Ordinals Wallet

A non-fungible token (NFT) is a verifiably unique cryptographic asset representing a physical or virtual item that is recorded on a blockchain. Examples would be digital art, virtual collectibles, music, videos, domain names, or in-game items. 

Unlike regular cryptocurrencies, NFTs are non-fungible, which means one NFT is not the same as another. If you trade one mutant monkey NFT for another, for example, you’ll get an entirely different NFT altogether. 

The first NFT can be traced back to 2012. However, it was not until 2021 that NFTs blew up, with high-value crypto collectibles and digital art selling for millions of dollars. Today, NFTs have become a part of Bitcoin culture and have even earned their place in the mainstream.

Yes! Bitcoin has NFTs thanks to the Ordinals project that launched in January 2023. Ordinals have made it possible for NFTs to live directly on the Bitcoin blockchain. 

Previously, NFTs were only possible on Bitcoin layer-2 chains like Counterparty, Stacks, or the Liquid Network. Rare Pepe NFTs built on Counterparty were one of the first NFTs on Bitcoin. 

Colored Coins on Bitcoin may have been the very first NFTs to exist. They were launched in 2012 and were made up of small bitcoin denominations. Colored Coins would represent a wide range of items like digital collectibles, property, company shares, and access tokens. However, Bitcoin’s blockchain wasn’t built to support the representation and management of real-world assets, thereby explaining why Colored Coins weren’t a success. 

Fast forward to today, the Bitcoin blockchain has undergone several upgrades, extending its capabilities. For instance, the 2021 Taproot upgrade made Ordinal NFTs possible.

The Ordinals protocol allows people to inscribe NFTs directly onto the Bitcoin blockchain. That means all the NFT data is recorded on-chain. Rodarmor prefers to use the term ‘digital artifacts’ instead of NFTs. Ordinal NFTs are also called inscriptions.

The protocol is called Ordinals because it is based on ordinals, a number system for satoshis (the smallest bitcoin unit) that enables the tracking and transfer of individual satoshis (sats). These numbers are known as ordinal numbers. The protocol leverages the ordinal numbers’ ability to recognize and tag individual sats. 

Therefore, a user can attach content like an image or text to a satoshi and then broadcast it to the Bitcoin blockchain. Inscribed satoshis are special transactions that users can identify and track. You can inscribe an Ordinal digital artifact on an NFT marketplace like Gamma using Xverse wallet. 

Ordinals use the segregated witness part of a Bitcoin block and tapscripts, thereby making use of the 2017 SegWit upgrade and the 2021 Taproot soft fork, respectively. Taproot removed the block data cap, which means you could theoretically create a 4 MB NFT that would occupy an entire Bitcoin block. The data capacity permits users to store the NFT data on-chain instead of adding a link to a P2P storage service like IPFS.

Bitcoin NFTs on Stacks are non-fungible tokens created on the Stacks Bitcoin layer using smart contracts written in Clarity. The NFT transaction data settles on the Bitcoin blockchain, with every Bitcoin block mined on average every 10 minutes, inheriting Bitcoin’s security. 

Users can track the ownership of an NFT and its transaction history on the Stacks blockchain. The ease of use and low costs of minting NFTs on Stacks has made the layer-2 chain a popular home for Bitcoin NFTs.

Yes. Bids and asks for Ordinals NFTs are typically set in BTC, which means you could pay for Bitcoin NFTs with BTC.

NFT marketplace Gamma is a good place to buy and sell a Stacks-powered Bitcoin NFT. You can seamlessly access Gamma directly within your Xverse wallet. All you need are STX tokens to cover the price of the NFTs you want to buy.

Xverse is a free wallet that offers zero-fee Bitcoin NFT transactions. This is made possible via an initiative that enables anyone to sponsor Bitcoin NFT transactions on Stacks by donating to a sponsored wallet. This initiative, however, doesn’t cover transaction fees for Ordinals NFTs.

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Xverse is the best place to manage all your Bitcoin NFTs, so you can take them on the go with a mobile device or view them on desktop with the browser extension. We are building the most advanced Bitcoin wallet, built for everyone. That also includes NFT enthusiasts who want to explore the world of crypto collectibles built on Bitcoin. 

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