Bitcoin Ordinals Token Tap $1 Billion Market Cap as BTC Moves Past $43,500

Bitcoin (BTC) has recorded a massive uptick in the past week surging above 14% as the wider market rebounds igniting bullish sentiments hinged on several factors.

The refueled rally of the market leader comes on the heels of increased network activity pushed by BTC Ordinals, popularly referred to as Bitcoin non-fungible tokens (NFTs), institutional investor’s anticipation for a spot Bitcoin ETF in the United States, and a generally bullish outlook.

BTC Ordinals (ORDI) has skyrocketed 850% in 39 days and has tapped $1 billion in market capitalization becoming the first BRC-20 to hit the milestone despite facing multiple criticisms on its utility to the network based on congestion issues recorded earlier in the year.

At press time, the token trades above $55 marking a 7.7% increase over the past day and over 200% in the last seven days as trading volume continues over the $1 billion mark.

Bitcoin Ordinals were rolled out in January allowing users to make inscriptions on the Bitcoin network. Recent on-chain data points to record activities with more than 48 million Ordinals inscribed on the network bringing in $149 million in transaction fees.

Binance monthly market research highlighted the growth of Ordinals as it spurred the network to record more transaction fees than Ethereum, against the usual expectations.

BTC hovers $43,500

The price of Bitcoin has soared in recent weeks as its bulls remain keen on wiping out losses recorded in the bear market.

Notably, the price of the asset has soared above 25% in 30 days and has posted a 162% increase year-to-date (YTD) due to the massive slump recorded in 2022 as a result of the wider economic factors like the Feds raising interest rates and industry factors including the collapse of Terra Network and the subsequent implosion of FTX.

This year’s growth was sparked off by a renewed institutional interest in the market coming off the heels of BlackRock’s spot ETF application which was followed by many big firms making similar moves spurring the asset’s price above $31,000 and a further drive to this point.

The anticipation of a spot Bitcoin ETF continues to grow as multiple analysts predict a possible window of approval by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with several firms predicting a new investment cycle in the market.

Ordinals criticisms resurfaces

Despite adding its quota to the surge of Bitcoin and serving as an avenue to save Bitcoin miners to make funds at a time when operations were in the woods, many within the community still heap criticisms on inscriptions.

The major point raised is the fact that numerous transactions occasioned by inscriptions clog the network creating an increase in the number of unconfirmed transactions leading to higher transaction fees.

Luke Dashjr, a Bitcoin core developer wrote on X firing shots at Ordinals’ attempts to spam the network. “Inscriptions are exploiting a vulnerability in Bitcoin Core to spam the blockchain.”