Introducing INJS: The First Inscription Marketplace on Injective

InnaKondratova
3 min readDec 20, 2023

The digital asset world is buzzing with the latest development: the launch of INJS, the inaugural inscription marketplace on Injective. This groundbreaking platform, accessible at https://injs.ink, marks a significant milestone in the realm of blockchain technology and digital trading.

INJS is set to debut its first inscription, aptly named $INJS, pioneering a new era in the digital asset space. This launch not only represents a significant achievement for Injective but also underscores the growing importance and potential of inscriptions in the blockchain ecosystem.

Inscriptions, a novel form of metadata storage, have recently gained attention due to their unique position in the digital asset landscape. These innovative entities blend the characteristics of tokens and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), standing out for their lightweight nature and reduced transaction fees. This hybrid approach offers a new avenue for digital asset creation and trading, distinguishing itself from traditional smart contracts and tokens.

Originating with Bitcoin Ordinals, Inscriptions marked Bitcoin’s foray into NFT-like functionality, circumventing its lack of smart contract capabilities. This innovation quickly spread to other blockchains like Ethereum and Solana. Unlike Bitcoin, where data is inscribed onto individual SATs, these networks utilize Calldata — ancillary data in transactions — for Inscription purposes. This method is not only cost-effective but also limits the data to a read-only format, diverging from the more resource-intensive smart contract storage.

For an Inscription to be recognized as a specific token type, such as the BRC-20 under the RC-20(x) classification, it must conform to certain structural standards. This classification brings several advantages, including the transparency and accessibility of xRC-20 and NFT metadata on the blockchain, along with the reduced cost of transactions compared to traditional smart contracts.

However, the use of Inscriptions is not without its drawbacks. They heavily rely on off-chain indexers and are seen as a regression from the Ethereum Virtual Machine’s original design, which was tailored for smart contracts. Additionally, their affordability makes them susceptible to spam, contributing to the recent crashes of Arbitrum and zkSync.

There are a couple of strategies for monetizing Inscriptions. One approach involves identifying and participating in early-stage projects adopting this format, aiming to mint these tokens before they are listed on trading platforms. This method, however, is fraught with challenges such as website downtimes, network issues, and fluctuating fees during the development phase of promising projects.

Alternatively, investors can acquire Inscriptions from secondary markets post-listing. This strategy was exemplified by the successful listing of ORDI on Binance, where investors purchased the Inscriptions in anticipation of their exchange debut.

In summary, while Inscriptions offer a unique blend of efficiency and accessibility in the digital asset realm, they also present challenges and risks, particularly in terms of blockchain stability and dependency on external data sources, but their dual potential for profit and disruption makes them a noteworthy development in the evolving landscape of blockchain technology.

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InnaKondratova
InnaKondratova

Written by InnaKondratova

Ambassadors, content maker, contributor

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