Bitcoin Ordinals Airdrop Nears as Runestone Project Inscribes Largest Blocks Ever

Mar 04,2024
Bitcoin Ordinals Airdrop Nears as Runestone Project Inscribes Largest Blocks Ever

The Runestone airdrop appears to be imminent, with tweets from Bitcoin NFT Marketplace Magic Eden calling on enthusiasts to drop Runestone-themed designs on Monday.

“Love this and looking forward to seeing what people create! Both the Runestone parent and child art are [Creative Commons licensed], so feel free to remix, et cetera,” pseudonymous NFT historian Leonidas explained.

The Bitcoin ordinals project spearheaded by Leonidas will airdrop Runestone inscriptions to 112,383 eligible wallets.

Stipulations of the Runestone airdrop include holding at least three inscriptions, not including inscriptions with file types starting with either “text/plain” or “application/JSON.”

Buzz around Runestones has been building since the project was first announced last month.

“People are using AR to drop Runestones all over the world, and then they are tweeting pictures and videos of it,” Leonidas told Decrypt, noting that Runestone parent and child art is free for anyone to adapt under a Creative Commons license. “IP isn’t very cypherpunk because you are directly bringing nation-states into the equation; it's not very Bitcoin.”

“Shirts and hats are possible, but hoping people can get a bit more creative than that,” he added.

One Rune to rule them all.

By @wanagiamma pic.twitter.com/VjIEDfJyn3

— Leonidas (@LeonidasNFT) March 4, 2024

Over the weekend, the Runestone project mined what is claimed to be the largest Ordinals inscription transaction at a whopping 3.97 MB on the Bitcoin blockchain.

By comparison, a single Bitcoin block is 1 MB.

“Are you ready to get stone?” Leonidas tweeted on Sunday.

Runestone just mined the largest Bitcoin block in history and inscribed the largest inscription ever, AGAIN!

Introducing the 3.97 MB Runestone:

→ https://t.co/GxX7zQrreL

ARE YOU READY TO GET STONED? pic.twitter.com/VL3HP9UoI4

— Leonidas (@LeonidasNFT) March 3, 2024

Leonidas explained that the 3.97 MB project for inscription 63,140,674 used two blocks on the Bitcoin network to create the parent and child Ordinals inscriptions and was completed in collaboration with bitcoin mining firm Marathon Digital and Ordinals Bot.

“Runestone is the largest Ordinals airdrop ever, and it mined the two largest inscriptions ever in the two largest transactions ever in the two largest blocks in Bitcoin's history,” Leonidas said.

Bitcoin block 832947

A more beautiful block does not exist pic.twitter.com/2IID5TjyjQ

— Leonidas (@LeonidasNFT) March 3, 2024

Even though Leonidas did not specify when the airdrop would happen, he reiterated that only a select few would get their hands on the Runestone airdrop.

“The only way to have been eligible for a Runestone was to show up in the first year of Ordinals when nobody believed in this movement,” Leonidas said on Twitter. “If you are getting one, it is because you earned it. Wear it as a badge of honor.”

“Airdrop farmers are out of luck,” he said.

Edited by Ryan Ozawa.