On Monday, the non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace Magic Eden announced the launch of Bitcoin Ordinal inscription support. Magic Eden said it has partnered with the wallets Hiro and Xverse to “bring a familiar wallet transaction experience to the marketplace.”
Magic Eden’s Decision to Launch on Bitcoin Without Royalty Support and Compete With Emerging Markets
Magic Eden announced in a recent blog post that it has added Bitcoin Ordinal inscription support to the NFT marketplace. Last year, the Solana-based NFT market expanded to Polygon and Ethereum. With the addition of Bitcoin, Magic Eden now supports a total of four blockchains. The team is also “re-planning a more concerted entry into Ethereum,” according to the blog post.
The Bitcoin-centric section of the marketplace currently features several Bitcoin Ordinal inscription collections, including “Bitcoin Boos,” “Bitcoin JPGs,” “BTC Machines,” “Ordinal Tortoises,” “Unordinals,” “Satoshi Punks, and “Megapunks.”
At the time of writing, there were close to 600,000 Ordinal inscriptions on the Bitcoin blockchain, with a total of 567,622 minted. According to statistics from Dune Analytics, the number of Ordinal inscriptions surpassed the 500,000 milestone on March 17, 2023.
Magic Eden says the recent move to support Ordinal inscriptions is in line with Bitcoin culture. “By building on Bitcoin, we contribute to the culture of trust, security, and decentralization that is synonymous with the blockchain,” the NFT marketplace explained.
The blog post goes on to say:
This move aligns with our mission to promote the benefits of collectibles and blockchain technology while remaining true to the principles that underpin the technology.
Magic Eden’s Bitcoin-centric market will compete with other Ordinal inscription markets that have emerged since inscriptions started gaining traction, such as Gamma.io, Ordx.io, and Generative.xyz. The marketplace, however, has been an active NFT market for some time, as Magic Eden has recorded $2.08 billion in all-time sales. To smooth the Ordinal inscription support process, the NFT marketplace Magic Eden partnered with the wallets Hiro and Xverse.
According to dappradar.com statistics, Magic Eden ranks as the fifth-largest NFT marketplace in terms of all-time sales. As far as Bitcoin-based Ordinal inscription sales are concerned, Magic Eden said it spent a long time thinking about handling royalties and “decided to launch on Bitcoin without royalty support for now.” Magic Eden has also created a new Twitter handle for the Bitcoin-centric version of the NFT marketplace, which is called @meonbtc.
What do you think the future holds for Bitcoin-based NFT marketplaces? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, Magic Eden,
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