Inscriptions have been a major topic across the Web3 industry in recent months. Beginning with the ordinal form of the Bitcoin blockchain, this new method of storing data on-chain quickly found more use cases in Ethereum-based environments. The EOS EVM is no exception, and when a large-scale accounting event resulted in more than 17 million transactions per day, the user experience on EOS was not affected and gas fees did not increase.

From this event, we can learn how EOS stands out from the competition. In this article, we will take a deep dive into what Inscriptions are and how EOS outperforms other networks in the face of an influx of Inscription users. We will also look at some of the unique ways Inscriptions have grown on EOS due to the unique features that the EOS blockchain has to offer.

Inscription of ordinals on the Bitcoin blockchain

The EVM-based inscription method is derived from the origins of ordinals on the Bitcoin blockchain. Since the Bitcoin blockchain does not support smart contracts, builders who want to create NFT-like experiences must creatively develop ways to extend the network's functionality.

Rather than adding new functionality to achieve this, users "write" arbitrary content into the Satoshi metadata. Satoshis are the smallest unit of currency in the Bitcoin token economy, and once content is written, it can be transferred by holding the Satoshi of that data. This mimics the characteristics of NFTs and fungible tokens on EVM-based chains. The following topics describe in more detail how inscriptions work on the Bitcoin blockchain and the EVM chain.

EVM-based ecosystem adopts inscription technology

This method of storing data was quickly adopted by EVM-based chains and found new use cases. On EVM networks, inscriptions are implemented by sending a transaction, usually to yourself, and including additional content in the transaction call data.

On the EVM network, inscription is accomplished by sending a transaction, usually to yourself, with the additional content included in the transaction call data. It is much cheaper than other forms of data storage on the EVM chain, but provides less flexibility in using that data. This is because the EVM does not implement a smart contract to store that data, or even store it in a way that a smart contract can interact with it. Instead, users simply send tokens from one account to another, with a piece of information attached.

Users can use this feature to simulate actions that might occur when actually using a smart contract, such as minting or transferring tokens. However, the user did not actually mint the tokens, but wrote in the transaction metadata that they minted the tokens. The off-chain indexer can then aggregate the metadata of multiple inscription activities and calculate the result of that activity.

If you still can't understand what the inscription is, watch the video below for an in-depth explanation.

Advantages and disadvantages of inscriptions

This method of storing data has both advantages and disadvantages. The most obvious benefit is lower costs for end users when participating in activities such as token minting events. However, there are also some trade-offs in utilizing inscriptions for such initiatives.

The biggest drawback is that the information captured cannot be interacted with in the same way as other on-chain data. Therefore, it is necessary to rely on off-chain, centralized indexers to read the inscription data in order to build any functionality from the events. The result of this is that there is basically no composability between inscription projects.

The different advantages and disadvantages of this technology make inscriptions a polarizing topic in Web3. Many see them as a useful tool to improve the economics of events that require tracking large amounts of data in a short period of time. Meanwhile, others see them as a step backwards when considering what could already be achieved if developers used traditional smart contracts instead.

How EOS EVM outperforms competitors during this inscription melee

Whether or not you consider inscriptions to be an innovation for blockchain developers, one thing is certain. The increase in transaction volume associated with inscription events has done an excellent job of real-time stress testing many of the industry’s EVMs. The reduced cost of minting coins means more people have an incentive to participate in large numbers. This increase in activity has led to increased transaction fees, network congestion, and even network downtime for some of the industry’s most popular EVMs.

However, due to its unique architecture and scalable design, EOS has not been affected by the influx of users. During the minting event on December 11, the EOS EVM saw 17.65 million transactions in a single day. However, even with all this activity, the user experience has not changed. The gas fees for the EOS EVM have not increased and have remained below one cent. There has been no congestion in on-chain transactions, and perhaps most importantly, no other dApps have been affected by the increase in activity.

When comparing Cointelegraph’s daily transaction data from other major EVM blockchains during the inscription event, EOS surpassed all networks except BSC. However, this limit was not due to the EOS EVM reaching its capacity, but rather to miners reaching their minting capacity. At the peak of the activity, 2,159 transactions were packed into a single block on the EOS EVM. This means that the network actually had the capacity to handle 186 million daily transactions. Far more than the 32 million transactions recorded daily by BSC.

All of this speaks volumes about EOS’ performance and sets the EOS EVM apart from other leading EVMs in a way that is not based on theoretical speculation, but on real-world data. Check out the EOS documentation for an in-depth guide on how to take advantage of EOS EVM inscriptions.

Upgrading inscriptions on EOS Native

As mentioned in the previous section, the EOS EVM is already an industry leader in terms of what can be achieved with EVM-based inscriptions. But EOS Native can do much more from a performance perspective, as well as some additional features that are not possible on other networks.

Perhaps most obvious is pure performance, with EOS Native handling at least five times the transaction volume of the EOS EVM. Transaction fees on EOS Native are also negligible. So much so that even if developers wanted to record data on-chain in a more traditional way without using inscriptions, the user experience would likely not be affected.

There are also some unique features when it comes to storing data like inscriptions on EOS Native. Greymass, the team behind the Anchor validator and the WharfKit SDK, has been exploring some novel ways to write data to RAM. RAM is a scarce resource on the EOS network and represents the physical RAM in the computer running the blockchain. RAM is also mutable and has an inherently fungible value. So when a user no longer needs it, it can be sold back to the RAM market.

With this in mind, information inscribed on RAM presents a unique scenario where the tokens created have a minimum value based on the minimum value of the RAM market on the network. This introduces new economic possibilities for the output of inscription events. Users can inscribe data on RAM, and then when they no longer want to hold that token, they can actually burn the inscription and resell the RAM to the market.

Many of the potential features discussed in this section are still in the early stages of exploration by EOS innovators such as Greymass. Those interested in learning more are invited to join the EOS Lounge on Telegram every Wednesday at 8pm UTC. At this event, ecosystem leaders and EOS enthusiasts come together to discuss the latest developments, opportunities, and trends in the EOS ecosystem.

A groundbreaking innovation or just a passing fad?

The method of recording data on-chain is still relatively new, and there is still a lot to explore when it comes to potential use cases for this technology. When it was introduced to the Bitcoin network, it solved a problem by creating a new functionality that did not exist before. However, on the EVM network, this functionality already existed. While inscriptions have additional benefits, such as reduced transaction costs, there are also disadvantages, such as centralized data indexers.

As with all industry trends, inscriptions come with a high degree of speculation and no one really knows what the future holds. Whether inscriptions become a critical tool for developers or just a passing trend, there is another important point to note in all of this. Namely, the EOS EVM remains at the forefront in terms of its ability to handle large amounts of on-chain data with zero impact on user experience and without increasing transaction costs. Beyond this, the technology on EOS Native has gone one step further, with new features being explored around the ability to write data to RAM.

Stay up to date on all the latest developments in the EOS ecosystem by following the EOS Network Foundation on Twitter. Connect with the community via the EOS Global Telegram and join the weekly EOS Lounge voice chat every Wednesday at 8pm UTC. Finally, connect with other EOS EVM developers by joining the EOS EVM Developer Telegram channel.