😮 Can Ordinals SAVE Bitcoin from disaster?

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Bitcoin native NFTs may actually fix the most glaring issue with Bitcoin’s long term viability as a digitally native store of value.

NFTs on Bitcoin are a thing now. Technically, they’ve been a thing for a while, but a recent innovation called Ordinal Theory has kicked things into overdrive as more than 100,00 “Inscriptions”, the technical term for Bitcoin “NFTs” have been minted in the past 2 weeks alone.

Given how suddenly this trend exploded, I’m sure you have a ton of questions. 

What are Ordinals? What’s an Inscription? Are they better than Ethereum NFTs? Worse? How do you collect them? Create them? What does this mean for Bitcoin? Is this one massive scam in the making? 

Well, give me about 14 minutes, I’m going to answer all that for you & then some. By the end, you’ll know everything there is to know about Ordinals, Inscriptions & Bitcoin NFTs. 

There’s a lot to discuss so let’s jump right into it. 

Keynote At A Glance

0:00 INTRO

1:49 ORDINALS + INSCRIPTIONS 101

3:12 NOTABLE ORDINALS COLLECTIONS

4:02 INSCRIPTIONS V NFTS

5:28 INFRASTRUCTURE & SAFETY

7:58 ORDINAL WALLETS (THE BEST OPTIONS)

9:48 BUYING INSCRIPTIONS

11:17 CREATING INSCRIPTIONS (FAST & HIGH QUALITY!)

12:36 THE FUTURE OF ORDINALS

Ordinals Explained

Before diving into the exact steps involved in buying, collecting and minting your very own inscriptions, we need to clarify two technical difference between Ordinals & Inscriptions. 

Simply put, Ordinals are a method of tracking and transferring individual Satoshis, which are the smallest divisible unit of a Bitcoin. There are 100 million Satoshis in every Bitcoin, & given the total supply of Bitcoin is finite, so are the Satoshis, technically. 

Ordinals are called such because they’re tracked in sequential order based on the “First In, First Out” principle. There’s a numbering scheme that refers to the order in which the Satoshi was mined and a transfer scheme referring to when the Satoshi was first transacted, whether it be an input or an output.

Inscriptions Explained

With the base layer Ordinal tracking system in place, you can now attach content to each of these individual Satoshis - whether that be an image, account, token, a stable coin or anything else that can fit within the data contained within an individual block of a Bitcoin transaction.

This process of attaching data to Satoshis is known as an Inscription. 

So far there's been more than 100K inscriptions made on the Bitcoin Network, with notable collections including Ordinal Punks, Taproot Wizards, OrdRocks, & Astral Babes.

Just like the nft boom we saw on ethereum back in 2021 several of these inscriptions have already been sold for tens of thousands. In some instances selling for 6 & 7 figures.

So yes, it’s safe to say there is a ton of opportunity in these early days of ordinals and inscriptions. But before I show you how to set up your wallet, collect and mint inscriptions & engage in all manner of degenerate shenanigans, give me a few moments to cover some key details that will save you a TON of headache. After all, this sort of opportunity comes at a cost. 

Ordinals vs NFTs

The first thing to note is that inscriptions and Ordinals are fundamentally different from NFTs typically found on smart contract platforms like Ethereum, Polygon, Solana or Tezos.

Fully On-Chain

One of the main distinctions is that every Bitcoin inscription is fully on-chain, quite the contrast to NFTs, which typically store content off-chain via IPFS. So far, most traditional NFT collectors haven’t realized how severe this issue is, but I’m confident this will change as more marketplaces fail & NFTs stop linking to their pinned content. Given that Bitcoin is the world's most powerful and resilient computing Network, inscriptions are far more durable and secure than nearly any other form of NFT existing on another network, even if they're the rare “fully on chain” variety.

Static v Dynamic NFTs

Of course, this brings its own set of trade-offs. Due to the composability of smart contract platforms like Ethereum, NFTs can be more dynamic & expressive, allowing for the aesthetics, functionality or utility to change over time. 

Inscriptions on the other hand, are much more difficult to update or change after they’ve been inscribed. If you want durability, they’re great - perhaps the best option available. If you want flexibility, you should look elsewhere. At least at this moment.

Security & Infrastructure

As it stands, security & infrastructure are still a bit lacking for the Ordinal ecosystem. This is largely due to the novelty of the ecosystem, but its also a consequence of Bitcoin’s fundamental architecture & the philosophy around its monetary premium. In a world with robust platforms like Ethereum, its no surprise there’s only a small group of developers building with Lightning or Stacks, the two most active application layers atop Bitcoin.

As I see it, here are the biggest hurdles & risks. 

Accidentally Spending Inscriptions

It’s incredibly easy to lose your Inscription. This is due to the fact that inscriptions are tied to Satoshis & because of how most Bitcoin wallets handle UTXOs by default - but that’s beyond the scope of this keynote. The main workaround has been making a dedicated wallet solely for receiving inscriptions. This is cumbersome at best, but there are some workaround solutions I’ll show you in just a second. 

Over The Counter Trading

There’s no real marketplace to safely trade or bid on inscriptions. At this moment 99% of trades happen OTC (Over the counter) which means you’ll probably have to hop in a discord, DM somebody your address, send some BTC to their address and then hope that they send you the inscription. So basically all of the things that people tell you not to do in a crypto Discord, is exactly what you have to do if you want to buy or sell most inscriptions.

Just like the wallet situation, there’s a workaround here I’ll teach you. 

Full Node To Inscribe

The last major UX hurdle is the process of actually creating an Inscription. In the world of NFTs we have beautiful tools like Manifold, Bueno, and Decent that make minting & maintaining a collection super simple. At the time of publication, no such tool exist for Ordinals. There has been enormous progress though.

 Just a week ago, you had to run a full Bitcoin node if you wanted to make an inscription. This is still the primary way large collections are being created, but there’s a steep learning curve & it requires you to have a whole hell of a lot of storage space.

But, as you may have guessed, ya boy got the workaround for you! ✊🏾 

So, how ‘bout we move from theory to practice, shall we?

Collecting & Creating Inscriptions

Ordinal Wallets

Before you can begin collecting Inscriptions you’ll need a wallet. 

At the time of publication, I suggest you use XVerse. Its basically a Bitcoin version of MetaMask. 

What’s great is that they automatically generate a dedicated Ordinals address for you when you set up your account.

1. Once you’ve set up the wallet (just like you would set up your Metamask), click the second tab - the 4 square icon. You’ll see your account name up top & just below, it will say “Number of Collectibles”

2. Click “Receive”. This will bring up two options - “Ordinals” & “Stacks NFT”. Select “Ordinals” by either copying the address or pulling up the QR code. When you’re ready to purchase or receive your ordinal, simply use this address. 

Just a reminder, this address is ONLY for RECEIVING ordinals. If you try to do anything else using this address, you’re likely to run into some issues. 

Another option is Ordinals Wallet. Its a wallet purpose-created for Ordinals & Inscriptions, but at the time of publication, its only been live about 72 hours. So, feel free to play around, but know its not exactly “battle tested”. 

Lastly, I suggest downloading Hiro - its one of the main wallets for the Bitcoin & Stacks ecosystem with a solid track record. They’ve started rolling out Ordinal support on their testnet & plan to push the same features to mainnet in the next few weeks, if not sooner. 

No matter which of these you go with, be sure to back up & test your recovery phrase before sending anything to the wallet. 

Now, how do you buy inscriptions? 

Buying Inscriptions

As I mentioned earlier, the bulk of Inscriptions are only sold peer to peer. You’ll need to jump in the collection’s discord and find the creator if the mint is still active. Otherwise, you’ll need to connect with the owner of the inscription & broker the deal. 

This is HIGHLY risky & could easily leave you shit outta luck. 

There is at least ONE collection I’ve seen so far that allows you to mint your Inscription through the collection’s website - Astral Babes. I’m almost certain this is a nicely camouflaged P2P order flow, I can’t say for certain. 

The 3rd option, though less obvious, is a bit less risky & perhaps a bit underpriced. Recognizing the UX hurdles but still wanting to be an earlier mover, some projects have opted to mint on Ethereum, with the expressed intent to migrate the collection to Bitcoin through a burn event. 

Some options in this camp include UnOrdinals, BitcoinOrbs, & The Edge of Oblivion. Some have already begun their migration, while others are still in process. For collections that have yet to move, there’s the risk they never migrate. Even if that happens, you still will have the Ethereum version. 

Only you can decide if that’s a risk you find acceptable. Given the founder’s track record, I went ahead and added a BitcoinOrb to the fund. Time will tell if that was a wise move or not. 

Creating Inscriptions

So remember when I said you have to run a full node to make an Inscription? Well, a few nimble devs stepped in to provide Inscription as a service for those who don’t want to go through the hassle. 

The two main options are Gamma, the primary Bitcoin NFT marketplace built on Stacks, & Ordinal Bot, a tool created by the Satoshibles team. 

Both tools work in near identical fashion, but Ordinals Bot is the better option.

1. Once you’re on the site, upload the file you want inscribed. (I suggest leaving the “Optimize Image” box checked.) 

2. Input your ORDINAL compatible  RECEIVE address from the wallet we created earlier 

3. Select your transaction fee. The higher the fee, the faster the inscription will process. Then, click “Submit & Pay Invoice”

4. You’ll need to pay using Bitcoin. You can scan the QR code or copy the address. Lighting is also an option.

5. Download your order as it serves as your receipt. 

Once the transaction is fully processed, your ordinal will show up in your wallet. 

The Future of Ordinals & Inscriptions

Given the historically tribal & maximalist nature of the hardcore Bitcoin community, its no surprise that this has been met with all sorts of reactions. 

Some are happy to see Bitcoin demonstrate its flexibility as an application platform allowing truly decentralized access. Others fear that Bitcoin’s reputation & role as a sovereign store of value may get sullied by the sort of scams & rugpulls that have befallen Ethereum & other smart contract networks. 

Perhaps the wildest aspect about this whole thing is that Inscriptions may be the key to solving Bitcoin’s long term security issues as they introduce a novel source of revenue for miners, further incentivizing them to continue securing the network. 

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If you’re watching this & exploring Ordinals & Inscriptions, you’re truly a pioneer. Could you end up making some good returns if you grab the right project, its certainly a possibility. I’m definitely shooting my shot! Regardless of the upside, I hope this trend encourages you to take a deeper look at Bitcoin & everything happening in the ecosystem. It may not be as dopamine inducing as Ethereum or the latest L2, but its the largest network for a reason. Who knows, this may be the best shot yet & ending the toxic tribalism that’s divided Bitcoin & Ethereum for so long. 

If you’ve got the Bitcoin bug, I encourage you to check out the Stacks ecosystem & grab yourself a .BTC domain name. 

If you’d like me to make a video covering more of the Bitcoin world, leave a comment below and let me know. 

If you missed the last keynote about the Root network airdrop, be sure to check it out. 

While you’re at it, might as well listen to the most recent interview, too. 

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