What are bitcoin ordinals?

Bitcoin Ordinals have ushered in a new era of on-chain Bitcoin NFTs, called inscriptions, that are making waves in the world of NFTs. Read on to discover what Bitcoin Ordinals are, how they work, and how you can buy them. What exactly are Ordinals?

What is a bitcoin ordinal NFT?

Bitcoin Ordinal NFTs are 100% native to the Bitcoin blockchain. They “live” on the Bitcoin blockchain, benefiting from its powerful proof-of-work security and high degree of decentralization. However, Ordinals could work on the Ethereum blockchain as wrapped versions. Moreover, Ordinals could even work on blockchains that forked from Bitcoin.

Can ordinals be traded OTC?

Ordinals can only be traded OTC. As you'll see below, this has not markedly hindered a short-term gold rush into Ordinals. NFTs can be lost if you lose access to your wallet. But inscribed sats can be accidentally spent. Then the miner processing the transaction would be, knowingly or unknowingly, in possession of the Ordinal.