It’s quickly becoming clear that 2023 is the year of Bitcoin Ordinals. Although open editions and memecoins each took the spotlight for their respective 15 minutes of fame, NFTs on the world’s first blockchain have continued to gain traction throughout the ups and downs of the NFT market.
Of course, the historical crypto network has long laid claim to its spot as the number one chain in terms of market cap. But now, Bitcoin is slowly creeping toward the front of the non-fungible pack in an effort to be crowned the top NFT blockchain as well — and it’s already in second place.
A quick rise to the top
According to the popular NFT industry data aggregator CryptoSlam, Bitcoin has easily secured the number 10 spot in the ranking for top all-time NFT blockchains by sales volume. Yet, within the past month, something changed, leading to the chain generating enough NFT revenue to rise to the number two spot among breadwinners for the 30-day period.
In fact, on the 30-day chart, Bitcoin has essentially blown its competition out of the water. While Ethereum remains at the top with around $393 million in volume, Bitcoin trails behind with upwards of $169 million, more than double Solana’s third-place ranking with $55 million.
And it’s no longer just uncategorized Ordinals leading the way for Bitcoin to prevail because, in recent months, a variety of organized collection efforts have found success on the chain. Two of the most popular are undoubtedly Space Pepes and Bitcoin Frogs, each of which brought in a sizeable amount of sales volume ($12 million and $9.6 million, respectively) in the past 30 days alone, according to CryptoSlam.
While Bitcoin Ordinals have only been around for a matter of months, their influence has already become undeniable. From major brands to historical projects finding a home on the blockchain, it’s no surprise that “Bitcoin NFTs” have seen the seasoned chain land among the top breadwinners of NFT sales volume.
Of course, it will take some serious trading for Bitcoin to beat Ethereum out for the top spot. But with BRC20 tokens frontrunning the Ordinals ecosystem, Inscriptions nearing the nine million mark, and the number of Bitcoin NFTs continuing to spike month after month, calls for a “flippening” might not be all that far off.
