Morning Minute | Bitcoin Becomes 2nd-Biggest Blockchain for NFTs

Morning Minute | Bitcoin Becomes 2nd-Biggest Blockchain for NFTs

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Take a minute to catch up on the latest in the Web3 space with today's NFT market analysis, top movers, and upcoming mints:

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Bitcoin NFTs are exploding in popularity as the blockchain flipped Solana to become the 2nd leading chain for NFT trading. Find out what's been happening and why, plus how you can get started.

๐Ÿš€ Bitcoin NFTs Blast Off

If you have spent any time on Crypto or NFT Twitter in the past week, you've seen BTC NFT and Ordinal talk.

There was an early boom in February, but now, it seems the BTC NFT movement is starting to permeate through the ETH-native NFT audience.

Is the hype real? Or just a fad?

Let's explore what's been happening and why BTC NFTs are the talk of the town.

What's been happening?

Here are a few of the recent headlines that have caught the market's attention regarding Bitcoin's NFT movement:

  • Bitcoin NFTs are 2nd in 30-day total NFT trading volume with $170M in sales, behind only ETH ($392M), and 3x higher than 3rd-place Solana
  • In the past week, 2 of the 3 top projects by volume (wash trading removed) are Bitcoin projects - Space Pepes and the Bitcoin Frogs, combining for over $13M in volume
  • Daily Ordinal Inscriptions on Bitcoin have jumped from 3,000-4,000 per day March to 200,000-400,000 per day in May, as the total number of Ordinals created approaches 9M

This is in addition to some past actions from major brands like Yuga and Bugatti choosing to drop projects on Bitcoin.

So major momentum is building.

Now looking at the data, a solid chunk of that volume is from BRC-20s (basically Bitcoin's version of memecoins, a deep dive for another time), which should be separated out from the true NFT volume. 

But still, the increase in activity is directionally valid.

Bitcoin has become a major player in the NFT space, almost overnight.

Why is this happening?

One big reason is infrastructure. Infrastructure on Bitcoin is being developed rapidly.

The Bitcoin NFT scene back in February was in the Stone Age.

People were trading NFTs tracked on spreadsheets, sending their seed phrases to middlemen to transact, and just praying transactions went through.

Now there are several new wallet options.

Magic Eden has launched a Bitcoin NFT marketplace.

And how-to guides and educational materials are popping up left and right.

It's becoming much easier for NFT natives from blockchains like ETH or Solana to onboard into Bitcoin and figure out how to trade, with some confidence.

Additionally, Bitcoin NFTs have some unique characteristics that ETH and other blockchains don't have.

Specifically, the concept of "Sattributes."

NFTs on Bitcoin are inscribed directly onto satoshis ("sats"), which are the lowest denomination of a Bitcoin.

This provides provenance options for NFTs beyond their own inherent characteristics.

A few examples of potentially valuable sats:

  • Sats tied to the 10,000 Bitcoin involved in the "Bitcoin Pizza" transaction
  • Sats owned and mined by Bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto
  • The oldest sats

It adds a new level of collectability, that some collectors value, in addition to the NFT itself.

Should you care?

At a minimum, it's time to pay attention to what's going on.

With that said, don't feel like you need to rush out and buy Bitcoin NFTs.

Several that I've tracked over the past week are down 30-50%. And frankly, many of the projects seems very low effort.

Most of the trending projects on Magic Eden Bitcoin are animal-based PFPs with orange backdrops or derivatives of ETH NFTs. We can do better.

But eventually, there will be good projects, art, etc. launched on Bitcoin. It's wise to be ready for that, especially if you're an active trader.

How to get started

If interested in diving in, this is an easy way to get started exploring the BTC NFT landscape:

  • Set up a wallet (Xverse and Hiro are two recommended to me)
  • Seed it with a small amount of Bitcoin to transaction (from an exchange like Coinbase)
  • Browse marketplaces, such as Magic Eden or Ordinals.Market (there are several more)

For those who like to read more before jumping in, check out our Lucky Trader Bitcoin NFT guide from the legend Corporate Trash.

๐Ÿšš What else is happening in NFTs?

Here is the list of other notable headlines from the weekend in NFTs:

  • Trading volume was again over 13k ETH on Tuesday, as the PFP market saw a mix of red/green while art continued its upswing
  • Art Blocks continued to surge on Tuesday, with the mid-tier and low-tier collections seeing a 20%-30% bump, led by Anticyclones and The Harvest
  • Ledger made major headlines with the postponement of its Recover launch after community backlash, also sharing that it will be open source, auditable, and they'll publish an accompanying whitepaper
  • Blur added Pudgy Penguins to their Blend program yesterday, as new daily additions continue; Pudgy's fell 2% on the day to 5.57 ETH after briefly passing 6 on the news
  • Jack Butcher's first 3 Checks Elements auctions at Christie's closed yesterday, fetching 12.97 ETH, 19.88 ETH and 17.25 ETH for Earth, Air and Water respectively
  • The Bitcoin Bears will be the first 10k collection to launch on Magic Eden's Ordinals Launchpad, with launch details coming soon
  • mfers are moving onchain in a community-led initiative, while also sharing a new collab with Lowe's
  • Kanpai Pandas launched its first-ever trait pack, 'Murdered Out,' with a raffle giveaway on PPDex.io
  • Patrick Amadon launches innovative new collection in Doppelganger

๐ŸŒŽ Around Crypto and Web3

A few other Crypto and Web3 headlines that caught my eye:

  • The crypto market fell on the day; BTC -2.2% at $26,700; ETH -2% at $1,815; $PEPE fell 6% to $620M mc
  • Binance reportedly commingled billions of customer funds according to Reuters, though Binance has refuted the claims (as have several in the space)
  • Shaq is facing a class action lawsuit for his role in the Astrals NFT project, which are being claimed as an unregistered security
  • Blockchain move-and-earn app, STEPN, is the first web3 app to successfully integrate Apple Pay into its platform

๐Ÿš€ NFT Total Volume

  • BAYC (2,748 ETH, 45.2 ETH Floor)
  • Milady (2,644 ETH; 3.57 ETH)
  • MAYC (1,718 ETH, 9.54 ETH)
  • Wrapped Cryptopunks (1,012 ETH, 49 ETH)
  • Pudgy Penguins (778 ETH, 5.57 ETH)

๐Ÿ“ˆ NFT Floor Price Increase

  • CryptoCitizens (99%, 0.6 ETH Floor)
  • LACMA Remembrance... (83%, 1.1 ETH)
  • Strands of Solitude (56%, 3 ETH)
  • byteGANs (35%, 0.95 ETH)
  • BrainDrops (33%, 0.013 ETH)

๐Ÿ—“ Upcoming NFT Mints and Reveals

Today is a major day of new drops, probably the biggest in a while.

The Art Blocks Curated drop "Operator" is likely the highlight, following the resurgence of Art Blocks demand over the past few days.

Operator is also an acclaimed and unique project, where the artist used live models to create a choreography-based generative art theme. Expect more demand today than past drops, and check out Sam's (NFT Statistics) video if you want to learn more.

We also have Nike OF1's launching public, with about 83,000 Boxes up for grabs. If these manage to sell out, all other brands with web3 plans will be put on notice.

  • Memes by 6529 (11:00 a.m. ET); 0.06529 ETH
  • Nike: Our Force 1 - public (12:00 p.m. ET); $19.82
  • Overlords Arkana (12:10 p.m. ET); 0.075 ETH
  • AB Curated: Human Unreadable by Operator (1:00 p.m. ET); Dutch auction
  • Cryptoys: Star Wars (TBD); $39.99

Enjoy this write-up? Follow along with me on Twitter @tyler_did_it or reach out via email tyler.warner@luckytrader.com.

For all volume and floor price data, see Lucky Trader's Project Rankings page.

For all upcoming mints, see Lucky Trader's Project Schedule page.

Disclaimer: The author or members of the Lucky Trader staff may own NFTs discussed in this post. Furthermore, the information contained on this website or the Lucky Trader mobile application is not intended as, and shall not be understood or construed as financial advice. AI may have assisted in the creation of this content.