Ethereum Inscriptions (Ethscriptions) repurpose Ethereum calldata into a persistent inscription channel by embedding \texttt{data:}~URI payloads. These transactions typically target externally owned accounts, allowing the payload to bypass EVM execution while remaining permanently replicated across full nodes. Although calldata was originally designed for compact smart-contract parameters, this repurposing enables structured data embedding with long-term storage consequences. We present the first large-scale empirical study of Ethscriptions, treating them as a distinct \emph{calldata-resident workload} rather than merely a subset of general calldata usage. Our analysis focuses on the \textit{Ethscription} operational subset, which consists of payloads that decode to JSON and conform to a token-operation grammar (e.g., \texttt{p}, \texttt{op}, \texttt{tick}, \texttt{amt}). From $6.27$ million Ethscription candidates (\Uone), we extract $4.75$ million Ethscription operations (\Utwo, $75.8\%$ of \Uone). This result shows that structured token-like activity dominates the ecosystem. Our measurements further reveal (i) a complete workload lifecycle compressed into nine months (bootstrap, expansion, saturation), (ii) proliferation of $30$+ competing protocols without convergence toward a dominant standard, (iii) a lifecycle funnel exhibiting $201\times$ deploy-to-mint amplification and a $57.6{:}1$ mint-to-transfer collapse indicative of speculative minting, (iv) extreme participation inequality (Gini~$0.86$), and (v) a measurable permanent data footprint imposed on the Ethereum network.

翻译：摘要：以太坊铭文通过嵌入 \texttt{data:}~URI 负载，将以太坊 calldata 重新用于持久性铭文通道。这些交易通常针对外部拥有账户，允许负载绕过 EVM 执行，同时在全节点上永久复制。尽管 calldata 最初设计用于紧凑的智能合约参数，但这种重新利用实现了结构化数据嵌入，并带来了长期存储后果。我们首次对以太坊铭文进行大规模实证研究，将其视为独特的 \emph{calldata 驻留工作负载}，而非仅仅是通用 calldata 使用的子集。我们的分析聚焦于 \textit{Ethscription} 操作子集，该子集由解码为 JSON 并符合令牌操作语法（例如 \texttt{p}、\texttt{op}、\texttt{tick}、\texttt{amt}）的负载组成。从 $627$ 万个 Ethscription 候选对象（\Uone）中，我们提取出 $475$ 万个 Ethscription 操作（\Utwo，占 \Uone 的 $75.8\%$）。这一结果表明，结构化的类令牌活动主导着该生态系统。我们的测量进一步揭示：(i) 完整的工作负载生命周期压缩在九个月内（启动、扩张、饱和）；(ii) $30$ 多种竞争协议扩散，未趋同于主导标准；(iii) 生命周期漏斗呈现 $201$ 倍的部署到铸造放大效应，以及 $57.6:1$ 的铸造到转移坍缩，暗示投机性铸造；(iv) 极端参与不平等（基尼系数 $0.86$）；(v) 以太坊网络承受可量化的永久数据足迹。