Bitcoin Tensions Rise as Ordinals.com Falls Victim to DDoS Attack

Ordinals.com has become the target of a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack, causing connection issues and raising eyebrows in the Bitcoin ecosystem.

The website is currently inaccessible.

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On December 27, Casey Rodarmor, the creator of Ordinals, reported the DDoS attack, marking the first such incident since its January launch.

Rodarmor expressed his surprise on X (formerly Twitter):

Some critics find it ironic, given accusations that Ordinals inscriptions have spammed the Bitcoin network. Luke Dashjr, the founder of Bitcoin mining firm OCEAN, for example, criticized the labeling of the incident as a DDoS attack, noting:

How dare you call it a DDoS. Pretty sure everyone involved is paying their internet bills.

He clarified that he did not endorse DDoS attacks but wanted to point out the hypocrisy.

In response, some critics cautioned against labeling potential attackers as spammers. One X user, who goes by the pseudonym "Southern hands," asked:

"You don't want to censor valid TCP/IP packets, do you?"

In a separate discussion, Dashjr went as far as comparing Ordinals-inflicted spam to "rape". Though, the X post is now deleted.

This DDoS attack comes shortly after Taproot Wizards' CTO, "Rijndael," released a code script, possibly in jest, to allow node operators to censor Ordinals blocks on Bitcoin on December 26. This move was seen as a challenge to Ordinals' critics to take action.

Despite the spam accusations, Andrew Poelstra, Director of Research at Bitcoin infrastructure firm Blockstream, argues that Ordinals do not pose a threat to the Bitcoin network:

Ordinals, while disproportionately affecting the fee market, are a tiny part of the overall Bitcoin economy and pose no threat of meaningfully displacing Bitcoin on its own network.

The ongoing DDoS attack on Ordinals.com has ignited controversy and criticism within the Bitcoin community, with some labeling it as hypocritical given the accusations of spam against Ordinals inscriptions. The incident highlights the tensions surrounding Ordinals and their impact on the Bitcoin network.