BTC Ordinals Have Caught Fire!

So much can happen in crypto in two months! I first wrote about Ordinals in my newsletter on March 24, in my newsletter, Aggressive Crypto. At that time, 580,000 Ordinals had been minted on Bitcoin. Today, over 7.6 million Ordinals have been minted! As a result, sales volume on Magic Eden has accelerated, and the Ordinal collecting community has grown massively.

What's the reason? I believe it's a combination of factors contributing to the phenomenal growth in Ordinals:

• Binance has recently announced it will be listing certain Ordinal collections. https://www.binance.com/en/blog/nft/binance-nft-marketplace-to-support-bitcoin-nfts-4250480174684233711?utm_source=nft-tw&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=btc-nft

• The growth of the Bitcoin collectibles with Ordinals, Bitcoin Stamps, and BRC-20 tokens.

• Bitcoin Miami happening tomorrow may be drawing more attention.

• Investors realize how cheap these are compared to ETH NFTs, and they don't have royalties, so reselling doesn't carry such large fees.

I may be missing other items as well. But I am certain that the Ordinal craze is closer to its beginning than its end. So I will share how, why, and where to get Ordinals in this piece. And I will share some of my favorite Ordinal projects that you may want to check out.

What are Ordinals?

An easy definition for Ordinals is NFTs on Bitcoin. And, for the most part, this would be an accurate definition. However, technical factors differentiate Ordinals from traditional smart chain-based NFTs. Therefore, out of respect for your time, I will summarize the key differences between Ordinals and traditional NFTs.

• Ordinals are inscriptions (images, videos, or music files) on a Satoshi. And since they are on Bitcoin, they exist on a completely decentralized network making them more secure than traditional NFTs. No smart chains (including Ethereum) are as decentralized as Bitcoin.

• Ordinals are immutable. This means they can never be changed. Many like to describe Ordinals as artifacts. Since traditional NFTs exist on smart contracts, there is a counterparty risk that the NFT could be altered.

• Ordinals do not have royalties meaning Ordinal sellers don't have to share a portion of their sales with creators.

• All Ordinals have an inscription number. This is important because it makes it significantly harder for scam projects to impersonate other projects (prevalent with traditional NFTs). It also serves as a living timeline, so you know which projects started on the blockchain earlier. At the time of writing, over 580,000 Ordinals have been created.

• They are priced in BTC instead of ETH or another crypto asset. I got rekt on Solana NFTs as the value of SOL collapsed. BTC has more durability and lower risk than altcoins.

The Sales Data Doesn't Lie

Over the past 30 days, 329 BTC worth of Ordinals has sold in the top 10 collections ranked by trade volume. This is $8.8 million worth of BTC. While this number is exponentially higher than one or two months ago, it still pales compared to the volume of NFTs traded on Ethereum.

Let's put this in perspective. The top NFT collection trading on ETH, Milady' Makers, had 13,055 ETH in sales volume on May 7, when Elon Musk tweeted about them. So, in one day, a single project on Ethereum had $23.5 million worth of sales. With a 5% royalty, that team had a great day!

So, while the Ordinal sales volumes and prices have dramatically increased, there is still significant room for them to run much higher!

Some of the Projects to Look At

This is the part of the article that is extremely biased and subjective. Ultimately, you should invest in projects that YOU like. The art, community, or perks like airdrops draw you in. Or, you may be looking at it from an investment/speculation standpoint. Collecting Ordinals is like collecting anything else; it's not one size fits all.

I've included examples of some of the collections I like in the pictures in this article. Bitcoin Frogs are easily the most popular collection of 10,000 unique PFPs. They currently command a high price of around 0.1296 BTC or about $3,500. I'm kicking myself for not buying these for under $100.

The Unordinal Collection (pictured above) has 1,000 unique pieces. They are trading at 0.07 BTC floor, or around $2,000. This collection started on ETH and migrated to BTC. I bought some of these because they all have inscription numbers below 56,000. I also like the art and found the community welcoming and busy.

The Derps (pictured at the top of the article) is a fun community with immature guys making endless jokes. This 1,000-piece collection could have been minted for free and now have a reasonable floor price of 0.0069 BTC, or $190.

A couple of others that I like are The Subs, a small collection of 100 nostalgiac unique art pieces. These have a 0.006 BTC floor, or approximately $165. I also like the Ordinal Spooky collection, the first animated GIF collection in Ordinals.

Finney is a 420-piece collection that is multi-chain. It has a recurring comic book character, and some mints are sub-20,000 inscriptions. This is an under-the-radar project (IMO); the floor is 0.02 BTC or $550. Sub 20,000 inscriptions are for sale for 0.0795 BTC, or $2,200.

If you want to be more speculative, you can mint Ordinals relatively cheaply on Inscribenow.io. I just minted several PFPepe Ordinals for around $40 worth of BTC each. At the time of writing, there are still 1,200 remaining from the 2,123 total mint. Dirty Degens are a free mint on Inscribenow.io. Another one to check out is Ordinal NPCs, a collection of 10,000 that can be minted for $50 worth of BTC (when inscription fees are low).

Key Takeaways

I like Ordinals because, for the most part, I missed NFTs on ETH. I never got a Bored Ape, an Azuki, a CryptoPunk, or a Milady. And I can't afford any of those right now. I also like that the communities are organic and optimistic about what Ordinals can become.

It also seems like it's not influencer-driven or royalty driven. And I appreciate that. There is a learning curve because you need a different wallet, but buying Ordinals on Magic Eden is extremely easy and user-friendly. And it will be exciting to see if other players follow Binance and start listing these great projects.

Also, be sure to sign up for my newsletter below. I wrote an article for premium subscribers discussing many Ordinal projects when they were lower priced than today. However, you don't have to be a premium subscriber to benefit from the content. There is a free option as well!

^{At the time of writing, I own Ordinals in several of the project mentioned. However, I haven't been paid or sponsored to write this piece; digital art is subjective.}

^{This information should not be taken as investment advice. Digital assets like crypto and NFTs involve risk, so you should always perform due diligence before investing. Furthermore, this article is my opinion; I am not a financial advisor.}