Leonidas, the pseudonymous founder of Ord.io, an ordinal explorer, has reported one of the largest sales of inscriptions, so-called Bitcoin native non-fungible tokens (NFTs), to date. Leonidas stated that the second inscription on the Bitcoin blockchain was sold for 24.48 BTC (over $1.1 million), and predicted that more sales will beat this record in the short term.
Inscriptions Market Records Biggest Sale to Date: 24.48 Bitcoin
Ordinal Inscriptions, a protocol that allows the display of images and other data directly on top of the Bitcoin blockchain, is breaking sales records. Leonidas, the founder of ord.io, an inscription browser/explorer, declared the largest ordinal sale ever recorded on February 28, when the second inscription in the Bitcoin blockchain changed hands.
This inscription sold for 24.48 BTC, which was worth approximately $1.1 million at the time of writing. The non-fungible token (NFT) is part of the Bitcoin Budgies collection and features an animation of a cartoon parakeet moving its head against a black background. The asset was registered on December 19, 2022 for 2,479 sats. The inscription reached its record price in a year and two months.
Leonidas expressed optimism about the near-term future of the ordinals protocol as part of a looming cryptocurrency bull market. He claimed:
1 sold for the first time last night for over $1 million. Before this cycle is over, I predict that 1 sat will sell for over $100 million. Ordinals is just getting started.
There have been relevant sales before involving significant sums of money for ordinal numbers. For example, “Genesis Cat,” a unique piece from the Quantum Cats collection, sold for $254,000 at a Sotheby’s auction held in January. “Genesis Cat” managed to beat its sales estimate by 6x.
However, Inscriptions remains at the forefront of a debate that has two sides: one that sees them as an evolution in the use of the Bitcoin block space and a new enabling technology, and those who believe it is spam that does not comply with the rules of the Bitcoin network.
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