Bitcoin NFTs Explode in Popularity as BitMEX Research Shows 13,000 Ordinals

Crypto derivatives firm BitMEX has identified over 13,000 Ordinals NFTs on the Bitcoin blockchain, evidence that buzz about a still-young flavor of non-fungible tokens is growing fast.

The firm’s research arm published a blog post on Wednesday showing that 13,000 Ordinals were minted or “inscribed” between their debut on Dec. 14 and Feb. 7.

In a few short weeks, the sudden influx of JPEGs and other media files onto Bitcoin has consumed 526 megabytes (MB) of block space and cost creators 6.77 bitcoin (roughly $155,000 at the time of publication), according to the post.

Ordinals Data

Up until 7 February 2023, we have identified:

* Over 13,000 Ordinals transactions
* 526MB of Bitcoin blockspace usage
* 6.77 BTC of Ordinals related spendhttps://t.co/cSNHSPIEs3

— BitMEX Research (@BitMEXResearch) February 8, 2023

When plotted out graphically, the total number of Ordinals transactions to date shows a steep “hockey stick” curve, indicating NFT activity on Bitcoin has gone exponential.

The surging popularity of Ordinals has drawn the ire of prominent Bitcoiners such as Rene Pickhardt, who accused the Ordinals crowd of “spamming” the most dominant blockchain with oversized JPEGs.

So @adam3us invented hashcash as a spam prevention mechanism.

Then satoshi utilized this in #bitcoin to solve double spending.

And now folks waste precious blockspace by spamming jpegs?!

Why creating the #lightningnetwork in the first place if the base layer allows this shit?! https://t.co/okytBt1uof

— Rene Pickhardt (@renepickhardt) February 8, 2023

Critics like Pickhardt have some data to back their view. Ordinals’ share of total Bitcoin transactions barely cracked the 3% mark on Wednesday, yet they consumed nearly 70% of the Bitcoin block space.

Read more: Bitcoin Community Erupts in Existential Debate Over NFT Project Ordinals