Overview of Bitcoin Inscriptions Data
• The surge in pending transactions in Bitcoin mempools directly correlates to the inscriptions craze.
• Blocks sizes have increased from just below 1.5 megabytes (MB) to between 2 MB and 2.5 MB due to the popularity of Bitcoin NFTs.
• Google Search queries show a near-vertical increase in interest over time for “Bitcoin Ordinals.”
Mempool Pending Transactions Visual
The amount and weight of pending transactions in global Bitcoin mempools indicate the immense interest cryptocurrency enthusiasts have had in inscription transactions since early 2023. Throughout most of the bear market cycle, pending transaction levels remained low as compared to previous bull markets, as evidenced by a Twitter bot called Mempool Alert which posted tweets every time its mempool emptied. As the mini-craze for Bitcoin NFTs has grown, so too did the number of pending transactions, with blocks sizes increasing from just below 1.5 megabytes (MB) to between 2 MB and 2.5 MB on average – some even reaching 4 MB limits like with the “giant” Taproot Wizard block mined by Luxor in collaboration with Udi Wertheimer and others.
Google Search Queries
An additional source of data measuring interest in Bitcoin inscriptions comes from Google Search queries for “Bitcoin Ordinals”. A look at Google Trends page shows an unmistakable increase in search interest over time, indicating that many users are inquiring about this new use case for the Bitcoin network more than ever before. While these trends are scored relative to peak search volumes around January 2021, it’s clear that curiosity surrounding this topic is on a steady incline as we move further into 2023.
Controversy Around Inscriptions
Whether or not Bitcoin should be used for NFT-like activities such as inscriptions has been hotly debated among cryptocurrency communities inside and beyond Bitcoin itself since early 2023 when this craze first began taking off. While some believe that this novel use case could breathe new life into the Bitcoin ecosystem, others view it as a short-lived fad that will eventually die out once more people become aware of its potential drawbacks such as scalability issues and high transaction fees associated with large block sizes required for inscription transactions.
Conclusion
Inscription activity on the Bitcoin blockchain has captured people’s attention inside and outside of crypto circles since early 2023, bringing along both excitement and controversy regarding its possible implications for cryptocurrency networks moving forward. Data sets from several sources provide an interesting overview of how popular these inscriptions have been thus far – including amounts/weights of pending transactions, block sizes reaching up to 4MB limits in some cases, and steady increases in related Google search queries all indicating tremendous enthusiasm around this new use case. Whether or not inscriptions become a long-term trend remains to be seen, but they certainly seem here to stay at least until more people become aware of their potential drawbacks like scalability issues & high transaction fees related to large block sizes required for inscription activities on the network