January sees a 61% drop in Bitcoin Ordinals sales, with halving triggering optimism.

Despite the growing popularity of Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and the upcoming halving event, sales of Bitcoin Ordinals inscriptions have been on the decline. In January, monthly sales dropped by 61% to $335 million, compared to December, which saw the highest sales in Ordinals history at $868 million. Ordinals are the original nonfungible tokens (NFTs) minted on the Bitcoin network. The decrease in sales can be attributed to the oversaturation of the NFT market and the emergence of collections from other blockchains, according to blockchain expert Anndy Lian. He stated that the influx of new projects and artists has given buyers a wide range of options, and the popularity of blockchains like Solana has diverted attention away from Bitcoin Ordinals.
While Ethereum NFT sales also experienced a slight decline of 2.2% to $355 million, NFT sales on Avalanche increased by 89% to $46.7 million in January. The majority of these sales came from the Dokyo NFT collection, which generated $31.4 million for the Avalanche network, accounting for 67% of the blockchain’s monthly sales. In December, Dokyo only generated $7.64 million in sales. Dokyo is a collection of 5,555 NFTs created by the pseudonymous creator 0xBrando. The collection gained significant momentum in November, surpassing the sales of the Bored Ape Yacht Club and becoming the most traded NFT collection across all blockchains for a brief period of time. It also topped the sales leaderboard on January 15.
Lian believes that the decline in Ordinals sales can be attributed to the controversial status of NFTs in the Bitcoin community and their technical complexities. However, Sebastien Guillemot, co-founder of Web3 gaming engine Paima Studios, suggests that interest in Ordinals is shifting towards Bitcoin layer-2 solutions. Despite the sales slump, the total number of Ordinals inscriptions on the Bitcoin network continues to grow, with over 59 million inscriptions recorded, according to Dune data.
The average sale price of Ordinals also saw a decrease of 25% in January, falling to $1,340 from $1,793 in December. Despite this, major crypto firms like Binance are still showing interest in Ordinals, as Binance recently announced the launch of its Ordinals marketplace. Lian predicts that the upcoming Bitcoin halving event will reignite interest in Ordinals, as it presents an opportunity for Bitcoin to offer more use cases beyond being a store-of-value asset. In its “State of Crypto” report, 21Shares, the world’s largest crypto ETF provider, also highlighted the potential of Ordinals to expand the utility of Bitcoin.