Key Takeaways
Less than 3 months after the release of a collection of Bitcoin Ordinals-based NFTs known as NodeMonkes , the pixel art inscriptions’ floor price has climbed to 0.89 BTC.
Having amassed a market capitalization of $567 million, NodeMonkes has now surpassed Pudgy Penguins as the 3rd most valuable NFT collection after CryptoPunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club.
NodeMonkes is a collection of 10,000 Bitcoin Ordinals inscriptions depicting a series of unique characters in 28×28 pixel images. Although the collection was initially inscribed in February 2023, its developers waited until December before releasing them to the public.
The 10-month delay allowed time for the nascent Ordinals ecosystem to evolve. What’s more, in a collectors’ culture that values older block stamps, the Ordinals claim to being the first 10,000-count profile picture collection inscribed on Bitcoin counts for a lot, even though Bitcoin Frogs and Bitcoin Puppets were earlier to market.
Since its first auction, interest in the collection has been rising, along with prices. Between February 29 and March 4, the market cap more than doubled to 8,850 BTC. Not only are NodeMonkes now the most valuable Ordinals NFTs, they are also worth more than Pudgy Penguins, Mutant Ape Yacht Club and other popular Ethereum-based collections.
The collection passed another significant milestone on Monday, March 4, when NodeMonke #2769 sold for 17 BTC. This was the first time one of the inscriptions exchanged hands for more than a million dollars.
NodeMonkes’ recent surge reflects a wider boom in the Bitcoin NFT market, with everyone from Sotheby’s to Donald Trump getting in on the action.
Ranked by market capitalization, Ordinals inscriptions now make up 5 of the top 15 NFT collections, even unsettling Ethereum’s once-unquestioned position as the dominant NFT blockchain and establishing Bitcoin as a viable alternative for the first time.
Besides NodeMonkes, similar avatar collections like Bitcoin Puppets and Frogs make up some of the most popular Ordinals NFTs.
Meanwhile, after February’s airdrop of 21,000 Rune Specific Inscription Circuits (RSIS), the mysterious Bitcoin “rune mining” game has also generated significant buzz.