Galaxy Digital’s research unit has predicted that the Bitcoin nonfungible token (NFT) market could reach a $4.5 billion market cap by March 2025 based on the current growth rate and infrastructure of Ethereum’s NFT market. This is due to the emergence of a native on-chain ecosystem for NFTs on Bitcoin, which was not possible before the launch of the Ordinals protocol in late January.
Bitcoin NFTs, also known as Ordinals, allow users to inscribe data such as images, PDFs, video, and audio onto individual satoshis, each representing 0.00000001 Bitcoin (BTC). The market for Bitcoin NFTs has attracted significant attention since the launch of the Ordinals protocol, with NFT giants such as Yuga Labs jumping in on the hype. On February 28, the $4 billion firm behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club announced a Bitcoin-based NFT project dubbed “TwelveFold” in recognition of the Ordinals movement.
Galaxy researchers analyzed the potential growth of Bitcoin NFTs in a new report published on March 3. The report provided three market cap predictions based on the firm’s analysis, covering bear, base, and bull case scenarios. The baseline analysis predicted that if Bitcoin NFTs can expand to mainstream NFT culture like profile pictures, memes, and utility projects, the market capitalization should increase to $4.5 billion.
The researchers also noted that the projection of $4.5 billion is based on the rapid development in inscription awareness coupled with the marketplace/wallet infrastructure already out today. In a bear case scenario, Galaxy estimated that Bitcoin NFTs can still reach a market cap of $1.5 billion based on the current level of interest and supporting infrastructure. On the bullish side of things, Galaxy researchers estimate that the Bitcoin NFT market could reach around $10 billion if it provides strong competition to Ethereum NFTs while providing unique use cases.
The report highlighted the significance and utility of Bitcoin NFTs, noting that the addition of sizable data storage with strong availability assurances opens up a variety of use cases, including new types of decentralized software or Bitcoin scaling techniques. Even the NFT use case alone has the potential to dramatically widen the scope of Bitcoin’s cultural impact.
As of the report’s publication, more than 250,000 Ordinals have hit the market, indicating the growing interest and adoption of Bitcoin NFTs. With the emergence of a native on-chain ecosystem for NFTs on Bitcoin, it will be interesting to see how the market evolves and whether it can compete with Ethereum’s NFT market.
