Bitcoin is getting the NFT FOMO

Ordinals is a new NFT protocol that has been live on Bitcoin mainnet for just a few days now, but has already been used to mint multiple different NFTs

Author

The Metadata
January 30, 2023

GM! Or should I say, good afternoon to those of you who hit snooze one too many times and now have a healthy serving of regret for breakfast. But hey, it's a new day with endless possibilities! Unless you're a banana, then your possibilities are limited to becoming a smoothie or a banana bread. Let's get down to it.

Today we cover:

  • Weekend NFT market update

  • Bitcoin getting into NFTs

  • New and interesting drops

  • Today's coolest tweets

NFT Market Update — Weekend Moves

The NFT market has been relatively quiet while the rest of crypto has been on an uptrend. Two collections particularly stood out over the weekend.

  1. Otherdeeds, the open metaverse by Yuga Labs/Bored Apes is seeing renewed buying interest on expectations of a major announcement in the coming weeks. It rose to a floor price of 1.7 ETH, the highest in recent months

  2. Checks (see above chart), an Open Edition NFT by creative director Jack Butcher, hit a floor price of $1,000+ (0.6 ETH). It was minted at $8 just earlier this month. This is the collection that kicked off the flurry of interest in Open Editions lately.

Bitcoin Is Getting NFT FOMO

💲 What to know: Ordinals is a new NFT protocol that has been live on Bitcoin mainnet for just a few days now, but has already been used to mint multiple different NFTs linked to media like JPEGs, PDFs. Even videos and audio. (h/t to @porteaux)

☘️ In the weeds: There are a lot of technical details under the hood, but let us simplify this for you:

Ordinals work by tracking the smallest unit of a Bitcoin (1 Satoshi) and assigning serial numbers to them in the order they are mined so that they are unique. 100,000,000 Satoshis = 1 Bitcoin. 

Inscriptions allow these Satoshis to be inscribed with rich content. These inscribed Satoshis can be transferred via normal Bitcoin transactions — essentially similar to the NFTs we know today. Except that all of the content is stored entirely on-chain.

Ever since Ordinals was launched, there has been a fair bit of backlash from the Bitcoin community — who feel that NFTs are running counter to Bitcoin's true use case as a global currency.

🤑 Why it matters: There are several reasons why we think is pretty cool:

  • Bitcoin is the most secure and battle-tested blockchain today, and NFTs that are on Bitcoin naturally inherit these security reassurances.

  • It allows Bitcoiners to participate in NFTs. A lot of NFT activity shifted to Ethereum because of Bitcoin's design constraints

  • Fees generated from NFT activity can help to make Bitcoin more sustainable

There is a cost to mint each NFT and put the content data on-chain, which means that Bitcoin NFTs will likely be limited to high-value NFTs. You're not likely to see your typical 10,000 PFP collection on Bitcoin anytime soon.

But it will be interesting to see what will be the most sought-after NFTs on Bitcoin. Worth keeping an eye on, in our opinion.

New & Interesting NFT Projects

🍿 (Open Edition) Mad Dog Jones, 49k followers, Jan 30 mint

🍿 (Open Edition) De Crecy, 8k followers, 30 Jan mint

🍿  (Game) BoomLand free mint, 31 Jan

🍿  (Collectible) Youtopia's Isekai Genesis 30 Jan

🍿  (Collectibles) Meme card artists for this week.

Today's Coolest Tweets

🐥 6259's hot take on Open Editions

🐥 Motivating gamers with cash prizes

🐥 Making profits on SudoSwap liquidity provision

🐥 Are Cantos NFTs going to be a thing?

🐥 Ness' Open Edition sales exceeded the highest volume NFT collection

🐥 Deep dive into NFT AMMs

That's it for today folks, see you tomorrow. If you want more, follow us on Twitter (@the_metadata).  And if you aren't already a subscriber, join us now to get all the daily alpha you need.

We're looking to improve the newsletter and make it as relevant as possible for you. If you have any feedback to share — please just reply to this email and let us know. Or even to just say 'Hi'. 

Disclaimer: This newsletter is for educational purposes only. None of this is financial or investment advice. It is not a solicitation to buy or sell any assets. Minting and buying NFTs is risky. Please do your own research.