The NFT craze on the Bitcoin network has emerged, but the ecological infrastructure is still in its early stages.

Recently, the NFT minting and issuance on the Bitcoin network has attracted widespread attention, with the community's attitude evolving from initial indifference to gradual understanding and active participation. Data shows that there are currently 33,517 NFT collectibles minted on the Bitcoin network, with a single-day minting volume reaching 12,102 on February 9.

Among them, the NFT project Bitcoin Punks based on the Ordinals protocol completed the minting of 10,000 collectibles on February 9 at 3 PM. The project team is currently collecting, analyzing existing inscriptions, and verifying the first upload nodes of each Punk, with the final JSON mapping to be written into the protocol within 24 hours. Bitcoin Punks claims to be the first project to successfully upload the original Ethereum CryptoPunks to the Bitcoin blockchain.

The minting process of Bitcoin Punks is relatively complex, requiring the creation of different types of wallets and uploading images via a full node Bot. The minting cost is about $25, but there is currently no over-the-counter trading. Due to the slower payment speed of the Bitcoin network, it is possible for multiple people to successfully make payments, but only the earliest confirmed user will receive the collectible.

Although there are rumors that the secondary market price of Bitcoin Punks has risen to over 1 Bitcoin, in reality, there are currently no transaction records, and the hundredfold increase is just a rumor. Investors should carefully discern information to avoid being misled and incurring losses.

Overview of Bitcoin Network NFT Projects

On January 21, 2023, version 0.4.0 of the Ordinals protocol was released, officially introducing NFTs to the Bitcoin mainnet. This protocol supports the creation of "digital artifacts" on the Bitcoin network, including formats such as images, PDFs, videos, and audio. Since its launch, Ordinals NFTs have experienced explosive growth, primarily dominated by image-based content.

The following are several representative projects:

1. Bitcoin Rock: The first Bitcoin network NFT project issued based on the Ordinals protocol, with a total issuance of 100. It is reported that the current transaction price has reached 1 Bitcoin.

2. Ordinal Punks: PFP collectibles minted among the first 650 inscriptions on Bitcoin, with a total issuance of 100 pieces. The minting price is 0.01 Bitcoin, and the current highest transaction price has reached 9.5 Bitcoin (approximately $241,000).

3. Projects like Bitcoin Shrooms and Shadow Hats are in preparation and have not yet started minting.

In addition, some cross-chain NFT projects have also garnered attention. For example, the On the Edge of Oblivion project was issued on the Ethereum network, promising to cross-chain to the Bitcoin network, with its price rising from 0 to 2.4 ETH, reflecting the market's enthusiasm for Bitcoin network NFTs.

Current Status of Bitcoin Network NFT Infrastructure

The Bitcoin network's NFT-related infrastructure is still in its early stages, with the following characteristics:

1. The minting process is complex: it requires learning to create different types of wallets, distinguishing payment methods, synchronizing full nodes, etc.

2. Inconvenient transactions: Lack of convenient trading platforms like Opensea, primarily relying on over-the-counter transactions or custody.

3. Full node synchronization difficulties: Personal synchronization of full nodes takes a long time, and the community-developed full node Bot has improved efficiency, but there are still issues.

4. Block Space Pressure: The inscriptions of the Ordinals protocol are consuming about 50% of Bitcoin block space, causing controversy in the community.

There are differences of opinion within the Bitcoin community regarding this. Supporters believe that NFTs will provide more financial use cases for Bitcoin, driving demand for block space; opponents are concerned that it deviates from the original intention of Bitcoin as a peer-to-peer cash system and may lead to higher transaction fees.

Summary and Outlook

The rise of NFTs on the Bitcoin network has brought new vitality and users to the ecosystem. As the number of users increases and the wealth effect becomes apparent, the related infrastructure is expected to gradually improve. However, current NFT projects on the Bitcoin network are still in a chaotic state, and users need to conduct careful due diligence and avoid risks when seeking investment opportunities.

In the future, the open development of the Bitcoin network will bring more possibilities to the ecosystem. Whether it's the Nostr social protocol or the Ordinals protocol, both are expanding the application scenarios of Bitcoin, attracting more users to understand and use the Bitcoin ecosystem. The market will determine the value and development direction of these new attempts through free competition.