Ordinals were introduced on the Bitcoin mainnet on January 20, 2023. They offered a new method for creating NFTs on the Bitcoin network.
But, who created them?
According to the latest crypto news, Ordinals developer Casey Rodarmor recently took to X to clarify that Rocktoshi was never the co-founder of the protocol, while simultaneously exposing him for threatening Casey.
Rodarmor clarified that despite recent online claims, a person known as “Rocktoshi” is not a co-founder of Ordinals, nor did he contribute any significant ideas or code to the development of the protocol.
According to Rodarmor, while Rocktoshi did participate in early Discord discussions and was one of the four co-founders of a short-lived company, Ordinals Corporation, his involvement was limited.
Rodarmor emphasized that this company, which was founded after the success of the protocol in early 2023, was not integral to the creation of Ordinals itself. It was formed under the assumption that starting a business was the next logical step, but the entity was dissolved less than three months later.
The developer went on to explain that tensions with Rocktoshi escalated after the company’s dissolution, with Rocktoshi making unreasonable demands, including a request for $5 million in exchange for equity in the now-defunct company.
Soon after ordcorp was formed, it became clear that rocktoshi could not be relied upon or trusted. I told him that I no longer wished to work with him, but he continued to be unreasonable, culminating with an unhinged demand to be paid $5 million dollars in exchange for his equity in the company. Equity which, I should mention, did not exist, since none had been issued, and was in a completely worthless and dysfunctional entity.”
Rodarmor also revealed that other members of the Ordinals ecosystem had encountered similar negative experiences with Rocktoshi.
Moreover, Casey expressed regret for not speaking out sooner and provided links to tweets that have publicly addressed the situation.
This includes a testimonial from Charlie Spears, the community manager for the Ordinals Project. In January, Spears confessed that Rocktoshi had been harassing him using multiple identities and misleading screenshots.
Meanwhile, generative artists and Artinals’ co-founder Joona shared a similar experience with Rocktoshi where he threatened the artists with lawsuits.
The host of The Ordinals Show, Leonidas also noted:
What I do care about is how someone with a well-established pattern of manipulation, intimidation, lying, and harassment has been allowed to fester in our ecosystem for far too long.”
Despite the public callout and mounting criticism, Rocktoshi responded dismissively, claiming that the controversy would have little impact on the project.
The question remains: With growing tensions and disputes in the NFT space, how will the crypto industry address the challenges of accountability and integrity among key figures in decentralized projects?
