OCEAN, a recently launched Bitcoin (BTC) mining pool supported by Jack Dorsey, has recently updated its mining software to exclude Bitcoin ordinals transactions from the blocks it generates.
Ordinals represent a protocol for issuing NFTs and alternative tokens on the Bitcoin network—an accomplishment considered implausible for most of the asset’s existence. Since gaining popularity earlier this year, the online Bitcoin community has been divided on whether ordinals bring a net benefit to the network by introducing new applications or pose a burden by facilitating transactions not originally intended for the network.
Luke Dashjr, OCEAN CTO and Bitcoin core developer, aligns with the latter viewpoint.
“Inscriptions” are taking advantage of a vulnerability in #Bitcoin Core to flood the blockchain, as mentioned in a Tuesday post. The CTO of OCEAN highlighted that this “bug” has been “fixed” in OCEAN’s latest upgrade.
He expressed concern, stating, “Bitcoin Core is still vulnerable in the upcoming v26 release. I can only hope it will finally get fixed before v27 next year.”
In less than a year since its launch, Ordinals have significantly impacted the blockchain. During periods of heightened activity, the substantial data size of associated transactions has led to a considerable surge in Bitcoin’s transaction fees, simultaneously causing a significant slowdown in network settlement times.
The surge in Ordinals activity reemerged last month, driving Bitcoin’s transaction fees to reach as high as $19 each. This influx has even propelled the network’s transaction fee revenue to rival that of Ethereum, the leading cryptocurrency network for on-chain activity.
Can OCEAN Prosper Without Ordinals?
This revenue has proven highly appealing to Bitcoin miners, who exclusively benefit from elevated fees. Consequently, certain cryptocurrency experts have raised doubts about the new mining pool’s ability to attract mining businesses by deliberately excluding them from the allure of substantial fees.
CoinMetrics co-founder Nic Carter shared his skepticism, stating on X, “They won’t gain meaningful market share as a pool, probably under 1% in the long term.”
