Following the emergence of Counterparty’s Rare Pepes and operation code Easter eggs, the latest version of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on Bitcoin, known as Ordinals, has gained significant traction. Despite Ethereum’s continued dominance in the NFT market, with $390 million in on-chain transactions over the past month, Bitcoin has risen to become the second most popular blockchain for NFTs, with transaction volumes approaching $173 million, while Solana recorded $49 million in NFT transactions during the same period.
The notion that Bitcoin would process nearly half as many non-fungible tokens (NFT) transactions as Ethereum was seemingly unfathomable mere months ago, given Ethereum’s substantial lead in this domain, having facilitated nearly 38 million NFT transactions since its inception, a figure that dwarfs Bitcoin’s 320,000. Nonetheless, the recent surge in popularity of Ordinals on Bitcoin has prompted novel applications for the world’s most established blockchain, including the secure storage of artwork, films, collectibles, tickets, and even video games.
The Ordinals protocol involves the utilization of wallet software other than Bitcoin Core to serialize the satoshi, Bitcoin’s smallest unit of currency, with former Bitcoin Core engineer Casey Rodamor dedicating a year to developing his own “ordwallet” program, which involved extensive coding and bug fixing. Similar to the unique serial numbers on banknotes that can increase their numismatic value, the order numbers associated with Ordinals carry a special significance, resulting in substantial transaction fees for miners, despite the fact that they are primarily of interest to explorers and NFT merchants.
