The past few months have seen a surge of interest in Ordinals, a protocol for inscribing digital assets on the Bitcoin blockchain, a process similar to NFTs on Ethereum and other blockchain networks. The total number of Ordinals is set to top 1 million soon, and Magic Eden is taking advantage of this trend by launching a platform that enables creators to launch new collections.
Magic Eden is a multi-chain marketplace that recently launched on Bitcoin and quickly surpassed its rivals in terms of Ordinals trading volume. On Friday, the platform launched its Bitcoin launchpad, a primary sales platform for creators who have inscribed artwork or media to the Bitcoin blockchain.
Magic Eden’s first launchpad project on Bitcoin is Deadjira, a spinoff from the Ethereum NFT project Godjira, featuring a series of 107 pixelated lizard-themed profile pictures that were inscribed in February. The launchpad will also feature a few more Ordinal drops over the following week, including from Solana-based NFT game project Genopets, fellow existing NFT projects Lazy Lions and The Humanoids, and a project from popular rapper Lil Durk.
The Features of Magic Eden’s Bitcoin Launchpad
Initially, Magic Eden’s launchpad will allow creators to sell Bitcoin Ordinals that have already been inscribed to the blockchain. The platform can also facilitate the inscription process if requested by the creators. The creators can use an allowlist if desired to let certain wallet addresses mint Ordinals, and then users can “come to mint in a trustless minting form, and it will essentially execute the sale of the pre-inscribed Ordinal to the allowlisted users wallet for the mint price,” a Magic Eden representative told Decrypt.
Magic Eden’s launchpad is a complementary initiative to its secondary marketplace, providing a “white glove service” for creators to debut new projects. The company’s cut or share of each launch varies depending on the deal.
The Ordinals marketplace has consistently topped the charts for trading volume since its March launch, generating around $3.3 million worth of sales volume with Ordinals so far, according to data from Dune. Magic Eden has served only about 2,700 unique wallets.
Inscribing Ordinals on the Bitcoin Blockchain
Inscribing Ordinals or “digital artifacts” on the Bitcoin blockchain is a different process than minting NFTs on other chains like Ethereum or Solana. NFT projects on these chains use smart contracts that contain the code that operates decentralized protocols and software. This enables functionality like on-demand minting, allowing creators to drop projects like PFP projects in which images are generated from a pool of possible traits, or generative artwork spawned from an artist’s custom algorithm.
Ordinals launched in January, enabling people to inscribe artwork, media, and text directly to the Bitcoin blockchain by attaching them to an individual Satoshi, the smallest unit of measure for Bitcoin (1/100,000,000 BTC). However, inscribing is a more complicated process than deploying NFT projects on other top chains, and the Ordinals infrastructure is still in the early stages of development.
The Potential of Ordinals
The rapid growth of the Ordinals space in just a few months demonstrates the potential of Bitcoin beyond its use as a store of value. The inscribing of digital assets onto the Bitcoin blockchain opens up a new world of possibilities for creators and collectors alike, providing a unique way to create and trade scarce digital assets that are directly tied to Bitcoin.
The launch of Magic Eden’s Bitcoin NFT Launchpad is a significant development for the Ordinals space, as it provides a streamlined platform for creators to launch new collections and reach a wider audience. The platform’s “white glove service” for creators, combined with its ability to facilitate the inscription process, makes it an attractive option for creators looking to launch their own Bitcoin-based NFT projects.
However, the potential of Ordinals is still largely untapped, and the infrastructure is still in its early stages. There are still many challenges that need to be addressed, such as the complexity of the inscription process, the lack of smart contract functionality, and the potential for scalability issues.
Conclusion
The launch of Magic Eden’s Bitcoin NFT Launchpad is a significant development for the Ordinals space, providing creators with a streamlined platform to launch new collections and reach a wider audience. The rapid growth of the Ordinals space in just a few months demonstrates the potential of Bitcoin beyond its use as a store of value, and highlights the unique possibilities that inscribing digital assets onto the Bitcoin blockchain can provide.
However, the Ordinals infrastructure is still in its early stages, and there are still many challenges that need to be addressed. As the infrastructure evolves and more creators and collectors enter the space, we can expect to see even more exciting developments in the world of Bitcoin-based NFTs.
What are your thoughts on the potential of Ordinals? Do you think Bitcoin-based NFTs will become as popular as Ethereum-based NFTs? Let us know in the comments.
