Binance discontinues support for Bitcoin Ordinals

Binance has announced it will stop supporting Bitcoin Ordinals. This means that the platform will no longer support Bitcoin NFTs for trades, deposits and airdrops. The move was made despite the massive amount of transaction fees and engagement generated by the 64 million inscriptions that have been registered since the Ordinals Protocol’s launch. Even though they are popular, some challenges have arisen due to their increased size of transactions and the potential for blockchain overgrowth. Franklin Templeton, meanwhile, is very positive about Ordinals. Recently, the firm highlighted innovation and activity spurred on by Bitcoin Ordinals as well as other crypto ventures. Coinbase seems to also like Ordinals, as it has expanded its offering with perpetual futures of ORDI tokens and WLD.

Binance ends Bitcoin ordinary support

Binance has announced it will be reducing its support of Bitcoin Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), only one year after they were introduced to their marketplace. In a blog from April, the exchange disclosed that it was discontinuing support for Bitcoin non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The exchange announced in a blog post from April 4th that they will cease to support trades of Bitcoin Ordinals and their deposits on April 18th. 18

Binance has also advised its users to remove their Bitcoin NFTs from the Bitcoin network by May 18th 2024 to prevent any possible loss of digital assets. The marketplace will discontinue all airdrops and benefits associated with Bitcoin NFTs as well after April. 10, 2024. Binance has specifically stated that Runestone NFT users who qualify for airdrops should withdraw their tokens before April. To ensure that you receive any tokens, utilities and other benefits, please withdraw your tokens by April 10.

This enthusiasm for the Bitcoin Ordinals protocol is evident in the number of inscriptions on the network, which has surpassed 64 million. The transaction fees have also topped $423 million. The network has seen more than 64 million inscriptions to date and generated over $423 million in transaction fees.

What is Bitcoin Ordinals (Bitcoin Ordinals)?

Bitcoin Ordinals (also known as Bitcoin NFTs) are a new addition to the Bitcoin eco-system, which introduces the concept of NFTs on the Bitcoin blockchain. Casey Rodarmor developed this innovative approach, which made its debut in the Bitcoin mainnet on January 2023.

The Ordinals protocol allows digital data, ranging from simple text and images, to complex video and multi-media assets, to be inscribed on individual satoshis. These satoshis are the smallest units of Bitcoin. The process transforms satoshis from simple text and images into digital collectibles that merge the worlds cryptocurrency and digital artwork within the immutable and secure Bitcoin ledger.

The core of the Ordinals project is the technology advancements made by the Bitcoin Network, namely the Taproot Upgrade and Segregated witness (SegWit). Taproot improves Bitcoin’s privacy and efficiency by standardizing transactions, while SegWit increases the capacity of the Bitcoin block and addresses the malleability of the transaction. The “inscription” on the blockchain of digital assets is possible with this foundational technology. This marks a significant departure from Bitcoin’s original design, which was a financial system.

Integrating Ordinals with the Bitcoin Blockchain has many benefits. It inherits Bitcoin’s robust security, powered by the Proof of Work consensus system. The mechanism is battle-tested over the past decade and has proven to be resilient against many attacks and vulnerabilities. This makes Ordinals one amongst the most secure platforms available for NFT ownership and creation.

The immutable blockchain of Bitcoin ensures, that, once an ordinal has been inscribed, its record is permanent and resistant to manipulation and censorship. Immutability is crucial for both creators and collectors, as it creates trust in digital assets’ authenticity and provenance. The concept of rarity is also supported by Ordinals as every inscribed asset has a unique Satoshi. This allows for the creation of truly rare and valuable artifacts.

The implementation of Bitcoin Ordinals is not without its challenges. Inscribing large data amounts onto the blockchain may lead to larger transaction sizes and higher fees, as miners will prioritize transactions according to the incentives they receive. It could also marginalize creators with low resources and hinder a broader adoption. The addition of data intensive inscriptions to the blockchain can also lead to bloating. The scalability problems in the Bitcoin network could be worsened. This could mean ongoing protocol updates to handle the increasing storage and bandwidth needs.

Franklin Templeton’s Bitcoin NFTs

Franklin Templeton seems to still believe in Bitcoin Ordinals despite Binance’s move and any challenges that may arise. Asset manager Franklin Templeton recently provided its investors with insights on the booming sector of Bitcoin NFTs and highlighted the important role Bitcoin Ordinals have in spurring innovation within the Bitcoin ecosystem. It emphasized that the recent revival in Bitcoin activity is likely to be due to Orals. Other factors include the new standards for fungible coins like BRC-20, Runes and layer-2 Bitcoin networks as well as the rise of Bitcoin Decentralized Finance (DeFi).

Asset manager noted an increase in activity in the Bitcoin NFT area, and highlighted the market dominance and increased volume of Bitcoin Ordinals trading since December 2023 when Ethereum trading volume was surpassed. NodeMonkes and Runestone are leading in terms of market capitalization and trading volume in the NFT sector.

Franklin Templeton, despite its positive view of Ordinals, warned investors that these assets could lose value, as they do not come with bank guarantees and are uninsured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The firm did remind its investors, however, that every investment carries risk.

Franklin Templeton, in an investor note that embraced the entire crypto-space, also looked at memecoins, which, although they have “no intrinsic value,” can be a source of quick profit. Franklin Templeton is exploring different crypto-niches, and has even entered the exchange traded fund market. They launched a Bitcoin ETF earlier this year in the United States and filed for an Ether ETF.

Coinbase launches perpetual futures for ORDI & WLD

Coinbase is also optimistic about Ordinals. Starting April, the exchange will expand its offering to institutional customers by introducing BRC-20 tokens Ordinals (ORDI), and Worldcoins (WLD). 11. The announcement appeared in a blog post published on X, on April. 4.

ORDI tokens and WLD have experienced remarkable trade activity, and today’s viral level= snow movements in the last few months. ORDI, while not directly connected with the Bitcoin Ordinals Team, was inspired by the Ordinals Protocol and experienced a rapid rise in price, soaring from $5 last November to a high of $87 this March. CoinMarketCap indicates that ORDI currently has a value of $59.07.

Worldcoin has attracted investors’ attention as well. Its price increased from $2.20 to $11.70 from February. WLD traded at $6.61 as of the time of publication.

Coinbase has added perpetual futures contracts for ORDI, WLD and other assets to its international platform aimed at institutional investors. The perpetual futures contracts are derivative contracts which allow speculating on future asset prices without expiration dates. Coinbase International announced that it would also be adding futures to Wormhole W, the native token of Wormhole.

Coinbase launched these futures contracts using the self-certification process. This allows the company to begin trading on the basis of adherence to the regulatory guidelines set forth by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

The Doginals

The Dogecoin community completed their own airdrop, inspired by the Bitcoin Ordinals event that took place last month. This event, called the “Doge Runestone Doginals”, a term for Dogecoin Ordinals’ iteration, saw 30,272 tokens distributed to those who owned at least one Doginal. Airdrop ended on April. The Doge Runestones now trade at about 184 DOGE as a Where To Buy floor.

The initiative is a mirror of the Bitcoin Ordinals Runestone Airdrop which distributed more than 112,000 Runestones among early adopters. Dogecoin was originally a Bitcoin-based fork that introduced the Doginals Protocol in February last year. This is just one month after Bitcoin Ordinals launched.

DOGE’s Today’s Viral level= BlanchedAlmond has dipped despite the airdrop. CoinMarketCap shows that DOGE’s meme coin value has dropped by over 5% in the last day. DOGE was worth $0.1713 as of press time.