Ordinal NFTs 101

Ordinals Stir the Bitcoin Scene: A Simpler Look  

April 2023 was a breakout month for Ordinals on Bitcoin. Four times the daily record for creating these digital items was broken. Like NFTs, Ordinals are digital assets linked to Bitcoin's smallest unit, the satoshi.

Getting Started with Ordinals

Since around 2014, there’s been an effort to bring NFT-like items to Bitcoin. These Ordinals get attached directly to Bitcoin transactions. Alex Miller, the CEO of Hiro, a company involved in Bitcoin development, told Decrypt that Ordinals represent a smart innovation, built on multiple existing features of Bitcoin in a new way.

If you're looking to create your own Ordinals, the first step is to download software called Bitcoin Core and sync it with the Bitcoin network. Once that's done, you make an Ordinals wallet and transfer some satoshis into it.

The Road to Ordinals

Back in 2017, an update called SegWit made Bitcoin more efficient and set the stage for future improvements like Ordinals. Although some critics say that Ordinals could harm the network, Casey Rodarmor, a key developer, says these claims are misguided.

The Taproot Update: A Game Changer

The Taproot update in November 2021 improved how transactions are handled on Bitcoin, offering more privacy and lower costs. Rodarmor says that a busy network is actually a good thing for Bitcoin’s security model.

Getting Hands-On

Creating Ordinals could be a bit technical because of the large size of the Bitcoin network. However, the difficulty mainly lies in using specific computer commands.

What's Next for Ordinals?

There's ongoing work to make the process of creating Ordinals easier and to build new kinds of wallets that can display these digital items. The excitement around Ordinals suggests they're likely to be a big part of Bitcoin's future.