Bitcoin: ORDI, the BRC-20 Token That's Making Waves

The Ordi token (ORDI) quickly surpassed the symbolic milestone of one billion dollars in market capitalization, only 9 months after its launch. As the first token of its kind BRC-20 based on Ordinals technology, it crystallizes both hopes for new functionalities for Bitcoin and concerns about the preservation of its founding principles.

ORDI, the First BRC-20 Token to Exceed One Billion Dollars

ORDI is a memecoin on the Bitcoin blockchain, acting as a pioneer as the very first BRC-20 token made possible through the Ordinal protocol.

Launched in March 2023, Ordi quickly drew attention. Its pioneering status among BRC-20 tokens, coupled with the frenzy of NFTs and collectibles directly published on Bitcoin via Ordinals, gave it increasing visibility and liquidity.

Furthermore, its introduction to major centralized exchange platforms including Binance in the spring of 2023 truly marked the starting point of its rise. Within a few months, the price of ORDI went from about $6 in May to a historical peak of $65 in early December, a more than tenfold increase in 8 months. Its market capitalization simultaneously exceeded 1.3 billion dollars.

As of writing, ORDI is trading around $70, with a daily trading volume of 1.7 billion dollars. ORDI has a total supply capped at 21 million units, echoing Bitcoin’s maximum supply.

What Is a BRC-20 Token?

Modeled after Ethereum’s ERC-20 standard, BRC-20 tokens enable the creation of tradeable crypto assets on the Bitcoin blockchain. Thanks to the Ordinals protocol developed by Casey Rodarmor, it is possible to directly inscribe data (text, images, audio, video) in each “satoshi,” the smallest unit of the network.

This allows for the minting of tokens or NFTs whose characteristics are encapsulated within a satoshi, similar to an ERC-20 smart contract. ORDI served as a precursor to test and demonstrate these unprecedented capabilities.

Innovation or Betrayal? The Debate Is Stirring the Community

Despite its success, the Ordinals process behind ORDI has sparked controversy among Bitcoin developers. Influential figures like Luke Dashjr see it as a misuse of the network that is harmful to its scalability. They describe the added data as spam and call for a correction of this vulnerability.

Others see Ordinals as an opportunity to enrich the Bitcoin ecosystem and to attract new uses for Bitcoin. It is this potential that partly explains the speculative success met by Ordi.

Because Ordi itself does not represent a groundbreaking technological or economic innovation. Its rise is mostly based on the novelty of the Ordinals concept, of which it is the first realization. Consequently, some question its long-term viability once the hype subsides.

In summary, the Ordi case symbolizes both the promises and the limitations of this controversial technology. While BRC-20 tokens are in vogue, their alignment with Bitcoin’s decentralizing ethics remains a subject of discussion.