A big win for Bitcoin? Intro to Ordinals: Metaverse for Education Newsletter Issue #23
A big win for Bitcoin? Intro to Ordinals: Metaverse for Education Newsletter Issue #23
Remember when NFT's exploded? Ordinals might be next.
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Dear Educators & Friends,
AI was the biggest news in tech last month but this month has been whirlwind of innovation for the bitcoin community. You may not have heard about a new protocol changing Bitcoin utility and driving up prices but thatās why youāre subscribed to this newsletter so you can stay ahead of the game š
First, letās get back to basics.
A protocol is a set of foundational rules that allows entities to communicate information. When these rules (or code) are used by a large number of people, it becomes a validated common standard. Youāve seen protocols in action on the internet, for example, HTTP and HTTPS.
Blockchains run on protocols that dictate what the blockchain can do. Ethereum for example, has protocols that allow for smart contracts, which gave birth to Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).
āØ So letās zero in on the big news.
Casey Rodarmor, a blockchain developer, recently created a new protocol that allows us to do something new on the Bitcoin blockchain, which formerly only had one utility - peer to peer payments.
š¤© We can now create NFT-like digital assets on bitcoin.
Radarmorās protocol allows us to inscribe digital assets onto Bitcoin using Ordinals, which is a numbering scheme that tracks individual transactions on Bitcoin. Bitcoin Ordinals represent unique digital assets with distinct value and ownership with an additional layer of value based on the sequence of the Ordinal.
The difference between NFTs and Bitcoin Ordinals is that NFT data is usually stored on an external server with only ownership validated on chain. Bitcoin Ordinals store their data directly on the Bitcoin blockchain which means the data is truly immutable (unchangeable).
š¤ Why is this such a big deal?
Bitcoin is the longest running and most widely used secure and immutable blockchain that is āsufficiently decentralizedā enough that the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) has declared it to NOT be a security. Meaning that it wonāt be regulated like other blockchain tokens.
Bitcoin Ordinals may be more reliable, more secure, and possibly, more valuable than NFTs. Bitcoin Ordinals will also accelerate the work of interoperability because other blockchains will want to work with Bitcoin to take advantage of itās new utility.
Furthermore, putting immutable data on Bitcoin could help us track evidence & make speech un-censorable world-wide (for example, the data from Wuhan may not have disappeared if it was put on Bitcoin - sorry to open that can of worms right at the end here š²).
This issue is all about Ordinals. As with all innovations, the optimized utility of Ordinals is likely just starting to develop. Enjoy this dive into innovation!
Warmly yours,
Vriti Saraf & k20 Educators
Learn about Ordinals
What are Bitcoin Ordinals?
š¹ The details about Ordinals are everything
š¹ Breaking down Bitcoin Ordinals
š Digging into Ordinals
Dive into Ordinal Theory & Inscription Protocol
How Ordinals can lift the entire Bitcoin ecosystem
The debate about the pros & cons of Ordinals
š¹ Story behind Ordinals with Casey Radarmor
How will Ordinals impact education?
Get back to basics
What is a Satoshi? (Important for understanding Ordinal theory)
What is a protocol?
Five major types of blockchain protocols
More on NFTs from our Dec 21ā issue
What is blockchain?
More on Blockchains from our Feb 22ā issue
Do Something with Ordinals
This is not financial advice.
The Ordinal Wallet
Other wallet options
Storing Ordinals on Metamask
Join Ordinals Discord channel to explore Ordinals for sale
Top 10 most notable Ordinals
Inscribe your own Ordinals to sell
Another service to inscribe your own Ordinals
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Web3 & education social networking event (Mar 1, 2023, Ed3verse)
Weekly coffee chat on web3Ā in education (every Saturday, Discord)
Web3 & Education writing group (Mar 26, 2023, monthly, Zoom)
Web 3.0 revolutionizing the way we teach and learn (Mar 1, 2023, Zoom)
Active-Con 2023 (Mar 3, 2023, New York IRL)
Metaverse Book Club Kick Off (Apr 8, 2023, Zoom & Ed3verse)
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This weekāsĀ Metaverse for EducationĀ newsletter is about Bitcoin Ordinals. More to come on other web3 & emerging tech topics. Weāre excited to bring education into the Metaverse & help you leverage the opportunities in the new world.