Bitcoin-Based NFTs: Ordinals and Runes Surge in Market Cap and Popularity, Reports CoinGecko

The
total
market
cap
of
the
top
10
Bitcoin-based
non-fungible
tokens
(NFTs),
comprising
Ordinals
and
Runes,
has
surged
to
$1.03
billion,
with
a
daily
average
trading
volume
of
$2.25
million
in
May
2024,
according
to





CoinGecko.
This
increase
highlights
their
growing
influence
within
the
Web3
ecosystem.

Market
Leaders:
NodeMonkes,
Bitcoin
Puppets,
and
Runestone

Leading
the
charge
are
collections
like
NodeMonkes,
with
a
market
cap
of
$198.25
million
(2,880
BTC),
Bitcoin
Puppets
at
$144.12
million
(1,815
BTC),
and
Runestone
with
$87.85
million
(1,124
BTC).
These
collections
have
demonstrated
significant
sales
volumes,
with
NodeMonkes
and
Bitcoin
Puppets
showing
average
daily
volumes
of
$0.52
million
and
$0.51
million
respectively
as
of
May
2024.

User
Adoption
Trends

In
terms
of
user
adoption,
Bitcoin
Puppets
experienced
a
15.3%
month-on-month
growth
in
unique
holders
from
January
to
May
2024,
increasing
from
3.8k
to
6.7k
holders.
Similarly,
NodeMonkes
grew
by
10.1%
in
the
same
period,
from
3.8k
to
5.6k
unique
holders.
Runestone
also
saw
a
substantial
number
of
unique
holders,
totaling
77
thousand
in
May
2024,
the
largest
among
the
top
collections.

Global
Interest
and
Financial
Gains

Interest
in
Ordinals
has
soared
globally,
with
Google
searches
for
“Ordinals”
peaking
in
April
2024,
up
58%
since
January
2024.
Searches
for
“Bitcoin
NFTs”
also
reached
an
all-time
high
in
March
2024.
Despite
lagging
behind
Ethereum,
Solana,
and
Ronin
in
sales
volume,
the
growing
buyer
interest
suggests
potential
for
increased
user
adoption
on
the
Bitcoin
network.

Early
adopters
have
seen
significant
financial
gains.
For
example,
participants
in
the
Dutch
auction-style
mint
for
NodeMonkes
could
see
returns
of
426%
if
comparing
the
starting
price
of
0.21
BTC
with
the
project’s
all-time
high
of
0.895
BTC,
or
38%
if
compared
with
the
average
sale
price
of
0.29
BTC.

A
Brief
History
of
Ordinals
and
Runes

Ordinals,
launched
by
engineer
Casey
Rodarmor
in
January
2023,
differ
from
traditional
NFTs
by
having
all
data
inscribed
directly
on-chain,
making
them
akin
to
digital
artifacts.
As
Ordinals
gained
traction,
an
anonymous
developer
created
the
BRC-20
token
standard,
which
was
later
refined
by
Rodarmor
into
Runes.
Runes
address
the
issue
of
excessive
unspent
transaction
outputs
(UTXOs)
by
optimizing
and
reusing
these
dormant
UTXOs,
enhancing
efficiency
and
reducing
network
congestion.

Runes
present
new
opportunities
for
scalability
and
user
experience
on
the
Bitcoin
network,
potentially
leading
to
innovative
decentralized
applications
(DApps)
and
tokenized
assets.

Getting
Started
with
Ordinals
and
Runes

For
those
interested
in
exploring
Ordinals
and
Runes,
CoinGecko
offers
detailed
guides
and
listings
of
popular
NFT
projects
built
on
the
Bitcoin
network. 

Methodology

The
study
analyzed
data
for
the
top
10
Bitcoin-based
NFT
collections
as
of
May
26,
2024,
on
CoinGecko,
along
with
Google
Trends
data
as
of
May
31,
2024.
The
top
collections
include
NodeMonkes,
Bitcoin
Puppets,
Rune
Pups,
Ordinal
Maxi
Biz,
RSIC
Metaprotocol,
Bitcoin
Frogs,
Runestone,
Prometheans,
Natcats,
and
Pizza
Ninjas.

Image
source:
Shutterstock

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