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Bitcoin NFTs Reach New Record High

Bitcoin NFTs have set a new record, signaling that the Bitcoin community is increasingly embracing innovation.

By Mike Hesp
• 5 min read
Bitcoin NFTs Reach New Record High

Bitcoin NFTs have set a new record, signaling that the Bitcoin community is increasingly embracing innovation.

For years, Bitcoin mostly acted as "digital cash or gold," with the main function of the network being the storage and transfer of value. Development activity on the world's oldest blockchain platform lagged significantly behind other blockchains with more functionality, like Ethereum. Those blockchains were constantly driven by blockchain applications like DeFi and NFTs. However, change seems to be slowly coming with the rise of BTC-derived tokens like Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) and DeFi projects like (WBTC), Stacks (STX) and Rootstock (RBTC). One of the latest developments gaining traction in the BTC developer and user community are the so-called BTC Ordinals. These are NFTs on the Bitcoin blockchain.

Since early 2023, such BTC NFTs have grown in popularity. Since their launch on January 21, more than 1.5 million BTC NFTs have been created. Among the largest NFTs are Ordinals Punks, DeGods, and Ordinals Penguins. You can also create Bitcoin Ordinals at Anycoin Direct.

The Role of SegWit and Taproot

The ability to create and use Ordinals owes to BTC transactions’ "Segregated Witness." These were introduced by SegWit in 2017 and expanded by the Taproot soft fork in 2021.

Inscriptions: the tech behind Bitcoin NFTs

Creating Ordinals is possible thanks to a new mechanism called Inscriptions. It lets you store and trade text, images, videos, and songs on the BTC blockchain. The Ordinals protocol is based on Bitcoin’s smallest unit, the Satoshi (Sat), where 1 BTC equals 100,000,000 Sats.

The Ordinals protocol enables sending and receiving sats, with data like texts, JPEGs, audio files, or videos can be inscribed. Adding such data to a Satoshi becomes an inscription and is stored on the BTC blockchain. While Satoshis aren’t technically "tokens" like NFTs, they can be used for the same purposes and traded too.

Bitcoin NFTs Hit a New Record

The number of inscriptions on the BTC blockchain has hit impressive milestones in a short time. In addition to the more than 1.5 million BTC NFTs already created, a new record growth in inscriptions was logged on April 24. In under 24 hours, about 193,000 new BTC NFTs were created.

Dune data show the strong rise in BTC inscriptions on the Bitcoin blockchain:

  • It took just 55 days to go from 0 to 500,000 inscriptions.
  • In only 21 days, inscriptions jumped from 500,000 to 1,000,000.
  • Another 15 days passed before inscriptions climbed from 1,000,000 to 1,500,000.

Importantly, BTC NFT creators have now spent more than $4.9 million on miner fees for creating NFTs. Artists, collectors, and users appear keen to leverage the decentralization and security of the world’s oldest blockchain to secure their non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Miners in the BTC network should also be pleased, as rising BTC NFT popularity creates additional revenue streams.

Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, legal, or tax advice. The information provided may be incomplete, inaccurate, or outdated and should not be relied upon as such. Nothing on this website should be considered a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any cryptocurrency. Investing in crypto-assets involves risk of loss.