Bitcoin NFTs ๐Ÿš€

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Dear Bankless Nation

Bitcoin is a digital currency, which is mostly traded these days.

This dynamic is due in large part to Bitcoin’s conservative and narrowly designed development. This is the idea. Go all-in on singularly optimizing for the status of censorship-resistant, decentralized money.

Ethereum has clearly taken a more holistic approach, focusing on money anddecentralized apps, such as NFTs.

But Bitcoin’s strict design doesnโ€™t prevent NFT-like creations.

To the dismay of many hardcore Bitcoiners, a growing number of experimenters have been taking advantage of Bitcoin’s limitations to create new types of non-fungible creations.

Let’s now get to the bottom of what’s happening in the Bitcoin NFT scene.

-WMP

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The Bitcoin NFT buzz is behind


What is in a Bitcoin block and how do you get it? There have been more than a few NFTs recently, which is driving up revenue for miners


The 101

Bitcoin’s community is currently dealing with an increase in Bitcoin NFT mins after Ordinals. This protocol converts individual bitcoin satoshis into non-fungible digital artifacts and was launched earlier this month.

The “old guard” Bitcoiners have reacted with disapproval to Ordinals. This is similar to how they criticized Bitcoin-based Counterparty NFTs back in 2014.


@[email protected]


@BennettTomlin
Someone minted Luke Dash complaining about ordinals (NFTs) as an ordinal (NFT) on Bitcoin ordinals.com/inscription/9f…

Counterparty veterans, as well as new and old experimenters, are praising Ordinals’s approach for Bitcoin’s NFT industry. These new NFTs are also driving up transaction fees revenues for Bitcoin miners. This could point the way to a future where cultural activity can replace the decreasing block subsidy.


Fanis ‘FM’ Teamunhostedalakis


@FanisMichalakis
Wow! This ordinals thing is inflating blocks’ size and weight. It certainly generates a lot for miners!

Image


How NFTs Work


Casey Rodarmor


@rodarmor

The inscriptions for Bitcoin mainnet are now available. Like NFTs but digital artifacts, inscriptions can be created and managed on the Bitcoin mainnet. rodarmor.com/blog/inscribin…

Ordinals revolves around Inscriptions, a new Bitcoin-native mechanism. According to the Inscriptions mainnet announcement:

“Inscriptions” are digital artifacts that can be used to create Bitcoin blockchain-based currency. These digital artifacts are created by inscribing ord-encoded sats. They can be viewed using the ordinals explorer. They don’t require a separate token or sidechain, nor do they need to be converted to Bitcoin.


An inscription transaction is a way to include content such as an image, text or SVG. The transaction witness contains the content and signatures that prove that a transaction has been authorized.


em >[…] The inscription is placed on the first sat in the transaction’s first output. This permanently marks the transaction and distinguishes it from its peers. It is not just a sat; it is an integral part of the complex tale of human art and culture.

By using ordinal theory, it is possible to find the unspent output that contains an inscribed sat, its movements, ownership, and transactions. Inscriptions can then be traded, gifted and bought.


The onchain element

The media in Ordinals mints is stored entirely on Bitcoin blockchain. This means that there are no external dependencies e.g. Private servers or IPFS. These NFTs can be always retrieved from Bitcoin.


notsofast


@notsofast
It looks like all EtherRocks were transposed via ordinals to Bitcoin Blockchain
Image

It is possible to mint completely onchain Ethereum NFTs in a different way, but it is more expensive than onchain minting. Ordinals makes it possible to mint onchain Bitcoin NFTs much cheaper than onchain Ethereum NFTs.


Erica Wall


@ercwl

@Crypto_Lion888 16 gas is the byte of CALLDATA within ETH L1. 360kb = 5,760,000 gas. The current gas price is 15 gwei. 5,760,000 * 15 = 86,400,000 gwei = 0.0864 ETH = 140 bucks. $7x the difference between $20 and $140

Erica Wall


@ercwl

Total cost = 20 dollars

Onchain NFTs are praised by many in the Ethereum ecosystem as the best and most resilient means of storing metadata. Onchain digital artifacts for Bitcoin could also be celebrated due to their robustness.


What are people saying

1. Dennis Porteaux did an amazing, balanced dive into the technical and factional contexts surrounding Ordinals.


dennis


@pourteaux

Illegitimate bitcoin transactions – The longstanding compromise on transaction size, Taproot’s accidental blowup, and the emerging NFT protocol (new from me).

2. Eric Wall emphasized the irony in hardline Bitcoiners accepting censorship of Bitcoin NFTs.


Erica Wall


@ercwl
Bitcoin maxis was roflcopted at Ethereum validators censoring OFAC transaction (it wasnโ€™t actually the case; primarily it had been a popular, but optional, MEV block-builder that the validators defaulted on to use). They are now deliberating how to censor Bitcoin NFTs.
Image

3. Casey Rodarmor has argued against Bitcoin Essentialism


Casey Rodarmor


@rodarmor
While I can understand why NFTs would be considered stupid and lame, I am unable to understand why NFTs should be considered legitimate. Bitcoin has outlived its original purpose and creator. Bitcoin isn’t *for* all things. It is just what it is.


The big picture

Ordinals’ rise is not a flash in the pan in Bitcoin ecosystem. The Bitcoin NFT scene has been blossoming since last year.

Artist, data scientist and NFT historian chainleft created PEPERMANENT in Nov. 2022, prior to the current Ordinals buzz.


Chainleft


@ChainLeftist

– This is my first Bitcoin creation. – Also, this is my first 100% on-chain NFT on Bitcoin. Is Pepe stored on Bitcoin in 2022-11-23 before? Do not tell me that this is the first on-chain 100% Pepe on Bitcoin… You are wrong. Drop mechanics

๐Ÿธ๐Ÿธ๐ŸธFAKE RARES๐Ÿธ๐Ÿธ๐Ÿธ


@FAKERARES_XCP

Series 12 Card 33 PEPERMANENT @ChainLeftist https://t.co/MOoP2jYB7N

This NFT boom is quite interesting when you consider that Bitcoin desperatelyneeds to grow in the years ahead if miners want to make enough money to stay around and continue securing Bitcoin. The BTC block subsidy keeps halving every 4 years.

Ordinals thus, is such an important step towards a teeming market on Bitcoin, despite the fact that hardliners want to keep blockspace for only currency uses cases. We will have to wait to see how things turn out, but Ordinals NFTs will be here for the long-term.


Action steps

  • Review the Ordinals website and docs to learn more about Bitcoin NFTs

  • If you missed it Doubling down on NFT Security


Author Bio


William M. Peaster, a professional writer, is the creator of Metaversal-a Bankless newsletter that focuses on the emergence and use of NFTs within the cryptoeconomy. He has also contributed content to JPG, Bankless, and other publications.

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