bitcoin-dev

Ordinal Inscription Size Limits

Ordinal Inscription Size Limits

Original Postby Claus Ehrenberg

Posted on: February 6, 2023 17:31 UTC

The discussion on Bitcoin-dev mailing list revolves around the unlimited storage of NFT content as witness data using an ordinal scheme.

While some users find it to be an elegant and genius solution, others are concerned about the potential risk of storing potentially malicious content in the main chain. The inscriptions are designed to be easy to use with mime types, making it accessible through user interfaces. However, one user suggests that it would be prudent to have an opt-out feature for potentially malicious content. They suggest a better approach would be something like extension blocks in Litecoin, where the content does not live in the essential data of the main chain. Another user proposes linking a sat to a deed or other legal construct for proof of ownership in the real world so that real property can be transferred on the blockchain using ordinals. However, they question whether unlimited storage is wise to allow for such use cases and suggest imposing a size limit similar to OP_RETURN. The concern is about future disk usage of unpruned nodes and whether allowing unlimited storage is practical. Despite this, some users predict a huge success for the use of inscriptions on the Bitcoin chain.