Bitcoin Ordinals Gain Momentum

According to a report compiled by @dgtl_assets of Dune Analytics, the total network fees paid for the minting of Bitcoin Ordinals reached 1,414 Bitcoin (BTC), or $38.2 million, on May 20.

This represents a 700 percent increase from April 20 and an 831 percent increase from April 1.

Despite continued interest in Bitcoin NFTs, an analysis reveals that the vast majority of Bitcoin Ordinals have shifted to text-based inscriptions, as opposed to a balance between text and image inscriptions from February to April.

According to the cross-chain wallet BitKeep, Bitcoin Ordinals “is a numbering system that assigns a unique number to each individual SAT [Satoshi, or 1/100 millionth of a Bitcoin], enabling its tracking and transfer.”

Combined with the Inscription procedure, which adds a data layer to each Satoshi, this permits users to mint unique digital assets on the Bitcoin blockchain.

BitKeep developers explained that, unlike traditional NFTs, which are built using smart contracts and hosted on solutions such as IPFS, “Ordinals reside entirely on the Bitcoin blockchain and do not require a sidechain or separate token.”

Web 3.0 developer Rodarmor released the Bitcoin Ordinal Theory framework in January 2023.

In addition, in March 2023, Web 3.0 developer domo created the BRC-20 Bitcoin token standard, which uses ordinals and inscriptions to create and manage token contracts, token minting, and token transfers on Bitcoin.

Since then, over 8 million Bitcoin Ordinals and 24,677 BRC-20 tokens have been created, resulting in a total market capitalization of $612.5 million.

On May 20, the cryptocurrency exchange OKX announced the listing of the ORDI BRC-20 token, the category’s most popular coin with a market capitalization of over $300 million.