As of Friday, Feb. 10, 2023, the Bitcoin blockchain had seen the addition of more than 50,000 Ordinal inscriptions as the trend has continued to increase daily. People are inscribing text, images, videos, audio, and software applications onto the blockchain, with some inscriptions fetching high prices via over-the-counter (OTC) trades. A clone of the popular NFT collection Cryptopunks, called Ordinal Punks, is selling for similar values to the original NFTs minted on Ethereum.

Ordinal Inscriptions Become Latest Sensation in NFT Market, Selling for High Prices on Over-the-Counter Trades

Ordinal inscriptions are gaining popularity in 2023, with the number rising to more than 50,000. Just five days prior, there were only 7,000 inscriptions. As of 12:20 p.m. ET on Feb. 11, 2023, there are 57,179 inscriptions hosted on the Bitcoin blockchain. Additionally, several ordinal inscriptions have sold for substantial amounts in the past week, including a clone of the Cryptopunks NFT collection, known as Ordinal Punks.

Ordinal Punks are a collection of 100 generative punks that were minted within the first 650 inscriptions on the Bitcoin blockchain. Many new NFTs based on Bitcoin are being sold through over-the-counter (OTC) transactions, using a rudimentary pricing spreadsheet. Recently, Ordinal Punk #41 sold for 11.5 BTC, or $249,052. On Friday, the Ordinal Punks surpassed the floor values of Cryptopunks. While the trend of Ordinal inscriptions is still new, there is limited infrastructure in terms of markets and updated price metrics.

However, the project called Emblem Vault has created vaults for Ordinal inscriptions, similar to vaults created for Rare Pepe NFTs made with Counterparty and Bitcoin. With Emblem Vault’s technology, Ordinal inscriptions can be added to the Opensea NFT marketplace and sold for ethereum (ETH). Emblem Vault suggests using a community tool to verify Bitcoin-crafted punks to prevent scams. Emblem Vaultt weeted on Saturday, “Remember to verify before purchasing any vaulted asset.”

Data shows that people are not only adding images to the Bitcoin blockchain through Ordinal inscriptions, but also text, video, applications, and audio. Although images are the most common attachment, text and video inscriptions follow in popularity. Ethereum advocates are also utilizing Ordinal inscriptions, as many ETH-based NFTs are being inscribed onto the Bitcoin blockchain. For instance, “Onchain Monkeys” (OCM), an Ethereum-based NFT project from 2021, minted its 10,000-piece collection using Bitcoin.

“We inscribed OCM on Bitcoin in a highly efficient way in one inscription,” the team tweeted. “This is a historic precedent that mirrors the historic first of all 10K OCM Genesis being created onchain on Ethereum in one transaction.”