the world's largest and most popular cryptocurrency, but it has some limitations. Bitcoin's base layer can only handle simple transactions, but cannot support complex smart contract calculations, which leads to a lack of innovation and developmental rigidity in the Bitcoin ecosystem.

However, some developers are trying to change this by creating new token standards on top of Bitcoin, allowing Bitcoin to have more functionality and flexibility. One of the latest and most interesting attempts is the BRC-20 token, an experimental token standard that enables the minting and transfer of fungible tokens via the Ordinals protocol on the Bitcoin blockchain.

The Ordinals protocol is a system for numbering satoshis that allows users to attach additional data to satoshis, a process known as inion. BRC-20 tokens utilize Ordinals to burn JSON (Java Object Notation) data to deploy token contracts, mint and transfer tokens. Currently, the BRC-20 token standard allows the use of the deploy function to create a BRC-20 token, the mint function to mint a certain amount of BRC-20 tokens, and the transfer function to transfer a certain amount of BRC-20 tokens.

For this attempt to achieve more functionality and flexibility on Bitcoin, **Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin expressed his appreciation and support in the Twitter Space on July 7, 2023. According to Buterin, Ordinals and the BRC-20 token revive Bitcoin’s “builder culture” and are a rejection of the “stagnation” politics in the Bitcoin ecosystem. **

Buterin also offered his views on how Bitcoin could scale for future users. The best approach, he said, is to focus on implementing different types of Layer-2 solutions while finding ways to make Bitcoin's base layer more efficient. Layer-2 solutions refer to building additional layers on top of the Bitcoin base layer to increase transaction speed and reduce costs. At present, some Layer-2 solutions have been developed and used, such as Lightning Network (Lightning Network). **

In short, **Buterin expressed affirmation and encouragement to the Ordinals and BRC-20 standards. He believes that these are the embodiment of Bitcoin innovation and development. **He also offered his advice on how Bitcoin can prepare for the future. His views may generate discussions and feedback from different factions in the Bitcoin community.

BRC-20 and Ordinals tokens have not only been appreciated and supported by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, but also received attention and recognition from some well-known figures and institutions in other fields. For example, prominent investor Mark Cuban revealed on Twitter that he owns some BRC-20 tokens, calling them “cool.” Renowned artist Beeple also expressed on Twitter that he was interested in Ordinals and bought some BRC-20 tokens. In addition, the famous game company Ubisoft and the famous trading platform Binance also announced on their official websites that they will support Ordinals and provide development and trading services for BRC-20 tokens. These all show that BRC-20 and Ordinals tokens have attracted a lot of attention and participation outside the cryptocurrency field.