Bitcoin NFTs: What Are Ordinal NFTs & How Do They Work?
Intermediate
NFT
Apr 6, 2023
8 min read
NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are digital assets that can be bought, sold and collected in the same way as cryptocurrencies. These digital assets are tokenized on a blockchain, and may be drawings, digital creations, music, in-game assets or many other items. Each NFT is unique, giving it rarity and value. While many blockchains support NFT creation, the Bitcoin blockchain wasn’t specifically designed with this purpose in mind. Instead, it was created as a secure ledger for peer-to-peer transactions. However, Bitcoin’s developers have been working tirelessly to enhance the blockchain’s functionality with NFTs, and they’ve made great progress.
Key Takeaways:
- Bitcoin NFTs are created through an inscription process by imprinting an ordinal on a single satoshi (or one one-hundred-millionth of a single Bitcoin).
- While Bitcoin NFTs have been rising in popularity, they’ve also had their fair share of criticisms and controversies.
- There are now more than 663,000 Bitcoin Ordinals inscribed as of March 2023.