Recently, there has been increasing discussion about inscriptions, and many people are asking whether they can still participate and whether there is still a profit opportunity. I think it’s necessary to clarify this matter.

First, let’s talk about what inscriptions actually are. Simply put, inscriptions are content engraved onto Bitcoin’s smallest unit, Satoshi, using the Ordinals protocol. They can be text, images, or videos. There’s a pretty vivid analogy—if Bitcoin is digital gold, then inscriptions are like gold jewelry. Although they’re fundamentally the same, because the people who create them are different, the value differences can be huge. This analogy has led many people to start paying attention to the inscriptions market.

In the Bitcoin ecosystem, the process of creating inscriptions is called “inscribe” (inscribing), and in the community they say “to inscribe inscriptions.” This concept isn’t actually complicated, but the current market situation is a bit complex.

When it comes to profit opportunities, it’s true that some people have made money. This inscription, Ordi, once saw a 1,000x gain. At the time, $3,000 could mint 100,000, and the highest unit price reached $4.5. Now the Ordi price is $2.38, and there are 26,673 holding addresses. This kind of surge really attracted a large number of speculators to enter.

Then the concept of BRC-20 emerged. Some people renamed inscriptions as BRC-20 and promoted it as a new token distribution method, claiming there is no project team, no rug-pull risk, and equal opportunities. It sounds very tempting—so what’s the reality? Fundamentally, BRC-20 is still a decentralized meme token. Anyone can mint it, but its function is single-purpose: besides quantity, it has no other utility. Currently, 85% of the inscriptions on the Bitcoin chain are BRC-20, and most of them are speculators trying again and again, hoping to become the next Ordi—but that’s too difficult.

Just look at the trading data now to see it. Sats’ 24-hour trading volume is $315,900, with 54,073 holding addresses; Rats have a trading volume of $2,045,700, with 17,794 holding addresses; Cats have a trading volume of $229,000. There are huge differences in the hype level of these projects, and they all have meme attributes.

The real opportunity to make money is during the primary market minting stage, but the problem is: among the many inscriptions, which one should you choose? Besides Ordi being well-known, other projects rely on information advantage and recommendations—which in itself shows the market isn’t fair.

There’s another real-world issue: inscription trading is severely congested, and the transaction fees are high. Bitcoin’s block time is 10 minutes, while Ethereum only takes 12 seconds. Inscription technology is still at an early stage, with incomplete infrastructure, making it very hard for beginners to get started. That’s why ERC-20 later appeared, solving the problems of high gas fees and fast block times. Now in the market, all kinds of projects are coming to ride the inscription hype—but to put it plainly, only BRC-20 and ERC-20 have actual value; the rest are just chasing attention.

We’re standing right at a turning point. The inscriptions market is full of opportunities, but it’s also full of traps. Historically, during the 2021 bull market, all sorts of animal coins eventually went to zero. Will today’s meme coins repeat the same mistake? Nobody knows.

So my advice is: before participating in inscriptions, you must analyze rationally. After the hype fades, money flows out, and many projects may end up with nothing but zero. Invest with caution, and the risks are your own to bear.