Key Takeaways
- NodeMonkes is a collection of 10,000 pixel art NFTs inscribed as Bitcoin Ordinals.
- Since the first auction in December, NodeMonkes have become the most valuable Ordinals NFTs.
- On Monday, NodeMonke #2769 sold for more than a million dollars worth of BTC.
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.
What Are NodeMonkes?
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.
NodeMonkes Climb to New Heights
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.
Ordinals NFTs Continue to Shine
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.
James Morales is CCN’s blockchain and crypto policy reporter. He has been working in the news media since 2020, writing about topics such as payments, banking and financial technology. These days, he likes to explore the latest blockchain innovations and the evolving landscape of global crypto regulation.
With an educational background in social anthropology and media studies, James uses his platform as a journalist to explore how new technologies work, why they matter and how they might shape our future.
