On Christmas Eve, users completed 723,000 transactions, setting a new record. Transactions involving Bitcoin ordinals accounted for 440,000, which represents 60.8% of the total.

It might appear that ordinals are primarily responsible for heavy network load and increased commission. However, this isn't entirely true, as quasi-tokens distributed over the Bitcoin network use the JSON text format, which takes up little space. Because of this, a single block is densely packed.

Note: Ordinals are digital assets that come in the form of images, video, audio files (ERC-721 analogue), or quasi-tokens (ERC-20 analogue). The speculative hype surrounding quasi-tokens has seen them take up a 90–99% share of all Bitcoin ordinals transactions on the BTC network.

The Ordinals protocol was introduced in February, and the number of transactions since then has skyrocketed to new heights. That being said, Bitcoin ordinals have taken up no more than 20% of the block space since July, according to an analysis by Glassnode.

In other words, the lion's share of transactions are now financial, and the Christmas Eve flurry of activity can be attributed to the desire to send Bitcoin as a gift to family and friends.

A potentially wise decision in view of the upcoming introduction of spot ETFs in the US and the rally which is expected to ensue. Fox journalist Eleanor Terrett reported on X (formerly Twitter) that the SEC has set December 29 as the deadline for issuers to file their final applications with any amendments incorporated.

If this plays out, then the chance of seeing ETFs arrive next year has greatly increased.

StormGain Analytical Group
(platform for trading, exchanging and storing cryptocurrency)