- Bitcoin developers are strategizing to filter out the trading of meme coins on the Bitcoin network.
- Developers point out that the system is being abused.
- Serving as a layer for meme coins was also not the purpose of Bitcoin according to the developers.
Bitcoin developers are strategizing to filter out the trading of meme coins on the Bitcoin network. According to the latest report from Bloomberg, they are also deliberating over whether to halt meme coins flocking into the network altogether.
Ali Sherief, a Bitcoin developer, has expressed concerns about the impact of “worthless tokens” on the functionality of the Bitcoin network as a peer-to-peer digital currency. He recently shared his views with Bloomberg, stating that he believes the system is being exploited and that Bitcoin was not originally designed to support meme tokens at its core.
Luke Dashjr, an experienced Bitcoin developer, shared his sentiments and considered ordinal transactions akin to spam. Dashjr has gone a step further by creating a program called “Ordisrespector” to assist computer nodes on the Bitcoin network in avoiding such transactions.
During the second quarter of 2023, there was a resurgence in the popularity of meme coins. The launch of Pepe Coin in mid-April played a significant role in reigniting interest in this market segment. The original Pepe Coin is an ERC-20 token built on the Ethereum blockchain.
Following the increased hype, other blockchains have also seen a gradual rise in meme coin activity. On the Bitcoin blockchain, BRC-20 tokens have gained considerable traction. As reported by brc-20.io, there were approximately 24,677 BRC-20 tokens with a total value of $475,058,296 at press time. Notably, this is less than half of the peak of $1bn recorded last month.
Amid the challenges posed by meme coins, an alternative approach to address the issue could be to execute a hard fork that does not support Ordinals. However, garnering the necessary support for such a fork may prove challenging. Andrew Poelstra, the Director of Research at Blockstream, expressed skepticism, stating that he doesn’t see a critical mass of people uniting behind an alternative to Bitcoin that is incompatible with BRC-20 tokens.
Notably, Bitcoin’s blockchain is now experiencing a significant influx of meme coins and NFT tokens, marking a new development for the network.
