The Block: Bitcoin Ordinals, BRC-20 token traders gain a new ally as OKX upgrades

OKX wants a piece of the booming Bitcoin Ordinals and BRC-20 action. The crypto trading platform is launching new features that will allow customers to mint and trade Bitcoin Ordinals and BRC-20 tokens using the OKX wallet, according to a company statement. The exchange’s move follows both the market capitalization for BRC-20 tokens — thus far mainly memecoins like ordi — growing exponentially in recent months and the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, announcing last week its NFT marketplace will support Ordinals trading. “Adding Ordinal support and BRC-20 support just makes sense. This is going to be a key pillar of what people are going to be doing as they interact with web3,” said Jason Lau, OKX’s chief innovation officer.

OKX taps Ordinals and BRC-20 boom A rise in activity on the blockchain has simultaneously caused Bitcoin transaction fees to skyrocket as of late. More than $35 million in fees have been charged, according to data from Dune Analytics. In parallel, t he market capitalization for BRC-20 tokens exceeded a total market value of $900 million in recent days. A few days ago, the number of daily Bitcoin transactions set a record high, according to data from The Block Research. The increased activity, however, has caused fees to rise while the number of active addresses on the Bitcoin network declined.

Although Lau is generally bullish on Ordinals and BRC-20 tokens' future prospects, he realizes the situation is fluid and sentiment could change.

“It’s obviously still early,” he said. “There is a lot of work to make sure that this [growth] sustains. One challenge that we are keeping an eye on: there are within the Bitcoin camp some divergent views on how this will play out.” Not all of OKX's new features will be available immediately. While the option of trading BRC-20 tokens will be available to users this week, customers will only be able to mint Ordinal inscription NFTs and BRC-20 tokens later this month. By June, OKX said, users will possess the ability to trade Ordinals.

Chatter about forking Bitcoin Lau also commented on how he and his team will be keeping a close eye on the Bitcoin community as significant moves could be coming down the pike. “There is some chatter about forking Bitcoin itself. Some people don’t want this activity on Bitcoin,” said Lau. “We’re keeping an eye on that. We don’t necessarily agree… we think that these transactions are valid. They adhere to network rules and conditions and there’s nothing wrong with that.” OKX describes itself as the second largest crypto exchange by trading volume.

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