Recently, a new protocol called Ethscriptions, which allows for the inscription of images on the Ethereum blockchain, has sparked significant interest. The project was developed by Tom Lehman, co-founder and former CEO of Genius.com, and has gained explosive attention since its launch. According to Lehman, nearly 30,000 Ethscriptions were created within less than 18 hours, making the release a "huge success," as he stated on Twitter.
What is Ethscriptions?
The original Ethscriptions protocol was created in 2016, and on June 17th, Genius.com co-founder and former CEO Tom Lehman developed a search engine and website called "Ethscriptions" for this protocol. He mentioned that these inscriptions utilize Ethereum's calldata, which is cheaper and more decentralized than using contract storage, while ensuring global uniqueness for all valid content.
To benchmark the inscription token "ordi" on the Ordinary protocol, the first "concept coin" of Ethereum inscriptions called "eths" was created based on Ethscriptions. Currently, all 21,000 eths with numbers below 2.1 million have been fully minted as of yesterday. Now, if one wants to own a recognized eths with a number below 2.1 million, they can only obtain it through off-chain trading.
How does Ethscriptions work?
Any successful Ethereum transaction with valid data URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) input that is unique will create an Ethscription. Duplicate content will be ignored, and all valid MIME (Media Type) formats are supported. To maintain URI uniqueness, it must not have any Ethscription with the same content in the previous block or within the same block's earlier transactions. Any transaction hash that contains valid Ethscription data as input and is sent by the Ethscription creator is considered a valid Ethscription transfer.
Ethscriptions can write non-financial and arbitrary data to the Ethereum blockchain, as long as the file size does not exceed 96KB. Users can inscribe any type of file. Currently, the Ethscriptions protocol only allows users to create NFTs in the form of images, but this may change in the future. Community members have revealed that Tom Lehman intends to add token indexing content to the Ethscriptions protocol.
These inscriptions utilize Ethereum's "calldata," which refers to data within smart contracts. This method is cheaper and more decentralized compared to using pure smart contract minting. The Ethscriptions protocol guarantees the uniqueness of all valid content, meaning theoretically, duplicate text inscriptions cannot be created. Users can view all Ethscriptions or browse them by address on the website ethscriptions.com, launched by Tom Lehman.
Controversies surrounding Ethscriptions
Although the protocol made its debut over the weekend, the concept of storing custom data/art in metadata has existed for years since 2016. The approach has mainly been achieved by breaking the boundaries of existing tools/technologies, which is not an ideal way to store artwork. While it could be accessed, it wasn't assigned to tokens, which is why Ethscriptions attempts to address this issue through off-chain consensus (fairness).
Furthermore, in terms of functionality, state data has more advanced capabilities such as dynamic execution or programmability of art. In comparison to Inscriptions (IS), IS has much less possibility of being trimmed than ES. IS has more storage nodes than ES, and ES can be called by ETH native contracts, while IS cannot. Both are unable to execute runtime functions.
Compared to the innovation of Ordinals, Ethscriptions offers new ideas and pathways for the narrative development and value expression of Ethereum. However, whether Ethscriptions can open doors for more innovators remains to be seen and will require time for validation, with the community playing a key role in its success.
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