Bitcoin Ordinals Inscriptions have become the latest trend in the NFT market. It came alive as a protocol to enable individual satoshis on the Bitcoin ecosystem to get a unique identifier. Don’t forget that Satoshi is a term used to describe the smallest unit of Bitcoin. Notably, 100,000,000 satoshis make up 1 BTC. However, Bitcoin Ordinals are primarily designed to pave the way for the creation or deployment of NFTs on the Bitcoin blockchain. Unlike NFTs on other blockchains, Bitcoin or Ordinal NFTs have the capacity to store on-chain using the transaction’s witness data. In a nutshell, ordinal introduces a distinctive method of generating NFTs on Bitcoin.
Meanwhile, since January, the Bitcoin blockchain has witnessed an influx of collections through its ordinal inscriptions. Recently, DeGods, an NFT collection created on Solana found its way to Bitcoin through the inscription tech. It was inscribed on block 776408, recording landmark sales a few minutes after going live on the Blockchain. Likewise, OnChain Monkey, an Ethereum-based collection also integrated all its 10,000 NFTs into Bitcoin inscriptions. Although several advancements are still needed in the ordinal protocol, there is no doubt that it is the future tech for NFTs.
How to create Bitcoin Ordinals
For those willing to create ordinal or Bitcoin NFTs, it is mandatory that the creator must first upload an ordinal satoshi to a Taproot-oriented wallet. This process is less technical than its initial way which requires users to run Bitcoin nodes. This simply means it was only those with a Bitcoin node that could mine the ordinal NFTs then. It served as the gateway to participate in the process.
Then, operators of these nodes load their wallets with satoshis so as to pay for gas fees and implement an inscription on their ordinals. Without any doubt, this initial process was cumbersome and required only those with technical proficiency to scale through. But, the latest method seems better. Users only need to upload their content for inscriptions to create their Ordinal NFTs. This can be done without running nodes.
Why Bitcoin or Ordinal NFTs?
With the Ordinals protocol, every satoshi is transformed into a special NFT recorded on the Bitcoin network. More so, each piece enjoys the simplicity and immutability of Bitcoin without the need for sidechains and additional tokens. This is due to the ability of the NFTs to store directly on the Bitcoin network leveraging the ordinals. To an extent, the Bitcoin NFT collections’ high level of security and immutability has attracted numerous collectors and investors.
Furthermore, the popularity of Bitcoin as a foremost blockchain network is a selling point for NFT projects. The fame of the network to an extent has showered collections on it a renowned level of visibility. The minting of more than 11 million ordinals on the network within the short period depicts the awesome reputation of the Bitcoin blockchain. The growing number of virtual collectibles on the network indicates a vast and rapidly emerging ecosystem.
Also, Ordinals has ushered a new era to the NFTs landscape and most especially the Bitcoin network. The innovation has helped enhance the scope of Bitcoin beyond a network that transfers value alone. Likewise, they’ve brought about a new dimension to virtual ownership, pinpointing how they could influence the NFT space to a noticeable extent. Without a doubt, the benefits of Bitcoin Ordinals to an extent have convinced projects to launch on the network.
Conclusion
While NFTs on the Bitcoin network comes with advantages, they also have shortcomings militating against their mainstream adoption. Ethereum and Solana in recent years have dominated the NFTs landscape. This is due to their respective vast smart contract innovation. However, Bitcoin Ordinals cannot enjoy this privilege owing to the rigidness of its underlying network.
In addition, Bitcoin Ordinals come with enormous transaction fees owing to how the blockchain blocks get occupied swiftly. This, beyond all doubt, will have a significant toll on the widespread adoption of collections on the network. Nevertheless, the excitement around these projects has covered the flaws of the Bitcoin network hosting NFT collections. This excitement to an extent remains the major drive behind the increasing popularity of NFT collections on the network.
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