Analysts suggest Bitcoin NFT ecosystem could reach $4.5B market size by 2025
The Bitcoin NFT ecosystem, which was virtually non-existent just a few months ago, could grow to a market size of $4.5 billion by 2025.
Bitcoin NFTs booming
Analysts predict that the recent surge of interest in Bitcoin NFTs is not a temporary trend and that demand for the ability to store NFTs on the world’s oldest and most established blockchain will continue to increase in the years ahead.
Galaxy researchers believe that by this summer, a complete infrastructure of products and services designed to serve this growing market will be full.
According to the report, within two months, wallets have already started providing the required support to enhance the user experience, and marketplaces have started to emerge.
Growing popularity of Ordinals protocol
Towards the end of January, Ordinals introduced NFT-like functionality on the Bitcoin network, enabling users to embed unique data like images and videos on satoshis, representing the smallest unit of Bitcoin (0.00000001 BTC). Although the inscription process can be time-consuming and the cost of putting those assets on the Bitcoin chain is high, the project quickly gained popularity and was deemed successful.
Earlier this week, public blockchain data aggregated on Dune Analytics revealed that the number of Ordinal inscriptions made since the end of January had surpassed 200,000, with over 267,000 recorded as of the time of writing.
One of the sales, which involved the #27 token, earned 1.93 BTC and was highlighted in a tweet. Another sale, which took place after the first, earned 2.06 BTC.
A Reddit user claimed that on Feb. 9, a buyer purchased Ordinal Punk #94 with the engraving number 620 for 9.5 BTC. This high selling price has prompted some commenters to speculate that the transaction may have been linked to wash trading or money laundering, possibly with the aim of manipulating the price floor.
Yuga Labs, the company behind the highly successful Ethereum-based NFT collection, Bored Ape Yacht Club, announced on Monday that they would be releasing their first-ever Bitcoin-based NFT project. The move signals the increasing appeal of Ordinals to the upper echelons of the established NFT ecosystem, which has been predominantly based on Ethereum.
