23rd June 2023 > > Ethscriptions.

tl;dr

Ethscriptions fight a rearguard action against Ordinals.

Market Snap

Market Wrap

The Blackrock effect remains in place with some minor oscillations around the psychologically important level of $30k. A near 20% price increase in the last week has shifted the narrative away from regulation woes to focus again on the potential for blockchain technology, but, more importantly, the prospect of a mooted Wall Street “takeover” of cryptos can only mean one thing for the future trajectory of price action.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – Ethscriptions

The sudden and unexpected arrival of Ordinals on the BTC blockchain – with an equally dramatic user uptake – was seen by some as a potential for becoming the Eth killer, albeit from an unlikely source. The thinking is that if ordinals provide a superior form of NFTs by removing the centralisation inherent in storing images on a server separate from the blockchain, and that if ordinals can be used to create alts, and if ordinals can develop into smart contracts, and if ordinals allow the Bitcoin blockchain to become its own internet, what is the point of Ethereum?

The pace of technological innovation and development in this space is extraordinary. Step forward Ethscriptions.

Launched six days ago, this new protocol allows for data to be inscribed into the Ethereum blockchain in a manner reminiscent of ordinals. Though currently limited to images only, and a maximum size of 96 kb, we can be sure that very soon these minor irritations will be resolved.

The first use of Ethscriptions? Ethereum Punks of course:

https://ethereumpunks.net/

All 10,000 were inscribed almost immediately.

Now we have the original CryptoPunks, with the images stored on a centralised server, we have Ordinal Punks with the images stored on the Bitcoin blockchain, and with this latest development, Ethereum Punks stores the images on the Ethereum blockchain.

Naturally, OpenSea have a marketplace:

https://opensea.io/collection/ethscriptions

Secondary market sales of Ethereum Punks are measured in tens of dollars, suggesting that perhaps there is some scepticism about the proliferation of Punk projects.

But that is not the point about this new development. Other use-cases will quickly be created. The application of blockchain technology knows no bounds.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – Talking of blockchain applications

One of the most exciting prospects for blockchain technology, and hence cryptos, is the potential for the tokenisation of financial assets, a topic we have touched upon in the past.

Blackrock – currently the most favoured financial institution in the crypto world following its recent application for a spot BTC ETF driving the price of BTC upwards– agrees with me.

Joseph Chalom, head of strategic ecosystem partnerships, thinks institutional adoption of tokenisation might be slower than expected in the short term, "but in the long term it will be monumental in shaping our ecosystem."

He added:

"We need to work with good actors, and with good infrastructure, that becomes self-reinforcing, then the money and adoption will come.”

I am not keen on the pessimism inherent in the “slower than expected” comment, but he is on the right track.