ORDI: the first interchangeable token on bitcoin
Ordinals have launched a new trend for digital assets on bitcoin: more than 2 500 tokens have already been issued, and their number continues to grow.
The history of the appearance of ODRI
Unlike Ethereum and other networks based on smart contract technology, creating tokens in the Bitcoin protocol before the Taproot update was impossible without using second-layer solutions such as Liquid Network. It wasn't until January 2023 that the Ordinals protocol was launched, allowing the issuance of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) directly on the bitcoin blockchain. Ordinals are inscriptions or, in other words, ordinal numbers assigned to satoshis, the minimum unit of the BTC cryptocurrency.
In March 2023, a programmer named Domo used the Ordinals protocol and the JavaScript programming language to create a new standard for tokens on the Bitcoin network called BRC-20, similar to tokens on the Ethereum blockchain, BNB Chain, Tron, and similar blockchains. Ordinals and BRC-20 tokens began to gain popularity rapidly, and after just three months, in June, their capitalization approached $500 million. The capitalization of BRC-20 tokens exceeds $3.19 billion, and daily trading volume reaches $764 million.
ORDI was the first BRC-20 token and the first memcoin in the bitcoin network. Two months after its release, the ORDI token began to be placed on well-known centralized exchanges, and its capitalization quickly exceeded $320 million.
ORDI token
At its core, ORDI is a typical memcoin with nothing special, except for being the first BRC-20 token on the bitcoin blockchain in history. ORDI leads all tokens of this type in terms of capitalization, which, as of January 2024, is $1.57 billion. In December, ORDI was surpassed in market capitalization by another popular BRC-20 token, 1000SATS, but the pioneer soon regained its top spot in this cryptocurrency category.
Also, regarding capitalization, ORDI ranks third in the CoinMarketCap ranking among memcoins after Dogecoin and Shiba Inu and 51st among all cryptocurrencies, slightly behind Algorand.
A total of 21 million ORDI tokens have been issued, and all are already circulating in the market. Immediately after listing in May 2023, ORDI's exchange rate topped $20 but fell until November, when a local bull market cycle began. In addition, the token was listed on the largest exchange, Binance, in November, which became another strong driver of ORDI growth. In early January 2024, the ORDI token price reached its high of $90.9 but then corrected to $74.3.
The ORDI token can be bought on significant crypto exchanges such as Binance, ByBit, OKX and HTX or the decentralized bitcoin exchange Xverse. ORDI has no value, is not used for anything and is simply the first memcoin and BRC-20 token on bitcoin.
ORDI's problems
The ORDI token has the same flaws as all other BRC-20 tokens. The Bitcoin protocol has no built-in functionality for issuing tokens, i.e. smart contracts. An average user without Javascript programming skills simply cannot create, buy or sell tokens on typical marketplaces. If the Ordinals protocol site and similar ones stop working, users will have no other way to buy or sell except through centralized crypto exchanges, but in this case, their rate may collapse.
Few interfaces for interacting with BRC-20 tokens are still poorly developed: beginners will have to work hard before they understand how to use ordinals and memcoins in the Bitcoin network.
The criticism of the BRC-20 standard and ordinals in general is also worth noting. Some users are convinced that inscriptions could threaten the Bitcoin protocol, but others disagree and see ordinals as promising. Finally, there is a risk that ordinals may disappear in the future.
ORDI outlook
The BRC-20 and memcoin markets are just gaining momentum and have become two of the top trends for 2023. Given that ORDI has steadily become one of the leaders in both categories, it stands a good chance of consolidating its position should the trend towards these digital assets continue.
Memcoins attract users with their speedy growth. For example, the SHIB token has grown by 11.9 million per cent over time, while the ORDI token has grown by 2515 per cent just since it was listed on exchanges in May 2023. And the ORDI token was initially available for free, paying only a transaction fee on the bitcoin network.
So far, the combined market share of memcoins and BRC-20 tokens is only 1.3% of the total cryptocurrency capitalization, and experts have yet to give accurate forecasts for the future. However, it is safe to say that these digital assets have every chance to increase their share in the future as the crypto market capitalization grows. It is only essential to consider the intense volatility of such holdings due to their still small capitalization and relatively low liquidity.
Memcoins have no real value yet, unlike fundamental cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, which are already used in payments, and the demand for such tokens is tied solely to community interest in them. We will find out what will happen to this market shortly.
