"Decentralized News for the Digital Age"
Special Ordinals Edition • June 20, 2025 • Vol. 1, No. 1
Bitcoin just had its biggest transformation since inception, and most people are still catching up. When Casey Rodarmor launched Bitcoin Ordinals in January 2023, he didn't just create another NFT platform – he fundamentally changed what Bitcoin could be.
As someone who's watched this space evolve over the past two and a half years, I want to share what makes Ordinals special and why they represent something genuinely different in the digital asset world.
The numbers tell an incredible story. Bitcoin miners have earned more than $231 million in fees from Ordinals activity alone. This isn't just another crypto trend – it's Bitcoin evolving into something its original creator probably never imagined.
Think of every Bitcoin as being made up of 100 million tiny pieces called satoshis. Normally, these satoshis are completely identical – one is the same as any other. But Ordinals theory gives each satoshi a unique serial number based on when it was first mined, kind of like giving every grain of sand on a beach its own ID number.
Here's where it gets interesting. Using Bitcoin's existing infrastructure (specifically upgrades called SegWit and Taproot), you can inscribe data directly onto these numbered satoshis. We're talking images, text, audio, video, even entire websites – all permanently etched into Bitcoin's blockchain.
Unlike traditional NFTs that often store their actual content on external servers, Ordinals put everything directly on Bitcoin itself. The process works by embedding data into the "witness data" section of Bitcoin transactions.
The timeline has been remarkable. Rodarmor inscribed the first Ordinal in December 2022 – a simple black and white skull image. By January 2023, the protocol was live on Bitcoin's main network. Within just a few months, we saw over 10 million inscriptions created.
The real game-changer came in March 2023 when an anonymous developer called "Domo" introduced BRC-20 tokens. These brought fungible tokens to Bitcoin for the first time, using JSON inscriptions to create, mint, and transfer tokens. ORDI, the first BRC-20 token, became a cultural phenomenon and eventually hit that billion-dollar market cap I mentioned.
The Runes protocol launch in April 2024 marked another major milestone. Casey Rodarmor, recognizing the limitations of BRC-20, developed Runes as a more efficient alternative. The launch coincided with Bitcoin's halving, creating such demand that transaction fees hit a record average of $127.97 in a single day.
By 2025, we've seen institutional adoption really take off. Sotheby's held their first Ordinals auction, selling a "Genesis Cat" from the Quantum Cats collection for $254,000. Major exchanges like Coinbase and Binance added full Ordinals support.
The infrastructure development has been impressive. Magic Eden has become the dominant marketplace, handling about 70% of Ordinals trading volume and even surpassing Blur to become the top NFT marketplace overall. They're processing over $170,000 in daily inscription sales.
Wallet development has been crucial too. UniSat pioneered BRC-20 support and raised funding at a $50 million valuation with Binance Labs participating. Xverse offers multi-protocol support. These aren't just crypto wallets anymore – they're specialized tools for managing Bitcoin-native digital assets.
The community metrics are striking. We have over 1 million active Bitcoin addresses engaging with Ordinals-related transactions. Daily inscription activity regularly hits 1,200+ inscriptions in 2-hour periods.
Some standout collections have emerged. NodeMonkes became the first successful 10K profile picture collection on Bitcoin, briefly flipping Bored Ape Yacht Club in market cap at around $490 million. Quantum Cats by Taproot Wizards pushed technical boundaries with "evolving inscriptions" that change over time.
The technical developments have been fascinating to watch. BRC-20 tokens proved that Bitcoin could support fungible tokens, even without smart contracts. The system works by using JSON inscriptions to define token operations – deploy, mint, and transfer.
Runes protocol solved many of BRC-20's limitations. Instead of bloating Bitcoin with unnecessary transaction outputs, Runes uses Bitcoin's native UTXO model more efficiently. In the first two days after launch, nearly 7,000 Runes tokens were minted.
The cross-chain bridging developments in 2025 have been particularly exciting. Input|Output successfully demonstrated transferring Bitcoin Ordinals to Cardano's mainnet using something called BitVMX protocol.
Having watched both traditional NFTs and Ordinals develop, the differences are profound. Most NFTs on Ethereum or Solana store their actual content on external systems like IPFS or even regular web servers. You're essentially buying a token that points to content somewhere else.
Ordinals take the opposite approach. Everything is stored directly on Bitcoin's blockchain. Your inscription isn't pointing to an image – it contains the actual image data. This makes Ordinals significantly more permanent and censorship-resistant.
The security model is completely different too. Ordinals benefit from Bitcoin's Proof-of-Work consensus, the most battle-tested and secure blockchain network in existence. There are no smart contracts to exploit, no complex protocols to fail.
Casey Rodarmor and the development community have outlined some interesting directions for 2025 and beyond. Parent-child inscription standards are being enhanced to better organize collections. Recursive inscriptions represent a major technical frontier, allowing inscriptions to reference other inscriptions.
Lightning Network integration is another significant development area. The potential for trading Ordinals over Lightning channels could dramatically reduce transaction fees and improve user experience.
The integration with Bitcoin Layer 2 solutions like Stacks is progressing. The upcoming sBTC launch should unlock programmable Bitcoin capital, potentially enabling DeFi capabilities for Ordinals-based assets.
As I write this in June 2025, the Ordinals ecosystem feels mature and stable. Daily trading volumes consistently hit around $120 million across platforms. The infrastructure is solid – major wallets support Ordinals, marketplaces are functional and liquid.
Ordinals now represent approximately 25% of Bitcoin block space utilization, which shows they've become a permanent fixture in Bitcoin's ecosystem rather than a temporary fad.
The Taproot Wizards recently closed a $30 million Series A funding round led by Standard Crypto, demonstrating that venture capital is betting seriously on Bitcoin-native applications.
What strikes me most about Ordinals is how they've proven Bitcoin can evolve and adapt without losing its core values. The protocol works within Bitcoin's existing rules and infrastructure. It doesn't require network changes or controversial forks.
This has implications beyond just digital art and collectibles. Ordinals have validated that transaction fees can eventually replace block rewards as miners' primary revenue source, which is crucial for Bitcoin's long-term security model.
Perhaps most importantly, Ordinals have brought new energy and creativity to Bitcoin. The "Make Bitcoin Fun Again" movement has attracted artists, developers, and communities who might never have engaged with Bitcoin otherwise.
The journey from January 2023 to June 2025 has shown that Bitcoin isn't just digital gold or a payment network – it's a platform capable of supporting rich, diverse digital economies while maintaining the security and decentralization that made it valuable in the first place.