Crypto exchange Binance has announced that its NFT marketplace will no longer support Bitcoin Ordinals.
In a blog post, Binance noted that the decision to deprecate support for NFT-style inscriptions was made “as part of its ongoing efforts to streamline product offerings” on its NFT marketplace.
Starting April 18, users will no longer be able to trade Bitcoin Ordinals on the Binance NFT Marketplace. The exchange also advised users to withdraw their Bitcoin Ordinals from the market before May 18.
The exchange also noted that “airdrops, benefits or utilities” associated with Bitcoin Ordinals will no longer be supported as of April 10. Binance added that Runestones holders should withdraw their NFTs before this date, “to ensure they still have the opportunity to receive associated tokens, utilities and benefits” linked to their Ordinals, adding that ” trading of Runestone NFTs will not be supported on Binance NFT.”
Binance originally added support for Ordinals in May 2023.
What are Bitcoin Ordinal Numbers?
Bitcoin Ordinal inscriptions are unique digital assets inscribed on a satoshi, the lowest value of a Bitcoin (BTC). The Ordinals protocol debuted in early 2023 and quickly had an impact on the broader NFT world.
Following changes from the 2017 SegWit network upgrade, developers created Bitcoin Ordinals using an inscription process that extracts the data from the content stored on an individual satoshi, or the smallest denomination of a Bitcoin (1/100,000. 000 BTC), writes or registers.
Like NFTs, inscriptions are non-fungible, meaning they are provably unique and can be used for many of the same use cases, such as digitally scarce works of art.
Yesterday, financial giant Franklin Templeton released a report praising the “positive momentum in innovations” on the Bitcoin blockchain, which he said was “primarily driven” by Oridinals.
The company pointed to an “increase in trading volume” in recent months, along with Ordinals’ growing market capitalization versus NFTs on other networks. Ordinals trading has had a significant impact on the broader NFT world in recent months, propelling cross-chain marketplace Magic Eden into a leading market share.
