Bitcoin Ordinals Website Gets A Taste Of Own Medicine, As Massive Spam Attack Hits

Bitcoin Ordinals Website Gets A Taste Of Own Medicine, As Massive Spam Attack Hits

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Key Insights

  • The Bitcoin Ordinals website was hit by a DDoS attack, causing it to crash.
  • This is ironic because Ordinals themselves are often criticized for spamming the Bitcoin network.
  • Anti-Ordinals commentators like Luke Dashjr have criticized Ordinals creator Casey Rordamor for calling it a DDoS when he himself spams the Bitcoin network.
  • Dashjr compared Ordinals to rape, further escalating the already heated debate.
  • Despite the criticism, the Ordinals website is back online and more Ordinals are being inscribed on the network.
  • The "spam" situation on Bitcoin continues to worsen, with the mempool holding over 370,000 unconfirmed transactions and fees skyrocketing.

Only a few weeks ago, the issue of  Bitcoin Ordinals being "spam" on the entire network caused a rift on Twitter.

In a matter of hours, developers and enthusiasts took sides, and have been firing shots at one another ever since.

However, something interesting happened this week:

In an ironic turn of events, the Bitcoin Ordinals website faced its very own spam attack for the first time since its launch, drawing criticism and mockery from the "anti-Ordinals squad".

Ordinals Website Suffers A Massive Crash

This week on 27 December, the Bitcoin Ordinals website suffered a total blackout after it got hit with a DDOS or Distributed Denial of Service attack.

For context, DDOS attacks are a kind of spam exploit in which an attacker spams a network with requests, forcing it to burn out and shut down under the weight.

This, anti-Bitcoin commentators, have described as being similar to what Ordinals do to the Bitcoin network.

DDOS attack on the Bitcoin ordinals website | Source: <a href='https://twitter.com/rodarmor/status/1740080342957277612/' target='_blank' rel='noreferrer noopener'><u>Twitter</u></a>
DDOS attack on the Bitcoin ordinals website | Source: Twitter

The attack was first announced via a tweet from the creator of Bitcoin Ordinals, Casey Rordamor.

Rordamor mentioned that this was the first time since launch that the website was crashing and that he wasn't sure why this was happening.

The irony was all there, and the Ordinals critics wasted no time before turning it into fuel for another debate.

Critics Mock Ordinals

One of the first to jump on the bandwagon was Luke Dashjr, the Bitcoin core developer who started the pro versus anti-Ordinals debate in the first place.

The tweet that started it all
The tweet that started it all

Dashjr did not mince words.

The core developer, under Rordamor's tweet, commented "How dare you call it a DDoS?"

In the rest of the tweet, Dashjr implied that Rordamor was a hypocrite because the Ordinals creator had once argued that Ordinals were valid, "as long as the Bitcoin miners are willing to mine ordinal transactions"

"Pretty sure everyone involved is paying their internet bills"

– Luke Dashjr

In essence, Dashjr criticizes Rordamor for calling the Ordinals website's crash a DDOS attack, when he is doing the same on the Bitcoin network.

Are Bitcoin ordinals similar to rape?
Are Bitcoin ordinals similar to rape?

Keep in mind that Dashjr also once compared Ordinals on the Bitcoin network to rape, in a now-deleted Twitter thread.

He said to buttress his original argument, when pro-Ordinals commentators mentioned that Ordinals were fine, as long as people were willing to pay for them, and as long as miners were willing to process them.

"Paying the victim doesn't make rape okay, and spamming Bitcoin isn't even that", Dashjr says. "You're paying a third party witness, and not even the victim"

Bitcoin Ordinals

At the time of writing, the Ordinals website is back online, and more ordinals continue to be inscribed on the network, despite criticism.

Bitcoin ordinals website is back online
Bitcoin ordinals website is back online

Overall, the "spam" situation on Bitcoin continues to worsen, with the Bitcoin mempool holding more than 370,000 unconfirmed transactions.

Bitcoin's mempool
Bitcoin's mempool

Fees continue to skyrocket, with the cost of sending a "no-priority" transaction sitting at $3.14 and high-priority transactions going as high as $7.4.

Disclaimer: Voice of Crypto aims to deliver accurate and up-to-date information, but it will not be responsible for any missing facts or inaccurate information. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile financial assets, so research and make your own financial decisions.

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