‍#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 lack of practical applications and narratives like memes makes the 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 main chain 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 tracks 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, and wrapped Bitcoin (like WBTC) in DeFi has shrunk 60% from its 2025 peak in TVL.
Infrastructure commercialization challenges
1. Single revenue model: 90% of tools rely on transaction fees, with income dropping sharply during market downturns. For example, Ord.io shut down because it couldn't cover server costs.
‌2. High technical costs: Running 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
‌Reconstructing the business model‌
‌Layered services‌: Basic functions are free, with advanced 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 transaction fees to subsidize infrastructure, gaining ecosystem dominance.
‌Cost reduction and efficiency‌
‌Light node solutions‌: Using SPV verification instead of full node synchronization reduces storage costs by 90% (as tested with RGB protocol).
‌Modular expansion‌: Handling small, high-frequency transactions via Lightning Network, with only large inscription settlements on the main chain (Gamma.io has piloted this).
‌Breaking regulatory barriers‌
‌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 (Robinhood Singapore's approval case).
‌Creating new scenarios‌
‌Empowering real assets‌: On-chain real estate titles, luxury goods provenance, and other tangible assets to expand inscription utility (Yuga Labs experimenting with art ownership).
‌DeFi integration‌: Supporting inscription collateralized lending via Taproot-based smart contracts (cross-chain protocol testing by Bool Network).
Summary: Inscription tokens lacking applications and narratives were once considered a miner conspiracy to generate Gas fees. Regardless, without practical commercial applications, project prospects, or even simple emotional value like MEME tokens, inscription tokens now only serve as name speculation (though that’s not new in crypto). Therefore, their hype is mainly quick gains—fast in and out—without a long-term vision.