Leading nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace, Magic Eden, has announced the launch of a “fully audited” platform for Bitcoin Ordinals, tapping into the growing interest in Bitcoin NFTs.
The new marketplace enables users to trade Bitcoin Ordinals collections, providing an experience akin to what the platform offers for Polygon, Ethereum, and Solana-based NFTs.
Magic Eden took to Twitter, to express its excitement about the new offering, highlighting its aim to simplify the journey for collectors and creators in the Bitcoin ecosystem.
https://twitter.com/MagicEden/status/1638239443172859905
According to a statement, on March 21, the company expressed their ambition to expand into other chains and is now focusing on the burgeoning Ordinals market.
The Bitcoin Ordinals protocol, introduced by former Bitcoin core contributor Casey Rodarmor in January, has rapidly gained popularity.
Data from Dune Analytics reveals that the total number of Bitcoin Ordinals inscriptions skyrocketed from 679 to 240,000 between February 1 and March 1, with a total of 567,087 inscriptions recorded as of March 21.
In response to the swift adoption of Ordinal Theory, Magic Eden built the marketplace in just one month. Over a dozen developers participated in a hackathon in California to bring the project to life.
Initially, the marketplace will only support secondary sales of Bitcoin Ordinals, with Magic Eden exploring additional tools for creators to mint or inscribe Bitcoin NFTs more easily.
To enable permissionless swaps, the platform uses partially signed Bitcoin transactions instead of smart contracts, aligning with Bitcoin’s standard that allows multiple parties to sign the same transaction.
While the marketplace currently lacks royalty support, Magic Eden is “actively looking” into developing an on-chain, permissionless royalty standard.
The company is dedicated to working with creators and the broader community to establish a solution that aligns with the ethos of the Bitcoin ecosystem.
Other Bitcoin Ordinals marketplaces have already emerged, such as ORDX and Generative XYZ, which launched in February.
Additionally, NFT platform Gamma.io unveiled its own Bitcoin Ordinals marketplace earlier this week, allowing users to create and trade ordinal inscriptions similarly to Ethereum NFT marketplaces.
Magic Eden’s entry into the Bitcoin Ordinals space signifies the growing demand for and recognition of Bitcoin-based NFTs.