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Bitcoin Ordinals are a new phenomenon that lets users create digital artifacts on the Bitcoin blockchain by inscribing data on satoshis. Satoshis are the smallest unit of Bitcoin. Ordinals are like NFTs but they use the ordinal number of each satoshi as a unique identifier. Ordinals became popular after the Taproot upgrade in 2021. This upgrade made transactions on Bitcoin more efficient and private.
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But the Ordinals community has some problems. A bug was found that could make some inscriptions invalid. This could cause users to lose value or ownership of their inscriptions. The bug is called the inscription validation bug. It affects some transactions that use OP_RETURN outputs to store data on the blockchain. OP_RETURN outputs are a special type of outputs that let users attach any data to their transactions such as inscriptions. The inscription validation bug happens when a transaction has more than one OP_RETURN output and one of them is empty or has less than 4 bytes of data. The transaction may be valid for some Bitcoin nodes but invalid for others. This makes different versions of the Bitcoin ledger and could cause forks or double-spending.
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Casey Rodarmor is the creator of Ordinals. He reported the bug first on February 25 2023. A change in Bitcoin Core software version 0.21.0 caused the bug, he said. This version was released in January 2021. A new rule that demanded OP_RETURN outputs to have at least 4 bytes of data came with the change that was supposed to enhance and protect OP_RETURN outputs. Rodarmor said he did not know about this change when he made Ordinals and he tested his code with older versions of Bitcoin Core that did not have this rule. He also said he talked to some Bitcoin Core developers about the bug and asked for help. The bug started a big debate between the Bitcoin Ordinals community and the Bitcoin Core developers.
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Some Ordinals users were angry and sad about the bug and they wanted a fast fix or their money back for their inscriptions. Some of them also said the Bitcoin Core developers were mean or did not care about them. But some Bitcoin Core developers said the bug was not their fault or problem and they did not have to help or agree with Ordinals or any other apps that use OP_RETURN outputs. They also said OP_RETURN outputs were not for storing data on the blockchain and they could change or remove them any time.
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The debate also made some big questions about what Bitcoin and its blockchain are for. Some Ordinals supporters said Bitcoin was a platform that anyone could use for anything they wanted if they paid the fees and followed the rules. They also said Ordinals were good and new for Bitcoin and made it more useful and fun.
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But some Bitcoin Core supporters said Bitcoin was a protocol that had one goal: to make a digital currency that no one could stop or control. They also said Ordinals were bad and not needed for Bitcoin and made it worse and less safe.
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The inscription validation bug is not fixed yet when I write this blog post. I do not know how many inscriptions have the bug or how much they are worth. The bug’s fix is uncertain in terms of how, when, or whether it will happen. The debate about the bug shows how different and complex the Bitcoin world is and also shows some of its hard choices.