Bitcoin's network is grappling with potential congestion issues caused by Ordinals and BRC-20 tokens, warns a Bitcoin Core developer. Luke Dashjr, in a recent X (formerly Twitter) post, asserted that a bug in the Bitcoin network could be exploited, leading to the creation of new Bitcoin Ordinals and BRC-20 tokens that spam the blockchain.

The issue revolves around inscriptions, a method employed by Ordinals and BRC-20 creators to embed data on satoshis, Bitcoin's smallest units. Dashjr explained that these inscriptions exploit a vulnerability in Bitcoin Core, allowing them to bypass the limits set on the size of extra data in transactions. 

While this problem has been addressed in Bitcoin Knots v25.1, the vulnerability persists in Bitcoin Core's upcoming v26 release, raising concerns within the community.

Ordinals, introduced in January 2023, enable users to inscribe data and nonfungible tokens onto satoshis. However, the recent surge in inscriptions and BRC-20 token minting has led to significant congestion on the Bitcoin network. 

Dashjr emphasized the economic incentives for miners dealing with inscription transactions, as they often come with higher fees than regular Bitcoin transactions.

‍

Discussions Within the Community

Discussions within the cryptocurrency community revolve around the value assigned to Bitcoin through its inscriptions, the potential economic incentives for miners, and how the vulnerability might be resolved. 

An important discussion point is whether addressing the bug would end ordinals and BRC-20 tokens. According to Dashjr, this practice would be stopped by fixing this issue.

There is another community member who asks what effect this vulnerability will have on regular Bitcoin holders as a result of this vulnerability. Although the primary concern is technological, Dashjr clarifies that security and value could be indirectly affected.

With over 275,000 unconfirmed transactions reported on mempool.space, network congestion has resulted in a significant increase in medium-priority transactions costs. The Bitcoin community awaits a resolution to this vulnerability, with hopes for a fix in the upcoming v27 release next year.