‍#Gate广场五月交易分享

‍# Inscription Browser Ordio Closes
Is the inscription market, dubbed the miner conspiracy, about to "die"?
On May 12th, Bitcoin inscription browser Ord.io announced it will cease operations on June 1st. The platform has been online for three years, serving over a million users. While this doesn't necessarily mean the inscription track is "done for," the sector's lack of practical applications and narratives like memes makes its downturn evident:
‌1. Trading volume and liquidity drying up‌
Leading inscription tokens (such as ORDI, SATS) have fallen over 70% from their peak market cap, on-chain transaction counts have plummeted by more than 50%, and new project funding has almost halted.
The easing of Bitcoin mainnet congestion has lowered Gas fees, but the contradiction of miners relying on transaction fees has worsened, further suppressing inscription minting enthusiasm.
‌2. User and capital outflows‌
Mainstream wallets (like UniSat, OK) see a 30% decrease in active addresses, with some speculative funds shifting to new narrative sectors like AI and RWA.
Institutional participation has cooled, with traditional NFT giants like Yuga Labs suspending new Bitcoin ecosystem projects.
‌3. Technical bottlenecks become apparent‌
Limitations of Bitcoin's native functions lead to weak inscription programmability, making DeFi applications difficult to implement, with most projects stuck in "trading images" stages.
Cross-chain bridge assets are insufficiently accumulated; wrapped Bitcoin (like WBTC) in DeFi has shrunk 60% from its 2025 high in TVL.
Infrastructure commercialization challenges
1. Single revenue model: 90% of tools rely on transaction fees, causing revenue to plummet during market downturns. For example, Ord.io shut down because it couldn't cover server costs.
‌2. High technical costs: Building and maintaining a full Bitcoin node index costs over $500k annually, which small and medium enterprises can't afford. For example, Ordinals protocol upgrades require frequent data synchronization.
‌3. Homogeneous competition: Over 10 inscription browsers have overlapping features, dispersing user traffic and leading to insufficient platform engagement. For example, OK and UniSat browsers have highly similar functionalities.
‌4. Cross-chain dependency risks: Protocol changes in cross-chain bridges (like ARC-20) force tool developers to rebuild interfaces, sharply increasing development costs. For example, multiple iterations of the BRC-20 standard have caused compatibility issues.
Breakthrough paths and solutions
‌Reconstruct business models‌
‌Layered services‌: Basic functions are free, with premium APIs charged (such as on-chain data analysis, batch transactions), similar to UniSat's developer subscription model.
‌Ecosystem fund reinvestment‌: Leading exchanges (like OK) allocate part of trading fees to subsidize infrastructure, gaining ecosystem dominance.
‌Cost reduction and efficiency‌
‌Light nodes‌: Use SPV verification instead of full node synchronization to reduce storage costs by 90% (as tested in RGB protocol).
‌Modular expansion‌: Handle small, high-frequency transactions via Lightning Network, with only large inscriptions settled on the main chain (Gamma.io has piloted this).
‌Regulatory breakthrough‌
‌Self-regulation standards‌: Establish industry alliances to set KYC/AML norms (e.g., BRC-20 standard organization adding issuance review clauses).
‌Regulatory sandbox cooperation‌: Apply for experimental licenses in friendly jurisdictions like Singapore and Switzerland (e.g., Robinhood Singapore approved).
‌Create new scenarios‌
‌Empowering entities‌: Onboard real assets like real estate titles and luxury goods traceability, expanding inscription utility (Yuga Labs experimenting with art ownership).
‌DeFi integration‌: Support inscription collateralized lending via Taproot-based smart contracts (testing cross-chain protocols like Bool Network).
Summary: Inscription tokens lacking practical applications and narratives were once thought to be a miner conspiracy to generate Gas fees. Regardless, without tangible commercial use cases, project prospects, or even simple emotional value like MEME tokens, inscription tokens now only serve as name hype (though that’s not new in crypto). Therefore, their hype is mainly quick flips for fast profits—don’t expect long-term or strategic thinking.