Sales of Bitcoin Ordinals Dropped 61% in January, Halving Sparks of Hope
Despite interest in Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and the upcoming halving event, Bitcoin cryptocurrencies are losing steam.
NFT data aggregator CryptoSlam reported that monthly ordinary sales fell 61% to $335 million in January, down from $868 million in December. Tokens are the first iteration of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) created on the Bitcoin network.
The oversaturation of the NFT market and the decline in regular sales from other blockchains are the main reasons, said Andy Lian, a blockchain expert at the United Nations and author of the book NFT: From Zero To Hero.
“With so many new projects and artists entering the space, buyers are now faced with many options. As other blockchains like Solana gather more steam, the booty-to-choice scenario becomes more apparent,” Lien told Cointelegraph.
While monthly Ethereum NFT sales fell by 2.2% to $355 million, NFT sales on Avalanche rose 89% to $46.7 million in January, from $24.7 million in December.
Dokio NFTs took the lion's share of sales, as the collection generated $31.4 million for Avalanche Network in January, representing 67% of the blockchain's monthly sales. In comparison, Dokio generated $7.64 million in sales in December. Dokio is a collection of 5,555 NFTs launched by anonymous creator 0xBrando.
Dokyo NFT sales started to grow in November. Dokio's 24-hour sales volume surpassed Bored Up Yacht Club's sales on November 24th, making it the most traded set of NFTs across all blockchains in a short period of time. According to CryptoSlam data, Dokio climbed to the top of the sales leaderboard on January 15.
Beyond competing NFT collections, Lean believes that standard sales have been affected by their controversial status within the Bitcoin community and their technical complexity:
The launch of Ordinals has been controversial in the Bitcoin community, as some believe the activity is similar to spam email. This may affect the reputation and legitimacy of Ordinals among some Bitcoin enthusiasts.
On the other hand, Sébastien Guillemot, co-founder of Web3 game engine Paima Studio, said Ordinals' interest is shifting to Bitcoin Layer-2 solutions. Guillemot said:
“Many who were working on standardization have turned to Bitcoin Layer 2s, especially with the buzz around BitVM and OP_CAT. I wouldn't be surprised if developers and investors switch to this narrative.
Despite the decline in sales, the total number of typographical texts is growing. According to Dune data, there are more than 59 million ordinary texts on the Bitcoin network.
Will Bitcoin Halve Demand for Normality?
Reflecting the decline in sales, the average casual sales price fell 25% to $1,340 from $1,793 in December. As the world's largest crypto exchange Binance announced the launch of its regular marketplace on February 1st, despite the slowdown, large crypto companies continue to show interest.
Lian expects the upcoming Bitcoin halving to revive interest in Ordinals. he said:
“A halved supply of Bitcoin could make each satoshi more valuable and scarcer, thereby increasing Ordinals as a unique and collectible asset. Halving could also increase transaction fees on the Bitcoin network, allowing miners to conduct regular transactions and maintain the network.” It encourages.
In the 11th edition of the “State of Crypto” report published on February 1, 21Shares, the world's largest provider of crypto exchange-traded products (ETF), wrote that Bitcoin could offer additional use cases beyond being a store of ordinals. – Valuable property;
“We expect innovations like Ordinals and BRC-20 tokens to further fuel demand for Bitcoin and expand use cases across the network.”
Related: ‘There's No Such Thing as Spam' — OKX exec on Bitcoin Ordinals
