The Top 5 Bitcoin Ordinals Wallets
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Established bitcoin wallets rarely support the collection of digital artifacts, but the demand for Ordinals continues to skyrocket. Record sales are making news every month, and mainstream investors are just starting to cue into the potential value of these so-called “bitcoin NFTs.”
Many investors are overzealous and immediately start looking for marketplaces to buy Bitcoin Ordinals; they don’t want to miss out on profiting from the very “now” hype. Despite being founded on the bitcoin blockchain, these collectors don’t realize that storing an Ordinal is not quite the same as holding bitcoin, or an NFT.
Holding an Ordinal requires a unique type of wallet, and navigating the landscape of new Ordinal wallets popping up requires a basic understanding of what makes Ordinals distinct before choosing one.
This article is the eager investor’s map and key to the exciting new world of ordinal wallets.
What Are Ordinals And Why Are They Valuable?
Ordinals reference a numbering scheme described in the ordinal protocol. Each satoshi (aka “sat” or “sats,” the smallest unit of bitcoin) is assigned a sequence of ordinal numbers to define the order it was mined, allowing specific identification and tracking of each unique sat.
These ordinal numbers can then be referenced to inscribe data onto a specific sat to create Ordinal Inscriptions. Like NFTs, Ordinals derive their value from their uniqueness, scarcity, and recorded digital proof of ownership. Unlike NFTs, Ordinal’s data is securely stored directly on the bitcoin blockchain.
Outside of unique Ordinal Inscriptions, some sats are deemed valuable if their ordinal numbers prove their rarity regarding key moments in bitcoin history (i.e., the first sat ever created, or the first sat of a new halving epoch). Hence the advent of Runes.
Since the release of the Ordinal protocol in early 2023, Ordinal’s popularity has risen dramatically, with 65 million Ordinals inscribed as of mid-April 2024 (a growth rate of over 2000% in under a year, starting from May 2023).
As Ordinals adoption has grown, the surrounding ecosystem (including Ordinals marketplaces and Ordinals wallets) has also substantially improved. This budding infrastructure provides a simple and secure way to create, trade, collect, and store digital artifacts.
What Is An Ordinals Wallet And How Is It Different?
The purpose of an Ordinals wallet is to manage bitcoin assets and Ordinals assets separately. A person who collects rare coins would not deposit their collection into an online bank account, nor would they use a rare quarter in a vending machine.
The Ordinal’s value hinges on possession of the unique inscribed satoshi, not from the associated fiat currency equivalent, so it is important to store Ordinals outside of one’s regular bitcoin account to avoid it being accidentally transferred during a regular transaction.
Ordinals wallets typically have features to manage both bitcoin assets and Ordinals simultaneously.
They often support broad functionalities such as the creation, viewing, trading, and storage of Ordinals. Further, they implement rigorous security measures, integrate well with other decentralized applications, and allow users to interact directly with the bitcoin blockchain. However, they should not require extensive funds, storage capacity, or technical expertise.
A good ordinal wallet needs to be secure, easy to use, and readily accessible.
The Top 5 Ordinal Wallets
- Ordinals Wallet
Ordinals Wallet is the most popular Ordinals wallet on the market. Launched on February 16, 2023, the community-funded project was designed to address the limitations of previously released wallets.
At the time of this writing (May 2024) this wallet reports over $82 million in total trading volume, more than 470,000 wallets opened, the facilitation of over 545,000 successful trades, and more than 875,000 Ordinal inscriptions created.
Users can fully manage their digital assets directly within the application, including the ability to view, buy, sell, store, and inscribe Ordinals. This product, similar to most Ordinals wallets, supports bitcoin and Ordinals on a single platform, removing the need to maintain multiple wallets.
The wallet’s user-friendly interface and intuitive layout and design have resulted in positive feedback from both beginners and knowledgeable users. Strong security features, including a non-custodial system, ensure that users always have direct control over their assets via user-created passwords not stored on external servers.
2. Xverse Wallet
The Xverse is an open-source, non-custodial, Web3 bitcoin wallet. Xverse’s primary focus is providing exceptional support for other popular Bitcoin Layer 2 protocols like Ordinals, Lightning Network, and Stacks.
Where the Xverse wallet really shines is in prioritizing user privacy and anonymity. It protects client privacy by not collecting or storing any user data, forgoing know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) processes during wallet creation.
Additionally, the wallet encrypts all security keys with user-set passwords on the user’s device, not sharing or storing it elsewhere. Xverse’s open-source code provides full transparency into its security methodology and processes, allowing regular audits by security consultant companies, like Least Authority.
Along with typical wallet features that allow users to browse, purchase, sell, and store their Ordinals, users can create Ordinal inscriptions by uploading an image or text to the app and sending a transaction to the associated address. Xverse relies on its partnership with Gamma, a Bitcoin Ordinal marketplace, to inscribe new Ordinals.
3. Leather Wallet (Formerly Hiro Wallet)
Leather Wallet, formally known as Hiro Wallet, is a non-custodial bitcoin wallet that released Ordinals support features on February 14, 2023. Leather also supports Bitcoin L2 layers like Stacks and has plans to incorporate Lighting Network support soon.
Leather Wallet released its Ordinals support features just ahead of competitor products like Ordinals Wallet and Xverse Wallet, and remains one of the most interconnected Ordinals wallets. It boasts seamless integration with the most popular decentralized Ordinals marketplaces and platforms, providing users with a myriad of options for creating and trading Ordinal inscriptions.
Leather is also a very widely used wallet, reporting 375,000 total downloads, above 100,000 active monthly users, and over 300,000 processed transactions per month.
4. OKX Wallet
OKX Wallet is a decentralized multi-chain wallet built to prioritize user integration into the universe of Web3. As a multi-chain wallet, the focus isn’t just on bitcoin, but instead on providing cross-chain interconnectivity across over 50 blockchains.
OKX Wallet users can also mint and purchase BRC-20 tokens. In 2023 they adopted the BRC20-S standard, an open-source protocol that provides users with the option to stake BRC-20 tokens directly from the platform.
This cements OKX as one of the most versatile Ordinals wallets on the market. OKX Wallet’s security systems also passed an audit conducted by the blockchain security firm SlowMist.
5. MetaMask
MetaMask wallet is a non-custodial multi-chain wallet and browser extension that helps users seamlessly integrate with Web3 dApps. Initially designed as an Ethereum blockchain wallet, MetaMask provides access and support for a wide range of tokens and dApps across the Ethereum network. Metamask is one of the most popular tools in the cryptocurrency space with over 30 million users.
Now, in partnership with Generative XYZ, they have created an easy-to-use interface to interact with and store bitcoin and Ordinals assets — an interconnectivity game changer for users who primarily operate within the Ethereum network. When users connect their existing MetaMask wallet to Generative, a unique signature is generated to create a Bitcoin Taproot key and address.
By sticking with Metamask for Ordinal endeavors, users can rely on the legitimacy of this industry-leading technology while exploring new territory.
The Bottom Line
As Ordinals have risen in popularity, the number of Ordinals wallets has also grown significantly. Any of the five Ordinals wallets listed above more than exceed even skilled users’ expectations in these criteria, with most excelling chiefly in a few key areas.
The main factors to consider when choosing a wallet include:
- Full interoperability with Ordinals assets (view, transfer, buy, sell, store)
- Easy processes for creating new Ordinal inscriptions
- Integration with dApps and Web3
- Robust security features
- Management of a diverse digital asset portfolio from one wallet
- Popularity in the cryptocurrency market
It is up to the reader’s discretion which option best suits their needs.
