Bitcoin NFT Protocol Ordinals Ecosystem Summary

NFT, as an encrypted token that can represent unique digital or physical assets, has uniqueness and non-replaceability on the blockchain. NFT has been developed for many years on smart contract platforms such as Ethereum, giving birth to many famous projects and applications. However, on the earliest and most secure blockchain, Bitcoin, due to its lack of native smart contract functionality and high transaction fees, NFT has not been widely developed and applied.

To address this issue, a protocol named Ordinals was officially launched on December 14, 2022. It utilizes the technical features of SegWit and Taproot on the Bitcoin network to directly mint, transfer, and burn NFTs on the Bitcoin chain. The Ordinals protocol assigns a unique and traceable NFT to each smallest unit of Bitcoin (satoshi) by linking it with metadata. The Ordinals protocol does not require any centralized or trusted parties to participate, nor does it rely on any Layer2 or sidechain solutions. It fully complies with the rules and security of the Bitcoin network itself.

Since its launch, the Ordinals protocol has attracted many developers and users, giving rise to a series of projects and applications based on the protocol. According to ChainCatcher's statistics, over 300,000 NFTs have been minted on the Ordinals protocol, and the number continues to grow.

Previously, veDAO Research Institute's articles introduced BTC NFT and some methods for obtaining them, as well as an interpretation of the related ecosystem. In this article, veDAO Research Institute will further take stock and interpret the projects in the BTC NFT ecosystem.

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Minting

Ordinals Bot

Ordinals Bot is a tool for minting Bitcoin NFTs on the Ordinals protocol, created by the founder of Ordinals, the Satoshibles team. This tool eliminates the need for users to run a Bitcoin node when minting Bitcoin NFTs.

Users can upload a file on the official website, pay the minting fee via the Lightning Network or regular network, and once the transfer is completed, the minting process begins. If the user provides an NFT receiving address, the NFT will be automatically sent to the user; if the user does not provide an NFT receiving address, Ordinals Bot will retain the inscription until the user sets it up. Once the user sets up the wallet, they can simply visit the order checking tool to add the address and receive the NFT.

Gamma.io

Gamma, formerly known as STXNFT, announced its rebranding to Gamma on April 27, 2022. The platform aims to bring together collectors, creators, and investors in the Bitcoin ecosystem to explore, trade, and showcase NFTs. Gamma platform consists of three core products: NFT market, Launchpad, and social platform. Gamma.io supports both the primary and secondary market for Bitcoin NFTs.

Gamma.io offers a minting method called Gamma bot. Users can use the Gamma bot to mint their unique digital works, collect, or sell. Users can mint NFTs with simple commands, without the need for coding or technical knowledge: simply add the Gamma bot on Discord and enter commands such as create name description image_url, to create an NFT. Gamma.io also launched a .btc domain market, allowing users to have their decentralized identity and website. Users can register, buy, sell, and transfer .btc domains on Gamma.io, and bind them with their NFTs.

Wallets

Ordinals Wallet

Ordinals Wallet is a browser wallet for sending and receiving BTC NFTs on the Ordinals protocol. In addition to basic wallet functions, it also supports Bitcoin NFT inscription browsing, retrieval, Collection upload, and other functions. It is still under continuous development, including improving transfer efficiency, UI optimization, and reading wallet balances.

In addition, on February 28, Ordinals Wallet conducted an NFT airdrop called Pixel Pepes, with a total of 1563 pieces. Users only needed to make one transaction in the wallet to receive the airdrop, but the airdrop has now ended.

Sparrow Wallet

Sparrow Wallet is an open-source wallet based on Bitcoin that supports various transaction types and hardware devices. Sparrow Wallet also supports the Ordinals protocol, and its creators highly recommend the wallet. Users can use Sparrow Wallet to receive, manage, and transfer BTC NFTs. Users can also create NFTs using Sparrow Wallet, as long as they have a Taproot (P2TR) account and operate on websites that support Ordinals.

Sparrow Wallet ensures the integrity and immutability of data by inscribing some data (such as text, images, or videos) onto a satoshi and using the Taproot signature scheme. This way, each satoshi becomes a unique digital artwork, which is a BTC NFT.

Hiro Wallet

Hiro Wallet is a wallet developed on the Stacks chain, mainly used to manage STX tokens. It has now begun to support Bitcoin NFTs. Browser extension users can use the same key or hardware wallet device from their Hiro Wallet to send Bitcoin, manage their BTC holdings across accounts, view their BTC balance under "Balance," copy the address under "Receive," and quickly display the Taproot address for storing BTC NFTs. As a Bitcoin ecosystem wallet, Hiro Wallet has many convenient built-in features, allowing users to directly use credit cards, debit cards, or even bank transfers to purchase STX within the wallet and participate in staking directly.

The wallet currently supports Chrome, Firefox, Brave browser extension versions, as well as desktop versions for MacOS, Windows, and Linux systems. With support for Ordinals, users can pay for new BTC NFTs through Hiro Wallet connected to applications such as Gamma and store them directly as "collectibles" in their accounts. Additionally, they can share their BTC NFT personal galleries.

Xverse

Xverse is a non-custodial wallet based on Stack and is one of the largest markets in the Bitcoin NFT ecosystem.

Xverse allows users to create, issue, buy, and sell various types of NFTs, including art, music, games, domains, etc. Xverse supports transactions using STX tokens or other cryptocurrencies (such as BTC, ETH, etc.) and also supports connection with Hiro Wallet or other wallets.

It has now added support for the Ordinals protocol, supporting the display of BTC NFTs. Additionally, Xverse now supports transfers for Ordinals, with related features continuously being improved.

Bitcoin.com Wallet

This is a mobile wallet that supports multiple cryptocurrencies, including BTC, and NFTs minted on the Satoshi Vision (SV) network (referred to as BNT). The wallet also plans to support BTC NFTs minted on the Ordinals protocol and provide corresponding display and trading functions, which have not been launched yet.

Markets

Twetch

Twetch is a "Play to Earn" social network built on BSV, allowing users to earn money by posting content. The platform includes an NFT market, a BSV wallet, and several other features such as chat and job boards. With the rise of the Ordinals protocol, Twetch has also begun to support BTC NFTs, and they plan to integrate the Ordinals ecosystem into their infrastructure.

Through the Ordinals protocol, Twetch has minted a series of NFTs called Planetary Ordinals on the Bitcoin blockchain, which are art pieces themed around planets.

Ordinals Market

Ordinals Market is an open and decentralized platform where anyone can publish their own works or collect others' works. Ordinals Market also supports third-party applications and services to provide more functionality and experiences. Ordinals Market allows users to buy or sell BTC NFTs using ETH and browse and collect various interesting and unique works. TwelveFold launched by Yuga Labs is listed on Ordinals Market.

Ordinals Market is linked to verified Opensea listings through Emblem Vault, a protocol that enables easy trading of NFTs across different chains, providing users with all legitimate Bitcoin Punk NFTs to avoid scams.

openordex.org

OpenOrdex is a decentralized trading platform for Ordinals, created by community developer Oren Yomtov, with a hardcore UI style. It has gradually developed basic functions such as Collection display and is worth mentioning that the centralized order book of openordex is based on the once popular Web3 communication protocol Nostr.

The current version of openordex only supports buying and selling operations for Bitcoin cli clients (node client command line window) and the Sparrow Wallet client.

NFT Projects

TwelveFold

TwelveFold is a Bitcoin NFT project launched by Yuga Labs, consisting of a series of 300 unique generative art pieces. These works are created by the team using 3D modeling and algorithmic construction and high-end rendering tools, containing 3D and hand-drawn elements, all stored in a 12x12 grid-based art system. TwelveFold uses the Ordinals protocol to inscribe each work onto a certain number of satoshis on the Bitcoin blockchain, giving them the characteristics of immutability and permanent preservation.

TwelveFold started its auction on March 4, 2023, and ended within 24 hours, raising a total of $16.5 million. The auction used a blind auction format, where participants could not see how much others were bidding, only their current ranking. The highest bid was 10 BTC, and the lowest bid was 0.01 BTC. After the auction, the top 288 successful bidders received the works they purchased and can showcase or trade them on the Xverse platform.

Bitcoin Rocks

Bitcoin Rocks pays tribute to the early Ethereum NFT series. It is a project that has created 1000 different RockNFTs based on the Ordinals protocol, each Rock having its own number and shape, with immutable proof on the Bitcoin chain. The project also plans to release more Rock series and features in the future to provide players with more choices and fun. The project has been open for trading on the Ordinals Market and has attracted many collectors.

Ordinal Punks

Ordinal Punks is an exclusive collection paying homage to CryptoPunks, one of the earliest Ethereum NFT series. To pay tribute to CryptoPunks, Ordinal Punks is a collection of BTC NFTs, consisting of 100 different PFP (personality profile) collectibles. Ordinal Punks were minted within the first 650 inscriptions on Bitcoin using an open-source algorithm created by anonymous Web3 creator FlowStay, generating 192 × 192 pixel images. Due to the Bitcoin infrastructure's requirement for users to operate a full Bitcoin node to create inscriptions, the bidding and inquiry for Ordinal Punks are conducted on a Google sheet run by FlowStay, essentially using the project creator as a host on Discord. dingaling purchased 7 Ordinal Punks for 211 ETH.

Bitcoin Punks

Bitcoin Punks is an NFT project that mimics CryptoPunks on Ethereum, consisting of 10,000 different 8-bit style character avatars, each with unique attributes and rarity. Bitcoin Punks were minted on the Ordinals protocol on February 9, 2023, and are traded on platforms such as Opensea.

Bitcoin Punks is the first project to successfully upload the original Ethereum CryptoPunks to the Bitcoin blockchain using Ordinals, and all assets have been minted for free by collectors. According to the development team, they are checking the hash value of each image uploaded to Ordinals and comparing it with the original 10,000 Crypto Punk images. The link to Bitcoin Punks must be the first appearance inscription on the Ordinals protocol, which must also contain the corresponding hash value on the Ordinals protocol.

In addition to the above well-known or interesting Bitcoin NFT projects, there are also some other types or smaller-scale Bitcoin NFT projects:

Chainspace:

An NFT project created by Tim Shel, a core member of Loot, consisting of 800 video rendering applications stored on the Bitcoin network. Users can use it to take selfies, use preset filters representing different crypto community aesthetics to generate selfie versions of gm emojis, for identity expression and community interaction. Chainspace is also the first cross-chain pure on-chain NFT project, supporting multiple chain assets such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tron, etc.

On The Edge Of Oblivion:

An NFT project that bridges ETH NFTs and Bitcoin NFTs, consisting of 555 pieces. The project, created by Web3 developer nullish, bridges ETH NFTs and BTC NFTs through Emblem Vault and is traded on platforms such as Opensea.

Bitcoin Beats:

A project consisting of Bitcoin musicians and producers creating and distributing original music works through the Bitcoin network. The project uses the EigenLayer protocol to store audio files on the Bitcoin network and generate NFTs through the Ordinals protocol. Bitcoin Beats also supports cross-chain NFT trading, allowing users to buy or sell NFT music works using Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin Stories:

A project consisting of Bitcoin enthusiasts and writers creating and sharing original story works through the Bitcoin network. The project uses the EigenLayer protocol to store text files on the Bitcoin network and generate NFTs through the Ordinals protocol. Bitcoin Stories also supports cross-chain NFT trading, allowing users to buy or sell NFT story works using Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin Art Gallery:

A platform for showcasing and trading Bitcoin NFT art works, operated by a community of Bitcoin artists and enthusiasts. The platform features various styles and themes of NFT art works, including abstract, realistic, conceptual, digital, etc.

Conclusion

More and more NFT projects have announced that they will mint on the Ordinals protocol on the Bitcoin chain. Some are concerned that recording irreplaceable data on the blockchain may lead to inflation, while others believe that the popularity of the Ordinals protocol is a positive catalyst that will drive further blockchain development. For investors, on the one hand, they can pay attention to trading opportunities for high-value scarce NFTs with "genesis" attributes such as the aforementioned BTC NFTs, and on the other hand, they can pay attention to new narratives similar to the Bitcoin network introducing Ordinals. However, at the same time, attention should also be paid to the risk of asset price decline after the short-term hype and the departure of speculators.

About veDAO

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