Magic Eden Halts BRC-20 Trading Due to Ordinal Consensus Issues

Magic Eden, a popular non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace, has announced that it has temporarily suspended the trading of BRC-20 assets on its platform. BRC-20 is a new token standard that uses ordinal inscription to create fungible tokens on the Bitcoin blockchain.

According to a post on the official Magic Eden X Account, the decision was made to protect users from potential risks and losses caused by the lack of full Ordinal Consensus across all BRC-20 assets. Ordinal Consensus is a mechanism that ensures the validity and uniqueness of BRC-20 tokens by preventing double-spending and counterfeiting.

We’ve temporarily paused BRC-20 trading to best protect users until full ord consensus across all BRC-20

All other trading remains live on Magic Eden in the meantime!🫡

— Magic Eden on Bitcoin 🟧 (@MEonBTC) October 22, 2023

Magic Eden Would Reverse the Decision in the Future

Magic Eden said that it will resume BRC-20 trading once the Ordinal Consensus is achieved and verified by all parties involved. The platform also assured users that all other forms of trading, such as Solana-based NFTs, remain unaffected and operational.

BRC-20 was launched in March 2023 by an anonymous developer named Domo. It is an experimental token standard that aims to expand the functionality and usability of Bitcoin beyond its traditional role as a store of value and medium of exchange. 

BRC-20 tokens do not rely on smart contracts but rather use script file storage on BTC to enable features such as metadata, divisibility, and transferability. Since its inception, BRC-20 has attracted a lot of attention and demand in the digital collectible space. 

Magic Eden was one of the first platforms to list BRC-20 assets, such as Bitcoin Ordinals, which are ordinal numbers represented as tokens. Bitcoin Ordinals have been used to create various NFT projects, such as art, music, and gaming. However, BRC-20 has also faced some challenges and limitations, such as high transaction fees, low scalability, and complex user experience. 

To address these issues, Domo has recently introduced RUNES, a new Bitcoin UTXO protocol that aims to improve the performance and accessibility of BRC-20 tokens. 

The suspension of BRC-20 trading by Magic Eden is a temporary setback for the innovative token standard, but it also shows the need for more research and development to ensure its security and stability. BRC-20 still has a lot of potential to unlock new possibilities for Bitcoin and NFTs in the future.