The Writing is on the Wall: Analyzing the Boom of Inscriptions and its Impact on EVM-compatible Blockchains

Johnnatan Messias, Krzysztof Gogol, Maria Inês Silva, Benjamin Livshits

Abstract: Although rollups have attracted significant attention, there is limited empirical research on their performance under high load. To address this, we present a data-driven analysis of the transaction surge in late 2023 and early 2024, attributed to inscriptions -- a method for recording data on the blockchain. Initially introduced on Bitcoin, inscriptions enable the representation of NFTs or ERC-20-like tokens without smart contracts, and have since expanded to other blockchains. This paper examines inscription-related transactions on Ethereum and major EVM-compatible rollups, assessing their impact on scalability during transaction surges. Our results show that, on certain days, inscriptions accounted nearly 90% of transactions on Arbitrum and ZKsync Era, while 53% on Ethereum, with 99% of these inscriptions involving meme coin minting. Furthermore, we show that ZKsync and Arbitrum saw lower median gas fees during these surges. ZKsync Era, a ZK-rollup, showed a greater fee reduction than the optimistic rollups studied -- Arbitrum, Base, and Optimism.