You read that right. There are currently 10,000 ‘Bitcoin CryptoPunks’ who have just completed the printing process this week. They look exactly as advertised: CryptoPunk NFTs on the Bitcoin blockchain. And yes, we have seen sales of these NFTs in the tens, and even hundreds of thousands of USD.
However, this is far from your ‘run of the mill’ NFTs – and Bitcoin’s lack of smart contracts will be a stark reminder of just how valuable Ethereum and other smart contract interface chains are.
Let’s take a look at the latest ‘slice of chaos’ in NFTs.
Not Your Normal CryptoPunks: What NFTs in Bitcoin Are All About
On Thursday, the last Bitcoin Punks were minted through a free and open mint. However, this does not mean that it is accessible. But before we get access and print, many readers may murmur: “wait a minute, we never had NFT before Ethereum and smart contracts… what happened?”
Creators build NFTs on the Bitcoin blockchain by assigning what they call an ‘ordinal’ to each satoshi. Ordinals are linked to information like text, images, videos, etc. – effectively creating an NFT in Bitcoin. Essentially, this process provides metadata to satoshis.
There is no ‘token standard,’ like Ethereum’s ERC standard, and the inscription on the Bitcoin blockchain is permanent and immutable. However, an ordinal psuedo inscription explorer is available.
This concept is completely new and has not been around for more than a month. Absent a clear first mover, we effectively live in a single box of Bitcoin NFTs – but that means, of course, no infrastructure. There are no wallets built for this, no markets that support this kind of activity, no real tools to ‘mint’ these Bitcoin NFTs.
Bitcoin (BTC) is not a blockchain we often mention when talking about NFTs. | Source: BTC-USD on TradingView.com
Mintin’ Ain’t Easy
While we are very much in the ‘testing’ phase of Bitcoin inscriptions, the interest is palpable – so don’t be surprised to see more tools and infrastructure being launched to support inscription creation. In the meantime, how are these Bitcoin CryptoPunks doing?
While there have been bots available for some time, it is widely believed that most Bitcoin Punk holders access it by becoming a node operator. Holders are advised to only hold ordinals in dedicated wallets without other BTC – with users primarily setting up a dedicated Bitcoin native Sparrow wallet.
Is Bitcoin maxis effectively applied to NFT? Will ordinals become a long-term NFT pillar ‘relic’, or a short-term fad that will eventually be forgotten? Could the ‘Bitcoin CryptoPunks’ finally be as influential as the OG CryptoPunks? There are many questions, but it is always exciting to see new innovations and twists in crypto – especially about the ‘dinosaur’ often called Bitcoin. Only time will tell how it will shape up. In the meantime, for those interested, it is safe to trade OTC as the lack of infrastructure means that scammers and finessers run rampant, looking to take advantage of potential buyers who are overly excited about this new generation of CryptoPunks.