The Ordinals protocol was initially developed for Bitcoin users to exchange digital objects within the network. The first wave of hype was around the minting of graphic objects that were later overtaken by BRC-20 quasi-tokens, which are inter-exchangeable coins like Shiba Inu in the Ethereum network.

Speculative interest was so strong that the load on the network led to a five-fold increase in the average fee, and miners set a new annual profitability record.

Bitcoin is a low-bandwidth network, so a massive exchange of quasi-tokens resulted in negative consequences. For quicker networks, Ordinals present a stress test. On 16 November, the number of transactions on the Polygon network brought on by minting and exchanging PRC-20 tokens jumped from an average of 2.3 million to 16.4 million, setting a new record.

Kudos to the network, as all transactions were processed error- and failure-free. But the fee at peak times increased more than a hundred-fold from a minimum of 30 gwei to 5,000 gwei.

The hype supports validators. Users spent $90 million per day to process transactions with PRC-20.

For ordinary users, such experiments result in higher costs and the risk of delayed transfers. As for the MATIC coin, PRC-20 minting didn't affect it in any way.

Ordinals continue to travel through networks, increasing the load on them and their commissions. The creator of the Ordinals protocol, Casey Rodarmore, previously admitted his frustration publicly, calling 99.9% of quasi-tokens spam.

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