Bitwise's Bitcoin ETF Address Receives Thousands of Donations and Ordinal Inscriptions

Bitwise, an asset management company, disclosed the Bitcoin address for its spot Bitcoin ETF on January 24, marking a first among ten issuers of such ETFs. Shortly after going public, the address experienced a flurry of activity, including numerous donations featuring Bitcoin ordinals and rare sats.

As of now, the wallet has amassed inscription donations valued at $6,083 and contains over 16,000 inscriptions. Notable among these are two RSIC airdrops, a Bitcoin Punk, a Bitcoin Burials, a Quadkey, among other items. Additionally, the wallet is home to thousands of BRC-20 inscriptions, albeit without any valid or active BRC-20 balances.

Ordinals, a novel concept introduced last year, allow for the creation of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the Bitcoin blockchain by attaching data like images or videos to individual satoshis, the smallest Bitcoin unit. This innovation has divided the crypto community: some praise ordinals for enhancing Bitcoin's fungibility and versatility, while others criticize their block space consumption and potential to congest the network.

The decision by Bitwise to make its ETF Bitcoin address public has been met with positive feedback from much of the crypto community. However, there's been scrutiny over a single 12,000 BTC transaction made without a preliminary test transaction to confirm the address's validity.

Criticism also arose regarding Bitwise's choice of a single key wallet over a multisig wallet, which offers enhanced security by requiring multiple keys for access. Multisig wallets are likened to bank safe deposit boxes, necessitating several private keys for operation, thereby bolstering the security of stored crypto assets.

At the time of reporting, Bitwise had not responded to inquiries about its stance on supporting Ordinals or its preference for single key wallets over multisig options.

Cointelegraph