{"id":1600,"date":"2023-02-16T04:27:41","date_gmt":"2023-02-16T04:27:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/solanacrypto.news\/2023\/02\/16\/bitcoin-is-the-best-brand-in-crypto-why-degods-nfts-are-now-on-bitcoin\/"},"modified":"2023-02-16T04:27:41","modified_gmt":"2023-02-16T04:27:41","slug":"bitcoin-is-the-best-brand-in-crypto-why-degods-nfts-are-now-on-bitcoin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/solanacrypto.news\/2023\/02\/16\/bitcoin-is-the-best-brand-in-crypto-why-degods-nfts-are-now-on-bitcoin\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Bitcoin Is the Best Brand in Crypto’: Why DeGods NFTs Are Now on Bitcoin"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Bitcoin<\/span><\/a> NFTs via Ordinals are the <\/span>buzziest thing in the space lately<\/span><\/a>, with <\/span>more than 100,000<\/span><\/a> such media assets committed to the blockchain in barely two weeks. Surprisingly, that tally includes 535 NFTs from <\/span>DeGods<\/span><\/a>\u2014the most valuable Solana <\/span>NFT<\/span><\/a> project.<\/span><\/p>\n

DeGods revealed the move on Monday as word circulated that the profile pictures (<\/span>PFPs<\/span><\/a>) had all been inscribed on Bitcoin in a single block. (“Inscribing” is the process by which NFT-like assets are created on the Bitcoin blockchain, akin to “minting” on Ethereum.) The 535 particular images were originally released via <\/span>Solana<\/span><\/a> in 2021, but were \u201cburned\u201d (or permanently destroyed) to cut down the supply in the early days of the project.<\/span><\/p>\n

Project creator Rohun Vora, who goes by the pseudonym Frank, told <\/span>Decrypt<\/span><\/i> that he and Dust Labs CEO Kevin Henrikson (who simply goes by Kevin) are longtime Bitcoin aficionados who relished the opportunity to bring the project onto the leading cryptocurrency\u2019s network in the early days of Ordinals momentum.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

Aesthetics matter a lot to my team @DeGodsNFT<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It was an honor working with @hash_bender<\/a> to make sure there was no random trashy Ordinals minted in between all 535 DeGods.<\/p>\n

All in one block. Simple. Beautiful.<\/p>\n

Inscribed on the Bitcoin blockchain forever. pic.twitter.com\/Yfuvc8IDuT<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Frank III (@frankdegods) February 14, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cBitcoin is the best brand in crypto\u2014just as pristine as it gets,\u201d Frank told <\/span>Decrypt<\/span><\/i>. \u201cIt’s the most well known, and truly as simple but powerful as it can get. And the mission statement is it’s never been corrupted, right? It’s like global sound money. That is so powerful. Aligning ourselves with the best brand in crypto is a no-brainer at any given point in time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Now those 535 PFPs have gained a second life on Bitcoin with never-before-seen upgraded artwork. DeGods previously provided holders refreshed \u201cDeadGods\u201d artwork last year, and created upgraded artwork for the burned NFTs as well, plotting an eventual revival.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe always had this notion of \u2018What is dead may never die,\u2019\u201d Kevin explained, echoing the familiar refrain from the HBO series “Game of Thrones.” \u201cAnd it was this idea, like: Holy shit, this is so perfect. We can literally bring these back, mint them as Ordinals on BTC, and it’s permanent,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Back to life<\/b><\/h2>\n

Ordinals is a unique way of inscribing NFT-like media and assets to the Bitcoin blockchain by connecting them with a single Satoshi, or 1\/100,000,000th of one BTC. The media is fully stored on-chain and the Ordinal can be transferred, although there\u2019s still a need for a lot more infrastructure and platforms for transacting and handling the assets.<\/span><\/p>\n

It has quickly given rise to <\/span>CryptoPunks clones<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>playable web games on Bitcoin<\/span><\/a>. OnChain Monkey, an Ethereum project, also <\/span>put its entire 10,000 NFT original collection<\/span><\/a> into a single inscription. However, Ordinals has also <\/span>drawn considerable backlash<\/span><\/a> from Bitcoin maximalists, plus it has <\/span>boosted network congestion<\/span><\/a>\u2014and transaction fees in tandem.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kevin said that they dove into Ordinals as soon as it started gaining steam. But with the DeGods inscriptions, they didn\u2019t just want to mint them in the typical way and have the inscriptions added to the network across potentially multiple Bitcoin blocks.<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead, they worked with a Bitcoin miner, Luxor Technologies CEO Nick Hansen, to arrange for all 535 of the NFT inscriptions to be etched onto the blockchain in a single, exclusive block. The block was processed by DMG Blockchain Solutions\u2019 Terra Pool, which claims to be <\/span>a carbon-neutral mining pool<\/span><\/a> powered by renewable energy solutions.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a deal-breaker for us if we couldn’t do it as a custom block, because we had to do something special,\u201d Frank told <\/span>Decrypt<\/span><\/i>. \u201cIt\u2019s the DeGods way, right? You can’t just do it in the basic way. You\u2019ve gotta do something that feels really fresh.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ultimately, to fit the 535 images into a single Bitcoin block, they had to be seriously compressed. Each was resized down to a low-resolution 210×210 pixels<\/a>\u2014a nod to the total Bitcoin supply of 21 million BTC\u2014and in the .webp file format to conserve space. But now they\u2019re all inscribed on the Bitcoin blockchain for future use.<\/span><\/p>\n

While many NFTs on <\/span>Ethereum<\/span><\/a> and other platforms store their artwork externally on either centralized servers or decentralized storage solutions (like <\/span>IPFS<\/span><\/a>), Ordinals fit the artwork or asset entirely within the on-chain block. That proved to be a key part of the appeal for the DeGods team\u2014that these assets will live potentially forever on Bitcoin.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve run a [Bitcoin] node, and the idea that every single node on the planet is now verifying and backing up this image is so powerful,\u201d Frank said. \u201cThat is what got us really excited.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Next steps<\/b><\/h2>\n

Meanwhile, the broader DeGods project is already set to be bridged from Solana to Ethereum sometime this quarter, as <\/span>announced in December<\/span><\/a>\u2014with sister project <\/span>y00ts<\/span><\/a> bridging from Solana to <\/span>Polygon<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s still happening for the rest of the project\u2019s 10,000 total NFTs, and Frank tweeted this week that \u201chaving a presence on all blockchains is important.\u201d However, these 535 specific DeGods NFTs, which were previously burned on Solana, will only live on Bitcoin via Ordinals.<\/span><\/p>\n

How they roll out remains to be seen, however. The official DeGods account <\/span>tweeted Monday<\/span><\/a> that details on how to mint the Bitcoin NFTs will be announced \u201cin the coming days.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

On Tuesday, however, Kevin told <\/span>Decrypt<\/span><\/i> that they\u2019re currently being held in private wallets, and that they\u2019re waiting for more tooling to be deployed to make Ordinals safer to handle and transact. Once that target is hit, Kevin said that they have plenty of ideas on how to launch the NFTs in an effort to \u201ccome back to our holders and support the community.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re gonna essentially sit on them,\u201d Kevin said, \u201cuntil we are comfortable that the tooling will support the proper custody of these for a reasonably sophisticated crypto connoisseur.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Stay on top of crypto news, get daily updates in your inbox.<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n