Bitcoin ordinal NFTs are the trending asset on the bitcoin network, with over 500,000 recently minted NFTs. These unique digital assets have taken the crypto community by storm, with creators switching from popular blockchains like Ethereum to minting their NFTs on the Bitcoin network.
More than 500,000 ordinal NFTs minted in two months
As of this writing, 520,200 NFT ordinals have been minted on the bitcoin network in the past two months, according to data from dune analysis. This growth is remarkable, considering that less than 50,000 NFTs were minted just five weeks ago.
Onchain data further reveals that on March 9, 2023, it recorded the majority of Ordinals transactions. More than 31,000 ordinals were minted that day, with the vast majority being images followed by videos and text. Additionally, around $2.6 million in transaction fees have been spent to mint this unique form of digital asset. On average, around 10,000 NFT Ordinals are minted daily, and this number is expected to increase due to increased demand for this form of NFT.
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Bitcoin NFTs are created by assigning what are called “ordinals” to each satoshi. Ordinals are linked to information such as videos, text, images, etc., thus creating NFTs in Bitcoin. Unlike Ethereum NFTs, there are no specific token standards and enrollments made are permanent and cannot be edited or changed.
The growing popularity of ordinal NFTs is largely related to the ease of creating them. Initially, the creation and management of Ordinal NFT was only possible through the native wallet developed by Casey Rodarmor, the creator of this protocol. However, the tool required managing a full Bitcoin node locally and using lines of code that could have been easier to use.
Over time, different companies and programmers devised simpler products to allow the adoption of this technology. Wallet providers like Hiro and Sparrow allow users to manage Bitcoin NFT Ordinals effectively. While UniSat Wallet recently reviewed a feature that allows users to create and manage their ordinal NFTs from their wallets.
Concerns continue to rise over ordinal NFTs
Despite the growing adoption of ordinal NFTs, a large part of the Bitcoin community continues to oppose this form of digital asset. Major developers like Adam Back and Luke Dashjr have previously spoken out against this type of NFT on the Bitcoin network.
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Critics argue that ordinal NFTs threaten the privacy, security, and efficiency of the Bitcoin network. They view data storage like images, videos, and games as a waste of space and believe it leads to congestion on the Bitcoin network.
They may not be wrong, as the Bitcoin network has recently suffered from congestion. According to data from mempool.space, there are still more than 50,000 transactions on the Bitcoin network to be confirmed. This equates to over 160 blocks, leading to higher transaction fees.
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