On June 17, CryptoPunk #8611 was permanently removed from the Ethereum blockchain. The NFT, which had recently sold for 54.49 ETH (just over $94,000 at the time), was transferred to an Ethereum fire address soon after, meaning it can never be recovered. From there, the asset was enrolled on the Bitcoin blockchain as an Ordinal, that ecosystem’s equivalent of an NFT, and then sent to a Satoshi wallet. In addition, anyone who burns a Punk gets a spot on the allow list for a new Bitcoin Ordinals collection: Ordinal Maxi Biz.
The event raised Web3’s collective eyebrow, and rightly so. Punk #8611 is not the only Ethereum-based NFT or NFT project to pass through the Bitcoin Ordinals portal, and it certainly won’t be the last. But CryptoPunks are no ordinary NFT collection. One of the first projects on the Ethereum blockchain, Larva Labs’ OG PFP project has gained iconic status not only within the crypto art world, but also in the world of fine art collecting. They’re also obscenely valuable as a digital asset, as the bottom end of the collection will cost you a cool 44.9 ETH ($86,000 at the time of writing).
So, why exactly are people burning these legendary and precious Ethereum NFTs? To answer that, we need to look at who is behind the Ordinal Maxi Biz project, what their purpose is, and how it might affect the original CryptoPunks collection.
Who is behind the burning trend of CryptoPunks?
The buyers of Punk #8611 are part of a collective called Web3 Bitcoin bandits, an Ordinals project of pixelated NFT characters led by Natan Stein. Over the past month, Stein has led an undetermined number of Bitcoin Ordinals enthusiasts in their mission to collectively buy a CryptoPunk and move it to the realm of Ordinals Inscriptions. The move is part bile and part belief in the historicity of Bitcoin’s Ordinals NFT movement, something that has split the Bitcoin community in two: Bitcoin purists, who oppose Ordinals (sometimes referred to as Bitcoin maxis), and those who welcome the change.
But the move also includes two other goals. The first is to highlight the innovation potential of the Bitcoin blockchain in the NFT space. Although the blockchain is much older than Ethereum, the latter has undoubtedly been at the forefront of NFT for years. With the introduction of the Ordinals protocol in January this year, a major shift has taken place and many Web3 enthusiasts believe that a golden age for the Bitcoin ecosystem is upon us.
Similarly, a significant portion of Bitcoin Ordinals supporters largely believe in dissolving the cultural walls that separate the two NFT ecosystems. Burning such well-known and respected NFTs, the thought process goes, could help achieve that goal, creating a sort of cultural bridge between the two communities.
On June 15, the team behind Bitcoin Bandits opened their brand site for CryptoPunks, by offering Punk holders an Ordinal Maxi Biz admission list in exchange for enrolling their highly prized Ethereum NFT into the Bitcoin ecosystem. Punk #8611 was the first to cross the threshold, leaving the Ethereum chain forever. #8611 was also fractionated, and ownership of it is divided between the individuals who raised funds to purchase the original Ethereum NFT. A few days later, CryptoPunk #9146 followed.
Ordinal Maxi Biz
The Ordinals collection for which CryptoPunk burners received spots on the allow list is Ordinal Maxi Biz, a project of zk shark and Web3 historian Nullic consisting of roughly sketched heads with different features, including red, green, and blue eyes that are drawn past Tony Tafuro. Red-eyed OMBs were the first in the collection, later blue-eyed OMBs were added and enrolled on Bitcoin Block 78, which was created in 2009.
With a recent introduction of 1,900 green-eyed pieces (enrolled on block 9, one of the blocks mined by Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto), the collection currently stands at 2.1,000 pieces and has a healthy total trading volume on Magic Eden’s Ordinals marketplace of over 173.44 BTC ($5.3 million). Top sales include OMB #27 for 3.33 BTC ($88,321) and OMB #64 for 3.2 BTC ($83,453). The collection has no enforced royalties or metadata changes and will never move to another chain, according to one collection manifesto posted by the team in March.
What happens now?
Not everyone is happy with what Bitcoin Bandits and OMB are doing with the legacy Ethereum collection, with some members of the CryptoPunks community expressing disbelief that people would ever consider burning the NFTs for the new Bitcoin Ordinals collection. Some have speculated that reducing the Ethereum CryptoPunks supply could drive up the price of that collection, though not many seem happy with the prospect, even if it does, given the cultural and historical ramifications of burning a CryptoPunk.
But Bitcoin Bandits is also not satisfied with just going after CryptoPunks. On June 27, the team tweeted out a call for people to do so burn their Azuki NFTs to transfer them to the Bitcoin ecosystem in the same way.
“Don’t dilute your beautiful Azuki NFTs with Elementals, take them to Bitcoin,” the team wrote in an apparent attempt to capitalize on the recent controversy surrounding Azuki’s troubled Elementals coin.
Ordinals Maxi Biz is still a relatively young Ordinals collection and it remains to be seen how its existence and gravity will affect CryptoPunks in the long run. Regardless, the appeal of the Ordinals protocol remains one of the dominant forces in the crypto art world and may just be getting started.