The January launch of Bitcoin Ordinals created a stir within the crypto community about its place within the Bitcoin ecosystem. Users are debating whether they offer new use cases for Bitcoin or if it takes away from BTC’s peer-to-peer cash system vision.
No matter the community sentiment on the Bitcoin-based nonfungibale token (NFT) issue, this did not stop Bitcoin (BTC) mining firm Luxor Mining from acquiring OrdinalHub, the primary platform for Bitcoin NFTs.
The announcement came on Feb. 20, with 150,000 inscriptions (Ordinals) already made, a 15000% increase from the beginning of the month.
Luxor highlighted the fact that the current state of Bitcoin Ordinals being minted and “escrowed” through various Discord servers has made it difficult for collectors and creators to keep track of all of the projects. It claims the OrdinalHub will tackle this issue as a “central hub” for the community.
Nick Hansen, the CEO of Luxor, praised the innovative qualities of Ordinals and how they can create “synergies between the firm’s mining pool and the OridinalHub.
“Ordinals have opened the door for exciting new monetization strategies for Bitcoin miners.“
As Cointelegraph reported, Bitcoin miners have already made around $600,000 from Ordinals’ NFT transactions. Moreover, Bitcoin-based NFT inscriptions now take over 50% of Bitcoin block space.
Related: Will the Bitcoin mining industry collapse? Analysts explain why crisis is really opportunity
OrdinalHub posted about the acquisition on Twitter on Feb. 22, to which users responded with generally positive sentiments toward the development.
Really excited to see the top notch team at @LuxorTechTeam really lean into the space with this move. I’ve had a blast helping build parts of @ordinalhub behind the scenes. I’ll see you all on the freshly launched OrdinalHub discord https://t.co/paMwrM1DT9
— cbspears ⛏⚙️ (@cbspears) February 21, 2023
However, some users remained skeptical about the acquisition and the Ordinal buzz in general, saying the “hype might be over.”
Ordinal punks floor continues to fall precipitously. Arguably the most recognizable ordinals. The ordinals hype phase might be over, reality setting in. Just another 2023 PND
— Doc Crypto (@doccrypto777) February 22, 2023
Standard NFTs have gone through hype cycles, which was at a low by the end of 2022. However, according to a recent DappRadar report, they are slowly making a comeback after a 37% increase in transactions from December 2022 to January 2023.