On January 6, a user embedded 8.93 MB of unformatted binary data into the Bitcoin blockchain as 332 Ordinals ‘inscriptions’.
BREAKING: Someone just spent >1 BTC to inscribe 8.93 MB of raw binary data into Bitcoin.
Can anybody decode it to find out what it is?
→ https://t.co/PAaKCWVDus pic.twitter.com/wIpOsgwmhF
— Ord.io (@ord_io) January 6, 2024
The fees for creating these inscriptions ranged from $14 to $2500, totaling approximately $64,000.
On the Ord.io platform, the series of inscriptions is simply called ‘Nameless’. Two of them are marked with a pizza icon, indicating the use of satoshis from the 10,000 BTC that programmer Laszlo Hanyecz used to pay for two Papa John’s pepperoni pizzas in 2010.
The potential content of the information uploaded by the unknown party has sparked interest in the community.
It’s spread across the 332 inscriptions in the address I linked to. This one is the largest file: 0febc2821e7c5a8c4416dc3754b27cb72bd28598eecbc7aa797e9b5d2672c9f2i0
Some people are saying it may be encrypted so potentially impossible/very hard to decrypt FYI
— Leonidas (@LeonidasNFT) January 7, 2024
“Some people are saying it may be encrypted, so potentially impossible/very hard to decrypt, FYI,” warned The Ordinal Show host known as Leonidas.
An attempt to use ChatGPT to decode the data was unsuccessful. The AI halted the process, stating it would take too long.
and chatgpt says … pic.twitter.com/h8X93JzS1A
— Bokiko (@Bokiko_io) January 6, 2024
The creator of the meme token Cheems turned the situation into a joke. He claimed his team managed to decrypt the information and would post data on all 332 inscriptions in a series of tweets. The first fragment supposedly contained data on human behavior research, potentially a state secret, while another file allegedly mentioned extraterrestrial contacts. However, the thread soon devolved into a well-known internet meme featuring Rick Astley.
decrypted one of 332 inscription, will post the rest below??
reveals detailed data: System performance scores, user engagement metrics, and demographics focused on a specific group.
Why this costly inscription? Could it be secret government surveillance data, now exposed? https://t.co/bpphbIXIJV pic.twitter.com/rtucN9VE9G
— Cheems (@TheCheemsToken) January 7, 2024
Earlier, on January 5, an unknown user sent 26.91 BTC (~$1.2 million) to the wallet of Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.