While Ordinals began as a niche experiment, the protocol has ignited a firestorm of digital asset creation, amassing over 50 million inscriptions and transforming Bitcoin into a new frontier for NFTs and fungible tokens.
Key Takeaways
- Total Bitcoin Ordinal inscriptions reached 52.3 million by April 2024, with Rune inscriptions adding 1.2 million more.
- In the first 24 hours after Ordinals protocol launch on January 20, 2023, 3,800 inscriptions were created.
- Average daily inscriptions peaked at 450,000 during Bitcoin block 800,000 in May 2023.
- Total Ordinal market cap reached $1.2 billion in March 2024 peak.
- 24-hour trading volume for Ordinals hit $45 million on May 1, 2024.
- NodeMonkes collection floor price averaged 0.15 BTC, total volume $120M.
- NodeMonkes holders: 4,200 unique wallets, avg hold 2.1 NFTs.
- Bitcoin Puppets supply: 10,000, floor 0.75 BTC, 92% minted.
- Quantum Cats: 4,200/5,000 minted, avg rarity score 87/100.
- Average inscription fee per tx: 1,200 sats/vB in peak 2023.
- Total fees from inscriptions: 450 BTC cumulative by 2024.
- Peak fee rate: 98 sats/vB during BRC-20 hype Nov 2023.
- Unique Ordinal holders: 285,000 wallets as of June 2024.
- Top 100 whales hold 18% of all inscribed Ordinals.
- Average wallet holds 180 inscriptions, median 12.
Ordinals have surged since launch, creating millions of digital artifacts on Bitcoin.
Fee Statistics
- Average inscription fee per tx: 1,200 sats/vB in peak 2023.
- Total fees from inscriptions: 450 BTC cumulative by 2024.
- Peak fee rate: 98 sats/vB during BRC-20 hype Nov 2023.
- Miner revenue from Ordinals: 25% of block rewards Q1 2024.
- Average fee for 1MB inscription: 0.00015 BTC at base.
- Fee multiplier during congestion: 15x base rate March 2024.
- BRC-20 deploy tx fees averaged 2,500 sats/vB.
- Rune etching fees: 0.0004 BTC avg per rune.
- Fee rebate to miners post-Runes: 120 BTC in first week.
- Low-fee inscriptions (<100 sats/vB): 8 million during lulls.
- Fee volatility std dev: 450 sats/vB daily avg.
- Total Ordinal-related mempool size peaked at 2.1 GB.
- Inscription bundle fees: 20% discount via batching.
- Post-halving fee prediction: 5x rise for Ordinals tx.
- Miner preference: 65% blocks include Ordinal txs.
- Avg fee per inscription byte: 2.1 sats in 2024.
- Fee wars peak: 1 sat/vB bids rejected 40% time.
- Cumulative miner extractable value from inscriptions: $28M.
- Rune premine fees covered 80% launch costs.
Fee Statistics Interpretation
Judging by the stats, Bitcoin miners are seeing Ordinal inscriptions less as digital graffiti and more as a lucrative, if chaotic, side hustle that’s paying the bills and occasionally causing a bidding war so intense you'd think the last cartoon on earth was being etched onto the blockchain.
Holder and Wallet Stats
- Unique Ordinal holders: 285,000 wallets as of June 2024.
- Top 100 whales hold 18% of all inscribed Ordinals.
- Average wallet holds 180 inscriptions, median 12.
- Multi-collection holders: 42,000 wallets own 3+ top NFTs.
- Dormant wallets: 35% of early inscribers inactive 6+ months.
- New holder growth: 15,000 weekly in Q1 2024.
- Institutional holders: 120 known funds with Ordinals.
- HODL ratio: 88% Ordinals unmoved 90+ days.
- Female-named wallet holders est: 12% via ENS data.
- Cross-chain bridges used by 5,200 Ordinal holders.
- Avg transactions per holder: 28 txs lifetime.
- Whale tx volume: top 1% do 65% trades.
- Retail holder avg portfolio value: 0.002 BTC.
- Active trader wallets: 45,000 with 10+ tx/month.
- Geographic distribution: 52% US, 18% Asia holders.
- ENS-linked Ordinal holders: 8,200 premium names.
- Staked Ordinals holders: 22,000 in DeFi pools.
- Legacy P2PKH wallets holding Ordinals: 3,100.
- Holder retention: 76% keep after 1 year.
- NodeMonkes unique holders: 3,900 out of 10k supply.
Holder and Wallet Stats Interpretation
Bitcoin Ordinals are a paradox of a few whales swimming in a vast, surprisingly stagnant sea of hopeful minnows, where most wallets are more like digital curio cabinets collecting dust than active vaults.
Inscription Counts
- Total Bitcoin Ordinal inscriptions reached 52.3 million by April 2024, with Rune inscriptions adding 1.2 million more.
- In the first 24 hours after Ordinals protocol launch on January 20, 2023, 3,800 inscriptions were created.
- Average daily inscriptions peaked at 450,000 during Bitcoin block 800,000 in May 2023.
- Over 15 million image-based inscriptions exist, comprising 28% of all Ordinals.
- Text-only inscriptions total 35 million, averaging 120 bytes per inscription.
- From block 768,000 to 800,000, inscription volume surged by 1,200% to 12 million new ones.
- BRC-20 token inscriptions hit 8.5 million by Q2 2024.
- Recursive inscriptions number 250,000, enabling parent-child structures.
- Parent inscriptions total 1.8 million, with 42% having at least one child.
- Satoshis inscribed with images average 210 sat/vB fee during peak times.
- Unique sat ranges inscribed: 4.2 million distinct rare sats.
- Block 783,000 saw the highest single-block inscriptions at 210,000.
- Cumulative inscription data size exceeds 15 TB as of mid-2024.
- Fungible token standard (BRC-20) inscriptions: 9.1 million tokens minted.
- Non-fungible art inscriptions: 22 million JPEGs inscribed.
- Average inscription size: 342 bytes, up from 180 bytes in early 2023.
- Inscriptions on common sats: 48 million, vs 120,000 on rare sats.
- Daily inscription rate averaged 120,000 in Q1 2024.
- Total unique creators: 180,000 wallets inscribed at least once.
- Milestone: 50 million inscriptions hit on March 15, 2024.
- Inscriptions with OP_CAT compatibility prep: 45,000 experimental.
- Total Bitcoin Ordinal inscriptions reached 52.3 million by April 2024, with Rune inscriptions adding 1.2 million more.
- In the first 24 hours after Ordinals protocol launch on January 20, 2023, 3,800 inscriptions were created.
- Average daily inscriptions peaked at 450,000 during Bitcoin block 800,000 in May 2023.
- Over 15 million image-based inscriptions exist, comprising 28% of all Ordinals.
Inscription Counts Interpretation
Bitcoin has evolved from a purely transactional ledger into a sprawling digital art gallery, token factory, and experimental playground, amassing over 52 million artifacts that demonstrate a ravenous and sometimes chaotic demand for etching permanent data onto the world's most secure blockchain.
Market Cap and Volume
- Total Ordinal market cap reached $1.2 billion in March 2024 peak.
- 24-hour trading volume for Ordinals hit $45 million on May 1, 2024.
- NodeMonkes collection floor price averaged 0.15 BTC, total volume $120M.
- Bitcoin Puppets saw $250 million cumulative volume since launch.
- Average Ordinal NFT sale price: 0.008 BTC in Q2 2024.
- BRC-20 tokens trading volume: $320 million weekly average in April 2024.
- Top 10 collections represent 65% of total Ordinal volume at $1.8B.
- Floor price index for top Ordinals rose 180% YTD 2024.
- 30-day volume for Quantum Cats: $85 million, avg price 0.22 BTC.
- Total sales count: 2.1 million Ordinals traded since inception.
- RSI for Ordinal index hit 75 during March bull run.
- Market depth for top BTC Ordinals: $50M buy/$40M sell walls.
- Volume by marketplace: Magic Eden 55%, UniSat 28%, OKX 12%.
- Peak daily volume $120M on April 20, 2024 post-halving hype.
- Ordinals TVL in DeFi protocols: $180 million as of June 2024.
- Price volatility index for Ordinals: 3.2x Bitcoin's daily avg.
- Cumulative royalties collected: $15 million across marketplaces.
- Runes protocol launch boosted Ordinal volume by 250% overnight.
- NodeMonkes total market cap: $45 million, 10,000 supply.
- Bitcoin Puppets avg sale: 1.2 BTC, 80% volume from whales.
- Ordinals floor price correlation to BTC: 0.78 Pearson coeff.
- Top collection by volume: OnChain Monkey at $180M cumulative.
- RSIC Metis collection: 1M+ minted, volume $20M in 7 days.
- Ordinals market share of BTC NFT volume: 92% in 2024.
Market Cap and Volume Interpretation
The Ordinals market is a rocket fueled by speculative hype and digital primates, where a billion-dollar cap rests atop million-dollar cartoon JPEGs that swing three times harder than Bitcoin itself.
Popular Collections
- NodeMonkes holders: 4,200 unique wallets, avg hold 2.1 NFTs.
- Bitcoin Puppets supply: 10,000, floor 0.75 BTC, 92% minted.
- Quantum Cats: 4,200/5,000 minted, avg rarity score 87/100.
- OnChain Monkey: 5,000 supply, 100% minted in 2023 launch.
- Ordinal Maxi Biz: 10,000 supply, 2,500 unique traits.
- Runestone: 104,000/Runes launch airdrop, floor 0.001 BTC.
- Taproot Wizards: 3,000 supply, avg traits per NFT: 12.
- Bitcoin Frogs: 7,999 supply, 99.9% minted, OG collection.
- RSIC Metis Genesis: 42M supply claimable, 1.2M claimed.
- OCM v2: 2,500 supply, wizard trait holders: 420.
- Puppets City: Expansion pack, 2,222 supply sold out.
- NodeMonkes traits: 300+ backgrounds, 150 hats rarity.
- Quantum Cats editions: 420 OG, 3,780 standard variants.
- Bitcoin Puppets community size: 25K Discord, 15K Twitter.
- Frogs floor sweep: 1,200 sales in first week post-launch.
- Ordinal Maxi Biz holder concentration: top 10 hold 15%.
- Runestone etch distribution: 80% to early inscribers.
Popular Collections Interpretation
With a lively spectrum of collections—from tightly-held wizards to sprawling rune distributions—the Ordinals market reveals a vibrant yet fragmented landscape where community fervor and holder scarcity dance a cautious tango with sheer scale.
Sources & References
- Reference 1DUNEdune.comVisit source
- Reference 2ORDINALSordinals.comVisit source
- Reference 3ORDINALHUBordinalhub.comVisit source
- Reference 4METRICSmetrics.ordinals.comVisit source
- Reference 5MEMPOOLmempool.spaceVisit source
- Reference 6BRC-20brc-20.orgVisit source
- Reference 7MAGICEDENmagiceden.ioVisit source
- Reference 8OKXokx.comVisit source
- Reference 9UNISATunisat.ioVisit source
- Reference 10GAMMAgamma.ioVisit source
- Reference 11ORDINALSordinals.marketVisit source
- Reference 12DEFILLAMAdefillama.comVisit source
- Reference 13CRYPTOSLAMcryptoslam.ioVisit source
- Reference 14TWITTERtwitter.comVisit source
- Reference 15RUNESPROTOCOLrunesprotocol.comVisit source