Ordinals Summit 2024: "I can be wrong on Bitcoin, and no one will judge me"

Eastern and Western Bitcoin builders gathered at the Ordinals Summit 2024 in Singapore to debate the critical question: are Runes and Ordinals truly dead, or is this just the beginning of a new phase in Bitcoin’s evolution?

When Bitcoin is no longer fun?

“Ordinals are dead. Runes are also dead.”

This is the prevailing sentiment among many, especially when looking at the current transaction volume and fee generation of Ordinals and Runes on the Bitcoin network. At their peak, these two accounted for 50-70% of the fees on the network. But today, their dominance has dropped sharply, and the transaction volume hovers around 5-10%.

For some attending the Ordinals Summit 2024, held on September 17 at the National Gallery Singapore, this sentiment may have resonated. This year marked the second gathering of Ordinals Summit, the largest Bitcoin event within the framework of TOKEN2049.

Last year, the event was full of excitement: a packed auditorium, speakers dressed as wizards, a “blanket-covered” guild leader, and, most memorably, the presence of the “black ninja” Domo, creator of BRC-20.

This year, Domo was absent, and the energy was notably lower, with fewer attendees. David Lin of Ordzaar, co-organizer of the summit, even revealed that the event was almost canceled at the last minute due to difficulties in securing a partner.

Yet, by the end of the event, many participants began to reconsider—perhaps the data doesn't tell the full story.

Users often thrive during periods of market excitement, when opportunities to make money abound, as seen during the boom of Ordinals and BRC-20 (mid-Q4 2023 to mid-Q1 2024) and the launch of Runes (April 2024). However, dedicated builders—for example Bitcoin builders—work relentlessly, regardless of the market conditions.

In fact, during market downturns, they might be even more active. As Raph Japh, lead maintainer of the Ordinals Protocol, explained: “Honestly, building in a bear market is more fun. We get to play around, test every possibility, create a product that can survive the next growth phase. Whereas in a bull market, it’s all about buying and selling, people are always saying, ‘do this, try that, we need it now.’”

This enthusiasm was reflected in the number of speakers and the quality of discussions at the Ordinals Summit 2024.

Casey Rodarmor, the creator of Ordinals and Runes, and his team flew halfway around the world to attend the summit. According to Erin Redwing, CEO of Inscribing Atlantis and co-host of the event, part of the reason for this was: “Casey was jealous of us and asked to come to Singapore because he loves the food here.”

This year’s summit was more than just Ordinals and BRC-20. It attracted venture capitalists (VCs), game developers, artists, and collectors from around the world.

The East and the West gathered to discuss a wide range of topics, including: Why Bitcoin? Building on the mother chain; the Future of web3 gaming on Bitcoin; Ordinals vs. NFTs—scarcity, security, and the future of digital collectibles; Runes vs. BRC-20 vs. whatever comes next; SlowFi—rethinking DeFi on Bitcoin; Bitcoin’s gold rush—insights from top VCs and collectors; the Digital art renaissance—pushing the boundaries of art on Bitcoin; and Contrasting global views on Bitcoin from East to West.

Read more: Domo: 'Someone stopped me and called me Bitcoin Oppenheimer'

Bitcoin as a canvas for inscription

One sentiment echoed by many speakers at the summit was that, out of more than 13,000 crypto projects across a range of sectors, only three types of projects have enduring use cases: Stablecoins, collectibles, and Bitcoin.

Nicole Yap, founder of 8sian.io, shared how Bitcoin transformed her life. Growing up in a conservative Malaysian family, Nicole’s mother wanted her to marry early instead of attending university.

At 16, Nicole discovered Bitcoin and bought it at $80 per coin. After reading an article on Google that described Bitcoin as the future of currency, she became fascinated by the idea, even though she didn’t fully understand it. Taking a bold risk, she asked her mother to withdraw all her savings—about $20,000—and invest it in Bitcoin. She was 17 at the time.

Nicole continued her teenage life until one day, her mother informed her of an arranged marriage. To avoid this fate, Nicole sold her Bitcoin, bought a one-way ticket to Melbourne, and attended university there, living alone for five years. “I’ve been in this space ever since. I owe my life to crypto,” she said.

With the advent of Ordinals, which allow users to inscribe data onto the Bitcoin network, Bitcoin has transformed how many artists experiment with their work. As Erin Redwing of Inscribing Atlantis puts it: "Bitcoin is the canvas, and inscriptions are how artists paint on it."

Ten years ago, music artist Violetta Zironi signed with a major label, which she called “the worst decision” of her life. “They took almost everything from me before I even had it. It taught me very quickly that I wanted to be independent,” she shared.

Zironi’s journey to becoming an independent artist was far from smooth, until she discovered crypto and began releasing music through NFTs. She believes that crypto is the best companion for her mission to elevate the value of music to that of visual art.

“Why are there museums for visual art but none for music?” she asks. “Pairing music with something deflationary like Bitcoin highlights its scarcity and value.”

Zironi says the ability to inscribe on the Bitcoin network has made her a better songwriter. With Bitcoin's 400 KB block size limit, she is compelled to create songs that are concise, direct, and melodically strong.

“The experience was liberating because, for the first time, I didn’t have to polish a song to fit a trend or get it on the radio,” she explains. “This is me. If it’s wrong, I’ll be wrong, but I can be wrong on Bitcoin, and no one will judge me.”

“Runes isn’t a mistake, I am”

Despite the hard work of Bitcoin developers, their products are ultimately for the users. And after much excitement, many users were left more or less disappointed with the launch of Runes.

During a candid discussion with Casey Rodarmor and the Ordinals team, Ordzaar’s David Lin asked the audience who had lost money on Runes. Almost everyone raised their hand. David turned to Rodarmor: “Do you think Runes was a mistake?”

Rodarmor responded, “I think Runes is successful in that it has a strong indexer and an open-source ecosystem. Runes is quite decentralized in the sense that no one and no protocol controls it. So, no, Runes is not a mistake, but I might have been a mistake.”

He urged everyone to be patient, considering the market cycle, and suggested waiting another three and a half years. David replied, “I don’t think we can wait that long. Three and a half years and we’re all broke. You have to do something.” Rodarmor hinted that something exciting is coming in the next few months, and users can look forward to the upcoming Ordinals collection.

Ordinals, alongside BRC-20 and Runes, have sparked a wave of innovation on Bitcoin, which the team behind OPNET has coined “SlowFi.” At the summit, Charlie Spears, co-founder of Blockspace Media, explained: “SlowFi is DeFi, but slower.” While other blockchains like Solana boast block times as fast as 400 milliseconds, Bitcoin’s average block time is around 10 minutes.

Despite the slower pace, the Bitcoin network is steadily laying the foundations for its own DeFi ecosystem.