After reaching a peak in Bitcoin transactions in September, there has been a sharp decline in activity, reminiscent of levels seen during the hype surrounding Ordinals, a system for individual NFTs or fungible BRC-20 tokens.
Introduced in January, Ordinals allows the tracking of each Bitcoin satoshi, boosting activity earlier this year.
Between May and mid-September, Bitcoin averaged 400,000 to 500,000 transactions per week, peaking at 600,000 on September 20.
However, by October 9, weekly transactions dropped to 283,000, linked to reduced Ordinals activity. This is significant because users need transactions to connect metadata to satoshis.
The creator of Ordinals introduced a new protocol called “Runes,” aiming to replace BRC-20 with a smaller on-chain footprint. Users’ fears that Runes might replace BRC-20 have possibly contributed to the decline.
Uncertainty also arises from concerns about irregular inscription numbers, leading some to suggest re-indexing Ordinals, causing users to delay inscriptions until issues are resolved for accurate records.
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