The excitement surrounding Inscriptions continues to grow, with the sector reaching incredible sizes. Initially thought to be a fleeting trend when they emerged in early 2023 through the Ordinals protocol, Inscriptions have instead opened new doors for the crypto market.
Despite skepticism from Bitcoin investors like Jimmy Song and criticism from long-time developer Luke Dashjr, the allure of the Inscriptions sector is stronger than ever. The total market size for Bitcoin Inscriptions tokens has hit $1.5 billion, with ORDI, the largest project, accounting for a market value of $1 billion, ranking as the fourth-largest memecoin project behind the likes of Dogecoin and Shiba Inu.
Recently, a fund worth $106 million, comprising various crypto assets including Ethereum, was invested in Bitcoin Cats, an unreleased NFT game based on the Ordinals Inscriptions craze. This highlights the growing appetite among investors for this emerging crypto market segment.
Despite predictions by investors like Song in May that the Ordinals Inscriptions frenzy would eventually fade, the past seven months have shown the opposite. The overwhelming demand for the Bitcoin Cats fundraising event, which ended on December 19, with investors showing 150 times more interest than expected, indicates a strong appetite for high-risk crypto ventures.
Bitcoin Cats’ presentation to investors promises access to the game’s NFT collection, with investors receiving their share of the native token, 1CAT, in exchange for staking. Inscriptions allow users to emulate Ethereum’s smart contract functionality on Bitcoin, enabling the creation of data-rich assets like NFTs and memecoin projects within the Bitcoin ecosystem—a feat that was nearly impossible until recently due to the lack of native support for smart contracts in Bitcoin’s blockchain software.