Inscription is a better NFT

Author: Liu Jiaolian

If you want to choose a " "Word of the Year", I think it might be "ETF" or "inscription". However, "ETF" is really not a new term, and it is actually a product in the U.S. stock market, not a product in the crypto market - ETF is a tool for packaging crypto assets for sale in the U.S. stock market, so, This word is hardly native to the crypto industry.

Then it is the "inscription". No matter how mixed it is, the word inscription has at least swept the Chinese encryption circle into a fashion trend and formed a cultural phenomenon.

Philosopher Wittgenstein once said, "The limits of language are the limits of the world." The same is true for data on the chain, and the Chinese term "inscription" is more important than NFT. The three-letter acronym is so clever that I don’t know where it is.

Imagine an outsider named Zhang San. I introduced him to the famous work CryptoPunks.

Zhang San asked: What is this?

My answer: This is NFT.

Zhang San asked: What is NFT?

My answer: NFT is the acronym for Non-Fungible Token, and its full name is "Non-Fungible Token".

Zhang San vomited blood: What is "non-homogeneity"? What is a “pass”? What is... Can you speak human language?

If I use the word "inscription" instead...

Zhang San asked: What is this?

My answer: This is an inscription.

Zhang San asked: What is an inscription?

My answer: Digital artworks and digital collections that are permanently engraved and remembered forever are called inscriptions.

At this point Zhang San understands. If he continues to ask, what technology was used to achieve it. I can continue to answer him and say, use blockchain technology. So as for what blockchain technology is, it will become a big topic after unfolding it.

Correspondingly, the related verbs have also changed accordingly. The NFT chain is called mint. The winding of inscriptions is called "inscribe", and even the slightly awkward "inscribe" has been replaced by the more smooth "inscribe".

More catchy colloquial expressions have made inscriptions a more permeable cultural phenomenon. For example, when meeting and greeting, you can start from "Have you eaten?" "Becomes "Have you made an inscription today?"

Having ultra-low cognitive threshold for dissemination and ultra-low threshold for learnability will become Memes that are highly replicable. Just like the vulgar and globally popular dance "Subject Three".

It can be said that the underlying driving force of every cultural phenomenon is memes.

Only from the surface of language and vocabulary, inscriptions are better than NFTs, more suitable for dissemination, and more lethal.

The inscription originated from Casey Rodarmor, the author of the Ordinal protocol. He artificially numbered Bitcoin satoshis according to a defined method, which he called ordinal. Then associate the ordinal to the data engraved on the chain, that is, the inscription. This associated action is called inscribe.

Casey Rodarmor's original idea was actually to use the Bitcoin chain to engrave some digital artworks, which he called digital artifacts. (Refer to the 2023.3.9 Teaching Chain article "Eternal Life with Bitcoin")

However, soon, the BRC-20 horizontal currency turned art into currency speculation. Kong was born, with its simple, free (no payment except for gas) and fair launch, it shocked people's nerves that had been numb for a long time. (Refer to the 2023.5.4 teaching chain article "BRC-20, the King of Memes")

Soon, the inscription of the BRC-20 meme coin took over The dominant ratio has greatly increased the cost of using the Bitcoin chain and created tens of thousands of fragment transactions, which has attracted criticism from developers. (Refer to the 2023.12.26 article "Inscription Kills Bitcoin", the 2023.12.7 article "He Wants to Kill the Inscription")

Bitcoin's chain , the asset BTC should be well served. Casey Rodarmor's thoughts on the "conceptual intuition", "complete chaining" and "eternal change" of digital crafts have indeed captured the pain points that NFT cannot solve.

From NFT to inscriptions - I mean inscriptions as digital crafts, digital artworks, and digital collectibles, which is undoubtedly an evolution. Although, it may not be suitable for being engraved on the Bitcoin chain, but suitable for being hosted on other side chains. After all, the value of the inscription collection is more scattered and insufficient than the electronic gold of BTC, and it may not be worth wasting such precious storage space on the Bitcoin chain.

And NFTs that are difficult to explain and full of flaws have been in the last bull market and have repeatedly appeared on the world's top auction houses. (Refer to the 2021.3.12 Teaching Chain article "$69.35 million! Christie's first auction of blockchain NFT artworks was a great success", the 2021.4.10 Teaching Chain article "Christie's to auction Cryptopunk NFT")

Jiaolian has written many articles since 2021, saying that NFT is a potential direction. Typical articles such as:

2021.1.28 Teaching Chain Article "The core spirit of NFT is the physicalization of digital items, not the chaining of atomic items"

2021.3.16 Teaching Chain Article "NFT is the Opportunity of the Next Bitcoin Level"

2021.3. 23 Teach Chain article "The true essence of NFT is the value carrier"

2021.4.3 Teach Chain article "Punk Teach Chain: I NFT myself"

2021.8.29 Jiaolian article "NFT has become a new symbol of social status"

2022.3.18 Article "Bored Apes Reach the Top"

A cultural phenomenon may wander, but it is difficult to die.

From colored coins, counterparty to cryptopunks, from Bitcoin to Ethereum; from NFT to inscription, from Ethereum back to Bitcoin; from Bitcoin inscription The inscriptions are sent out on thousands of chains - the inscriptions are the propaganda team, and the inscriptions are the seeders, sowing the spirit of Bitcoin, the ideas of digital artworks and collectibles into the world of each chain and into people's hearts.