There has been a lot of discussion about inscriptions recently, but many people still don’t understand what inscriptions really are or whether there’s still a chance to get involved. Let me be straightforward.

Inscriptions are essentially data written on Bitcoin, using the Ordinals protocol to carve text, images, or even videos onto satoshis. If you compare Bitcoin to digital gold, then inscriptions are like gold jewelry—sharing the same fundamental nature but differing due to the creators. That’s why some people are willing to pay for them.

When we talk about inscribing, it’s similar to creating NFTs within the Bitcoin ecosystem, comparable to the "mint" concept on Ethereum. The community often asks, "What are we minting today?" which is really asking what inscriptions are being created.

Looking at the current market shows how crazy things have become. Recently, the ORDI inscription surged 1,000 times—from a cost of $3,000 to mint 100k units, soaring to a peak of $4.5, then falling back to $2.45. Such rapid rises and falls attract a lot of speculators. Some call inscriptions BRC-20, claiming it’s a new way to distribute tokens—no project team, no risk of rug pulls, sounding like an equal opportunity. But is that really the case?

BRC-20 is indeed decentralized; anyone can mint, first-come, first-served, with no private sales or staking unlocks. It sounds fair, right? The problem is, 85% of inscriptions on the Bitcoin chain are BRC-20 tokens, most of which lack real significance—just speculators trying to replicate ORDI’s success over and over. But breaking into the mainstream is very difficult.

The most profitable phase is actually during the initial minting stage, but here’s the catch—how to choose? Besides ORDI, buying other inscriptions often depends on recommendations from others, creating a serious information gap. Plus, transaction congestion is severe, fees are high, Bitcoin’s 10-minute block time is far slower than Ethereum’s 12 seconds, and the infrastructure is still underdeveloped, making it hard for newcomers to get started.

That’s why ERC-20 tokens appeared later. They solved the high gas fee problem, increased block speed, and perfectly addressed these issues. In simple terms, BRC-20 introduced the concept, while ERC-20 solved the problems. Today, many projects jump on the bandwagon, but only these two really hold practical value.

Looking at recent trading data makes this clear. SATs have a 24-hour trading volume of $254.1k, with over 54k addresses holding them; RATS volume is $2.14M with 17.8k addresses; CATS volume is $229k, but address data is missing; BTCs volume is $1.43M; BEAR volume is $123.8k. These are all meme coins—once the hype fades, funds will flow out, and in the end, they might just go to zero, just like those animal coins in 2021.

Honestly, we’re at a fork in the road now. The inscription market is full of opportunities, but risks are very real. Which projects will truly break out, and which will just become meme tokens that eventually zero out—no one can say for sure. So my advice is to analyze carefully, do thorough research before participating, invest cautiously, and bear the risks yourself. This era of digital gold offers opportunities, but it depends on whether you can find truly valuable "gold jewelry."