When Ordinals debuted in January 2023, they were largely considered a novel passing trend. Just a few months later, it has become clear that Bitcoin NFTs are here to stay and their contributions to the Web3 ecosystem are far from just a fleeting phenomenon. More than 11 million Ordinals Inscriptions have been minted, including record-breaking blocks, Punks derivatives, and Cursed Ordinals.
Even very notable projects from other blockchains – such as the inimitable DeGods – have started to expand to Ordinals, and other collections soon followed. The vibe of Bitcoin NFTs has welcomed (and continues to welcome) a slew of newcomers from both the Ethereum and Solana ecosystems, marking a potential turnaround in the Web3 space.
What started as a curious shift in the crypto landscape has since become a broader industry trend bottom prices in ETH continue to fall. The Bitcoin NFT universe is probably just getting started; here are some notable and existing projects and companies that are broadening their horizons to BTC.
CryptoSkulls
Q: Why are ordinal skulls important to CryptoSkulls?☠️
A: Ordinal Skull Coins are a huge contributor to running costs, not only for the core staff, but also for the Gold of Skulls development team. Ordinal numbers play a vital role in our long-term plan! 🧡
Coin 👇: https://t.co/dumDP85X1l
— CryptoSkulls ☠️ (@Crypto_Skulls) June 7, 2023
Historic NFT project CryptoSkulls recently minted Ordinal CryptoSkulls, a collection of 2,009 unique pixel art visuals engraved on satoshis. Priced at 0.005 BTC (about $150) each, the art resembles the Genesis CryptoSkulls collection, except with a new color scheme inspired by Satoshi Nakamoto’s original Bitcoin logo.
OnChainMonkey
Bitcoin came in 2009.
Ethereum came in 2015.
CryptoPunks came in as the first 10k on Ethereum in 2017.
OnChainMonkey came first 10k on Bitcoin in 2023.
It’s a great time to be in OCM. All holders will receive their Bitcoin Ordinal. pic.twitter.com/79rxV0z1VX
— OnChainMonkey (@OnChainMonkey) February 20, 2023
OnChainMonkey (OCM) took a notable step by moving to Bitcoin Ordinal subscriptions in February 2023. However, before moving their OCM collection to Bitcoin, Metagood’s team had to face an important challenge. They had to reconcile their commitment to sustainable practices with the well-documented environmental concerns surrounding Bitcoin and other proof-of-work blockchains.
To address this, the Metagood team uploaded their OCM collection to Bitcoin in a single transaction, emulating the approach they took with their original Ethereum collection. This method used only 20,000 bytes of data.
The team is about to release a new collection of Bitcoin skyscrapers called OCM dimensions. It is described as “a small piece of land on Bitcoin, building upwards to create the detailed 3D animated rendering, all on-chain on Bitcoin.” Each skyscraper uses less than one kilobyte of block space per dimension and is the second most important skyscraper on Bitcoin after OCM Genesis.
the gods
Originally a leading force within the Solana ecosystem, the DeGods community has successfully established its influence over Bitcoin, ETH, and Polygon. DeGods on Bitcoin has 535 NFTs and was hit on March 17. As one of the first prominent ETH projects to transition to Ordinals, DeGods has made its mark as a pioneer in this field.
“Our goal is to be the number one NFT community in every chain,” Kevin Henrikson, CEO of Dust Labs, said in a previous interview with nft now. “We’re not just trying to go to every chain, but thinking about how it can expand our vision.”
Each project & their mother is now bridging/slapping a new collection $BTC.
I’m all for cross chain but it’s still so funny to watch after everyone relentlessly shits on DeGods for going to $ETH.
(disclaimer: I was skeptical about eth – turned out to be a W)
— becc (@cryptobecc) June 12, 2023
TwelveFold from Yuga Labs
“Twelvefold” 1-8 by Yuga Labs pic.twitter.com/jnSewRW3sn
— MILK (@satoshimilk) March 13, 2023
While Yuga Labs hasn’t brought Bored Apes to Bitcoin (yet), they’ve still embraced Ordinals with their TwelveFold collection. Unveiled in late February 2023, this 300-piece collection features Bitcoin-inspired artwork, featuring a 12×12 grid that serves as a “visual allegory for the cryptography of data on the Bitcoin blockchain.” The collection features highly rendered 3D elements, complemented by hand-drawn features that resemble bubbles. Of the 300 pieces, 288 were offered for auction.
Yuga Labs set aside the remaining 12 pieces with the intention of assigning them to donors, using them for donations, supporters and other philanthropic initiatives. The auction for TwelveFold raised a total of 735 BTC ($16,500,000) in 24 hourswith the highest bidder paying $161,000.
Okay bears
This announcement is one of the best birthday gifts today!
A new @okaybears collection on Bitcoin👀? pic.twitter.com/aNgXfs33F0
— Ted.bitcoin | Web3 (@TedPillows) June 12, 2023
While it hasn’t been confirmed, the popular Solana project Okay Bears appears to be eyeing a move to Ordinals. On June 12, the project’s Twitter account changed its profile picture and banner to Bitcoin orange and also added a Bitcoin-stylized “B” to the banner.
Chief Fun Officer Warbucks’ tweet dated June 13 Web3’s assumptions were virtually all confirmed: “While most of us may have started with SOL/ETH, it would be a tragedy not to try new ecosystems. To be a true Web3 brand, you have to be ubiquitous.”
Since then, the official Okay Bears account has been teasing several iterations of the original project, including bears with “golden eyes”, which could be a possible nod to Bitcoin’s laser eye trend. We’ll have to wait and see if these suspicions are confirmed.
0n1 Power
ORDINAL BABY pic.twitter.com/ZhrZH80h7E
— Starlordy (@starlordyftw) May 31, 2023
Another project that intends to dig deeper into Bitcoin Ordinals, but hasn’t taken the full plunge yet, is ON1 Force. On June 1, Starlordy, CEO of 0N1 Force, announced that it will be the first anime PFP project on Bitcoin.
“As a Bitcoin maxi, I knew ordinal numbers were the future, but I was still too slow,” said Starlordy wrote in a tweet. “Luckily we had the foresight to hit about 0n1 sub-500k, so we can say that we are still the first anime PFP project on both ETH and BTC… and I can rightly say that we have the best having PFP art on BTC.”
There’s no word yet on when the project will launch, but 0N1 Force is now telling nft that the team plans to have Bitcoin experts discuss the collection before release.
As we navigate the dynamic and ever-evolving landscape of blockchain technology, one thing is becoming increasingly clear: we are on the verge of a significant shift to Ordinals. This is not just a minor adjustment, but a trend that is expected to gain momentum and fundamentally shape the future of blockchain projects.