The Truth About the Biggest Blocks in Bitcoin History
Bitcoin has always stood for pushing the boundary of what’s possible for the betterment of society. The Ordinals protocol takes that to a whole different level, allowing actual culture to be created and immutably established on the most secure, long-standing blockchain in existence through the equivalent of Ordinals NFTs. Most Bitcoin inscriptions aren’t larger than a few kilobytes — but there are some Ordinals that reach the 4 megabyte mark, which is the maximum size for a single Bitcoin block.
OrdinalsBot has had the honor of inscribing 9 of the 10 largest inscriptions in existence from some of the best Ordinals collections out there. In this article, we’ll walk you through the concept of full-block inscriptions, why you need a miner like OrdinalsBot for huge inscriptions like these, and our list of 9/10 of the biggest files on Bitcoin, all inscribed by OrdinalsBot. If you’re looking for where to inscribe Ordinals, we hope you’ll choose OrdinalsBot by the end of this post!
Understanding Full-Block Inscriptions
Full-block inscriptions are Ordinals that are so large, they require an entire Bitcoin block’s worth of space (4 MB) to be inscribed. For context, a typical block holds between 1,000–2,500 individual transactions, so to take up an entire block with just one is quite the feat.
Why would a project want to put such a large file on Bitcoin with the Ordinals protocol, especially when it’s a technically challenging and expensive process? The answer lies in the culture. Several industry-leading projects have utilized full-block Ordinals inscriptions to make a statement within the Bitcoin community — to quite literally inscribe their name on the blockchain forever, letting everyone know that they are here to stay and to change the industry.
Of course, simply creating a huge inscription doesn’t guarantee success — but projects like Runestones, French Montana’s Mac & Cheese 5, Ordzaar, and more have more than made their mark on the Bitcoin network in large part thanks to their 4 MB inscriptions. These files were so large that they required us to work with miners to get them inscribed.
The Role of Miners in Full-Block Inscriptions
But why do you need a miner if you want to inscribe a huge file on Bitcoin? The answer lies in Bitcoin’s own software safety mechanisms. In order to protect the network and keep spam out, most Bitcoin nodes will not send any transaction that’s larger than 400 KB to the network to be published by miners.
That means that you need to collaborate with a miner “out of band” in order to get larger transactions (read: files) published to the Bitcoin blockchain. The term “out of band” refers to any transaction where the details are communicated outside of the Bitcoin peer-to-peer (P2P) network itself (e.g., through Telegram or over email). Correspondingly, “in-band” transactions are those that Bitcoin nodes can relay because they’re 400 KB or less in size.
Once a miner has received the transaction information through email, Telegram, or another avenue, they can then load the transaction into their own private memory pool (mempool) and mine it. Privacy ensures that no other node will see the transaction before it goes into a confirmed block by this particular miner. The transaction is protected from front-running and the miner avoids unnecessary competition for block space, which can slow the network down and increase fees.
Overview of the Top 9 Largest Bitcoin Inscriptions by OrdinalsBot
In the world of Ordinals, every byte counts — and OrdinalsBot has made its mark by inscribing nine out of the ten largest files ever on Bitcoin. While we didn’t handle the third largest inscription, the other nine, starting with number ten and ending with the largest inscription in history, showcase our passion for pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with Bitcoin. Join us as we count down from number ten to the largest inscription ever made.
No10 — Largest Inscription: CENTS by Rutherford Chang
File size: 3.961 MB , File type: GLTF
Starting off our list at number 10 is CENTS by Rutherford Chang on sovrn.art, an indie drop studio. The file itself is a massive 3D model of a block of copper that OrdinalsBot helped inscribe. It’s interactive in that users can click and drag to see different sides of it.
This Bitcoin inscription stands as a commentary on value, highlighting the fact that although US pennies have become virtually worthless in the eyes of the public, they still maintain a value of 1¢. And interestingly, pennies minted before 1982 were made of real copper, and are actually worth around 3.1¢.
10,000 real pennies were removed from circulation, documented, and turned into 10,000 individual Ordinals on satoshis, the smallest measurement of Bitcoin. The real pennies were then melted into a 68-pound block, represented by the 3D model above. We’re glad that Rutherford found where to inscribe Ordinals at scale — right here on OrdinalsBot.
Even as the US penny fades away, it will remain untouched and immutably inscribed in the form of this brilliant inscription. You can check out the high-resolution CENTS gallery here.
No 9 Largest Inscription: The Runestone Parent Inscription
File size: 3.966 MB, File type: WEBP
This is the initial Bitcoin inscription that launched the epic journey of @leonidasnft’s Runestone, undoubtedly one of the best Ordinals collections out there. Ordfluencer Leonidas had the idea to create a piece of cultural history for the Bitcoin Ordinals community by inscribing one of the largest files ever on the blockchain.
But he took it a step further — this massive file was only a parent inscription for an Ordinals NFT drop of unprecedented scale: 112K recipients.
Any wallet that held a minimum of three non-text Ordinals by the snapshot deadline of block height 826,600 was eligible for this free mint — dubbed a “fairdrop.”
The Runestone project represents the pioneer spirit inherent in the Ordinals community; going where no one has before in the blockchain space and doing what no one has yet done with new technology. We were especially proud to facilitate the inscription of this project because of Leonidas’s goal of rewarding the early adopters, the ones who believed in Ordinals NFTs when no one else did.
No 8 Largest Inscription: Léo Caillard’s HODL Stone
File size: 3.967 MB, File type: GLTF
The HODL Stone is an extremely rare creation — a 4 MB original 3D file. The sculpture is of a marble hand holding one of Leonidas’s Runestones, symbolizing the intersection of physical and digital art. The artist, Léo Caillard, also collaborated with Leonidas on his project to create the Runestone itself (see the following section below).
Caillard is an accomplished contemporary artist who excels in the physical sculpture medium, and we found the HODL Stone to be an excellent integration of marble sculpture and next-level technology.
Caillard’s work has been exhibited across the globe, and he was listed as one of the top 20 NFT artists at auction by ArtPrice. When you’re creating excellent art and want to digitize it, it’s crucial to know where to inscribe Ordinals in the highest quality — and Caillard chose OrdinalsBot. We were honored to inscribe this masterpiece for him, and would love to work with him again.
No 7 Largest Inscription: The First Runestone Child Inscription
File size: 3.968 MB, File type: GLTF
If you thought Leonidas and Léo Caillard wouldn’t be appearing on this list again, you stand corrected. Leonidas is a mainstay of the Ordinals community, and the parent Runestone inscription was only the start of this journey — the next step was to inscribe this first, even-more-massive child inscription.
And at the end of the process, what did Leonidas do with the Runestone, which was valued at 8 BTC at the time? He “accidentally” sent it to Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin address. It was soon clear that he’d send the inscription as the ultimate homage, though. And what better end could we ask for?
We find it amazing that Leonidas set the record for the largest inscription ever only to break that record just a day later. This Runestone is the same one in Caillard’s HODL Stone — a beautiful 3D creation that took a huge amount of skill to create (and a decent amount of hard work for us to inscribe!)
This was the first child inscription of the 112K total Ordinals that were sent to eligible wallets in the Runestone airdrop.
No 6 Largest Inscription: A Good Doctor by Experiment 9
File size: 3.968 MB, File type: MP4
A Good Doctor Studio created something really interesting with this Bitcoin inscription. The 14-second, beautifully animated video serves as the parent inscription for their Experiment 9 child inscriptions, which “follows the adventures of A Good Doctor’s experiments as they leave the lab and venture out into the onchain world.”
The fact that the file was in MP4 format added to the inscription’s complexity and size. It’s the only inscription on this list that includes both audio and video.
Experiment 9 has also launched a collection of 420 contract Ordinals NFTs that could be minted in order to obtain one of their unique “creatures.” We love that Experiment 9 brings such a variety of different media types to Bitcoin through the Ordinals protocol.
No 5 Largest Inscription: Runestone Moon by Leonidas/the Runestone Community
File size: 3.968 MB, File type: WEBP
No 4 Largest Inscription: Endless Art Ordinal 2024 by Ordzaar and OdinSwap
File size: 3.968 MB, File type: MP4
Have you ever seen those digital art pieces that you can zoom in on endlessly? Where scene after scene just opens up, no matter how deep you go?
What if someone put one of those art pieces on the Bitcoin network using the Ordinals protocol?
That’s what Ordzaar and OdinSwap decided to do with their Endless Art Ordinal 2024, the largest inscription ever on a legacy satoshi (sat). Created by artist Osman Kubat, who is known for his highly cohesive, meme-forward endless art, this Ordinal inscription makes a worthy entry in Bitcoin’s history — and on our list as the number 4 largest inscription in existence.
The art piece is also significant because of the sheer scale of collaboration that went into its creation; this Ordinal involved over 150 infrastructure partners, communities, and builders, along with some of the best Ordinals collections out there — and we believe it shows. The piece feels like it captured the energy of the Ordinals protocol and community as a whole, scrolling endlessly into iteration after iteration of new Bitcoin cultural icons and memes.
No 2 Largest Inscription: InscribedPepes’ Cryptic Message
File size: 3.969 MB, File type: TXT
Here, seated in our number 2 largest inscription spot, we have a very mysterious (but fun) Ordinal: the cryptic characters that InscribedPepes digitally carved into the Bitcoin blockchain.
Seemingly coming out of nowhere, this Bitcoin inscription took the community by serious surprise — especially because the InscribedPepes Ordinals NFT series is made up of wonderful pixelated pepe frogs, and has nothing to do with the characters in the image above.
This Bitcoin inscription is also the only TXT file that’s anywhere near this size. You can scroll down the page on ord.io forever and still not reach the bottom.
We’re still waiting to hear how this one connects to the InscribedPepes collection of PFP Ordinals NFTs, but even if we never learn, we’re glad we got to help on this unique project.
No 1 Largest Inscription: Logos’ Manifesto
File size: 3.969 MB, File type: JPEG
Finally, we’ve reached the number one largest inscription ever made on the Ordinals protocol — Logos Network’s manifesto. The manifesto champions Bitcoin as a catalyst for deep change in the world.
Logos plans to create a collection of Ordinals NFTs in addition to the manifesto called Logos operators that “will serve as the pseudonymous identities of the first inhabitants of the Logos technology stack that will enable people to exit the existing internet system.”
Fittingly, the manifesto was inscribed on a Nakamoto sat — an individual satoshi that was created in 2009 (block 3,479). We think that Logos’ choice to pay homage to Satoshi Nakamoto with their inscription underlines their resolve to change the world internet system as we know it, and we were thrilled to help them inscribe this important piece of present-day ideological literature on Bitcoin.
The project’s tech stack is supposed to go live by the end of 2024.
OrdinalsBot: the Go-To Platform for Bitcoin Inscriptions
Full-block inscriptions are a way for Bitcoin-based projects to make their literal mark on the Bitcoin network. They’re a statement of intent, communicating that a project is here to stay and wants to become a meaningful part of the Bitcoin ecosystem.
OrdinalsBot is proud to have helped inscribe nine of the ten largest-ever files on Bitcoin, and we look forward to inscribing many more in the future. If you’ve been wondering where to inscribe Ordinals for your own project, we hope you’ll consider using OrdinalsBot, knowing that you’re in well-tested and trusted hands.
Get started with your own inscriptions on the OrdinalsBot website, and be sure to follow us on Twitter and join our Discord to stay up to date on our product and community developments.
Stay in touch…
- Join the OrdinalsBot Discord here: https://discord.ordinalsbot.com
- Follow us here: https://twitter.com/ordinalsbot
- Inscribe something here: https://ordinalsbot.com
- Launch your collection here: https://ordinalsbot.com/launchpad
- View our inscription counter here: https://ordinalsbot.co /counter
- Visit our API Docs here: https://docs.ordinalsbot.com
