Bitcoin NFTs Surpass Ethereum NFTs: The Role of Ordinals in the Emerging Trend

• Bitcoin NFTs surpassed Ethereum on the weekly volume charts, with the NodeMonkes collection leading the charts as its market cap exceeded $500 million.
• Of the top five collections by weekly sales, three were from the Bitcoin ecosystem as interest in Ordinals surges as BTC approaches its all-time high in the ongoing bull cycle.

Bitcoin just can’t put a foot wrong this year. The top crypto has gained close to 60% since the turn of the year, and it’s edging ever closer to breaking its record-high price, as this report by Crypto News Flash alludes to. This terrific start to the year has translated to its NFTs, with  Ordinals outshining Ethereum NFTs to emerge as the most traded weekly.

According to data from Crypto Slam, Bitcoin NFTs have attracted $181,821,799 in trading volume, just edging out Ethereum to rank highest in the market. Ethereum trails closely behind by around $650,000, with Solana at a distant third with $65 million.

While Bitcoin just edges Ethereum out, the altcoin still has superior numbers on the all-time list at $42 billion to $2.6 billion, and on the buyer’s charts, its numbers are at least eight times higher.

On the weekly chart, Bitcoin saw 58,829 buyers, while Ethereum saw nearly twice that at 110,642.

Most interestingly, the highest volume of trade went to uncategorized Ordinals, which Crypto Slam describes as “a diverse assortment of digital assets on the Bitcoin blockchain that has not yet been identified as part of an established collection.”

This points to Bitcoin’s NFT revolution being spearheaded by retail users who mint their own Ordinals rather than purchasing from the blue-collar NFT collections. This is massively bullish as it shows genuine interest in the BTC NFTs and indicates that this hype can be sustained.

NodeMonkes came in second on the weekly volume charts and was the top collection. NodeMonkes boasts of being the first collection to inscribe 10,000 unique pixelated profile pictures on the Bitcoin blockchain in the first few weeks after Ordinals launched. However, the collection’s release was delayed, and others went to the market first.

NodeMonkes have become wildly popular, and on Monday, one NFT in the collection sold for over $1 million for the first. The NFT, known as Alien Hoodie, is the second-highest NFT sale on Bitcoin after the recent $1.4 million sale of the second-ever Bitcoin Ordinal inscription.

SOLD: Alien Hoodie (#2769) for 17 btc ($1,080,000) on M.E.

The first million dollar monke sale.

Congratulations to buyer & seller.

—— SEND NODES —— pic.twitter.com/9DrvZBJH2X

— NodeMonkes ◉ (@nodemonkes) March 4, 2024

The NATCATS TAP collection rounds up the top five highest sales this week as Bitcoin’s third entry. Ethereum’s entries into the top five were CryptoPunks and Pandora.

Bitcoin Ordinals Flip Ethereum NFTs

For Bitcoin, flipping Ethereum is monumental. The king of altcoins has dominated the NFTs market for years, emerging as the most favored network for some of the largest collections, from Bored Ape Yacht Club to CryptoPunks and ArtBlocks.

Additionally, Ethereum has been at it for over five years. On the other hand, Bitcoin has barely done it for a year, with its Ordinals NFTs launching early last year. However, in that time, BTC has recorded $265 billion in overall trading volume with 370,000 buyers.

Ethereum might have even bigger challenges to worry about on the NFT front. As Crypto News Flash reported, the Injective network recently released its version of the semi-fungible ERC-404 token standard, giving Ethereum a run for its money on the front.

Closer to home, users are increasingly turning to Layer 2 solutions to mint their NFTs to avoid gas charges on Ethereum. While this is still technically part of the Ethereum ecosystem, it points to dissatisfaction in the network. Crypto News Flash pointed to this trend in December when it reported on the rise of Polygon NFTs.