Bitcoin NFTs: Everything You Need to Know About the Thriving $4.5 Billion BTC Art Scene
The year 2023 has started off with much excitement for Bitcoin supporters thanks to a surging price and the ascent of a new type of collectible named Bitcoin Ordinals, of which over 200,000 have already been created. The 2 trends could very well be related, with many experts connecting the dots and calling the arrival of Bitcoin NFTs the reason for the world’s original cryptocurrency’s jump from $16k to over $25,000 this year, as it unlocks huge new growth potential and increase in network transactions.
And sorry Bitcoin maxis and purists… it’s likely not going away any time soon. According to a new report by Galaxy Research, Bitcoin NFTs are expected to become a $4.5 billion market by 2025. This is a huge development and reminiscent of Ethereum’s Crypto Kitties craze in 2017 which divided the smart contract network’s community at first due to the network congestions and high gas fees it brought.
Of course, a few years later the recent bull market was partly spurred on by the mania around Ethereum NFTs, which allow creators to certify digital assets as unique, creating scarcity in a world where digital goods can be infinitely replicated. NFTs have become increasingly popular in the digital art world, commanding record sales in 2021 thanks to highlights such as Beeple’s Everydays ($69m), CryptoPunks, Bored Ape Yacht Club and now Bitcoin NFTs are the latest addition to the ecosystem.
In this article, we will explore what Bitcoin NFTs are, why they are gaining popularity, and what the future holds for this emerging market according to a new Galaxy report.
What are Bitcoin NFTs?
Bitcoin NFTs are unique digital assets that are stored on the Bitcoin blockchain, and its creation was made possible by the 2021 Taproot upgrade. These non-fungible assets can be anything from digital art, music, or videos to collectible items like trading cards or virtual real estate.
In December 2022, a Bitcoin developer named Casey Rodarmor introduced “inscriptions” to the blockchain, after working on it for months. Inscriptions are pieces of data that can be posted to the Bitcoin blockchain as part of a transaction. In January 2023, Rodarmor launched his “Ordinal Theory”, allowing users to inscribe satoshis with unique data such as images and video. This opened up new possibilities for NFTs on the blockchain, allowing for even more unique digital assets to be created.
By tying inscriptions to individual satoshis, which are the smallest denomination of Bitcoin, they become non-fungible tokens. This makes them unique and valuable, and they can be traded and transferred as NFTs. Also, the fact that they are secured on the Bitcoin blockchain makes them tamper-proof, immutable, and easily transferable.
BAYC’s Yuga Labs Enter Bitcoin NFT race
Recently, Yuga Labs, the mega-successful studio that created Bored Ape Yacht Club and is busy currently building its OtherSide metaverse Otherside, announced its first-ever Bitcoin-based NFT project called TwelveFold. Yuga’s involvement in Bitcoin NFTs is predicted to encourage other artists to create and sell their own NFTs. This will likely attract major NFT marketplaces like OpenSea to the Bitcoin ecosystem, providing even more opportunities for artists and collectors alike.
