Binance Research, led by researchers JieXuan Chua (CFA) and Brian Chen, released a comprehensive report on February 8, 2024, detailing the expanding inscriptions and BRC-20 sector within the Bitcoin ecosystem. The full report is available for download.
Inscriptions and BRC-20 have galvanized the Bitcoin community, not only driving increased activity, but also attracting new developers to the community. These novel technologies have expedited project advancements and initiated a wave of innovation within the Bitcoin ecosystem.
Although in its nascent stage, the Bitcoin Ordinals landscape has begun branching out into diverse sectors like DeFi, NFTs, and tooling. This development has resulted in a small yet increasingly vibrant ecosystem.
The practice of inscriptions has further broadened, encompassing EVM-compatible chains besides Bitcoin. Even though a dramatic surge in trading activity initially led to network outrages in some cases, such activity has considerably declined since then. Against this backdrop, it remains unclear if inscription activity on EVM-compatible chains will again gain momentum considering their inherent smart contract functionality and the implications of using off-chain indexers.
The report also casts a spotlight on several platforms allowing users to partake in inscriptions. These platforms allow various activities such as trading, inscription, and storage of inscriptions and BRC-20 tokens.
