Bitcoin Ordinals, once hailed as the crown jewel of the NFT realm and a beacon of hope in the digital collectible community, are facing a precipitous decline in both sales volume and transaction numbers, prompting debates about the sustained appeal of such digital assets. A recent report from DappRadar reveals that the enthusiasm that catapulted Bitcoin Ordinals to unparalleled success earlier this year has significantly waned, with sales volume nosediving by over 97% since their peak in May 2023.
Earlier this year, Jing Culture & Crypto highlighted the growing prominence of Bitcoin Ordinals in the digital collectible space. Developed by Casey Rodarmor to make Bitcoin more engaging, Ordinals leveraged the 2021 Taproot upgrade, allowing for the storage of text, images, SVGs, and HTML individually on the Bitcoin blockchain. This innovation rendered individual satoshis non-fungible and uniquely identifiable. The platform’s potential was further amplified when Gamma.io, a rising marketplace, began supporting Ordinals auctions and introduced a “no-code” Ordinals creation tool. This tool alone contributed to the production of over 30,000 inscriptions, accounting for nearly 10% of all Ordinals on the network.
Muneeb Ali, co-founder of Stacks, and Nick Sainato, Gamma’s co-founder, had previously expressed their optimism about Ordinals. Ali mentioned that Ordinals had reignited interest in Bitcoin’s builder culture, while Sainato emphasized Bitcoin’s logical choice for creators, ranging from art to historical artifacts.
However, the current landscape paints a different picture. In just three months, the sales volume for Bitcoin Ordinals plummeted from a staggering $452 million in May to just $3 million by mid-August. The data is even more alarming when broken down month by month: June saw a 76.5% drop, with sales dwindling to $100 million, and July experienced a 66.9% decline, bottoming out at $35 million. As August progresses, a further 91.4% decrease emphasizes the hurdles Bitcoin Ordinals now face.
