Crypto Custody Firm BitGo Releases Security Features Aimed at Bitcoin Ordinals

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Crypto custodian services provider BitGo released security features designed to protect owners of Bitcoin Ordinals Inscriptions, which allow people to inscribe text, images and even videos directly on the Bitcoin blockchain.

Bitcoin Ordinals was introduced at the end of January. Its newness means wallets cannot yet easily receive, send or store Ordinals Inscriptions. This puts potentially high-value inscriptions at risk of being accidentally transferred or sent to mining fees.

The tool introduced Thursday is intended to enable users to add Inscriptions tracking to any bitcoin hot wallet on BitGo.

With tracking enabled, any transaction received into the wallet will be checked for Inscriptions and frozen, if inscribed, to prevent the loss of valuable inscriptions, adding much needed security to Inscription storage.

"Bitcoin Ordinals brought an entirely new layer of engagement to the Bitcoin network but, upon launch, the surrounding ecosystem missed key security components to ensure high-value Ordinals Inscriptions were safeguarded,” Chen Fang, BitGo's chief operations officer, told CoinDesk over email.

Bitcoin Ordinals have seen runaway growth since its launch earlier this year, with over 600,000 Inscriptions so far, data shows.