Ordinals, Inscriptions & Runes

Ordinals theory, launched by Casey Rodarmor in late 2022 / early 2023, lets data be inscribed onto individual satoshis without changing the Bitcoin protocol, enabling assets like BRC-20 (2023) and Runes (2024). It has boosted the fee market and miner revenue, but also ignited one of Bitcoin's fiercest community debates over whether it should remain "pure money." This article takes neither the defending nor the criticizing side, and follows the consequences of changing nothing in the protocol through to the end — indexer dependence, nodes that do not recognize inscriptions, and the risk of spending them away.