A brand new Bitcoin nonfungible token (NFT) market goals to scale back community charges related to the arrival of Bitcoin Ordinals inscriptions by tapping into the Web Laptop Protocol (ICP).
Developed off the again of the creation of Bitcoin Ordinals in early 2023, Bioniq operates on the ICP and faucets into its native Bitcoin integration to energy the commerce of Bitcoin-based Ordinals inscriptions.
Chatting with Cointelegraph on the eve of the platform’s launch, Bioniq CEO and co-founder Bob Bodily stated the mission has been in improvement since February 2023. The group has constructed a market that includes Ordinals good contracts auctions on the ICP, a whole cross-chain pockets between Bitcoin and the ICP, in addition to an inscription device.
“It had solely been two weeks after Casey Rodarmor launched Ord 0.4.0, and I knew Ordinals have been going to be completely huge.”
The Bioniq group highlighted the expansion out there capitalization of BRC-20 tokens since their inception in Jan. 2023. The market cap now exceeds $3 billion, with over 42.6 million Ordinals minted to this point. This has instantly affected Bitcoin community congestion, resulting in a spike in Bitcoin (BTC) transaction charges final seen since 2021.
Bioniq’s platform contains a good pockets for customers to handle personal keys utilizing Web3Auth. This enables customers to log into the platform utilizing standard Web2 Google accounts whereas sustaining noncustodial management of their wallets and belongings.
The platform additionally makes use of partially signed Bitcoin transactions (PSBTs) via the ICP’s Bitcoin community integration. This unlocks good contract capabilities for Bitcoin, eradicating the necessity for customers to make use of centralized cross-chain bridges.
ICP is a “incredible Bitcoin sidechain”
Constructing on ICP additionally permits Bioniq to say transaction finality occasions beneath two seconds, in addition to zero gasoline or community charges. Its structure supplies optimized storage prices, averaging round $5 per gigabyte of information saved yearly.
Bodily added that Toniq, the studio behind Bioniq, has been growing on the ICP since Might 2021 and has in depth expertise constructing good contract wallets, marketplaces, NFT launchpads and collateralized NFT lending protocols:
“ICP is a incredible Bitcoin sidechain proper now as a result of it has fantastic Bitcoin primitives on the protocol layer.”
Bodily explains that ICP operates a Bitcoin gentle node working totally on-chain, which facilitates studying the Bitcoin blockchain by way of native good contract calls. The ICP additionally has a threshold digital signature algorithm, referred to as an Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm. The implementation permits ICP good contracts to signal layer-1 Bitcoin transactions and broadcast them to the mempool.
“These protocol primitives additionally enabled us to construct an Ordinals wrapper completely on the utility layer; we didn’t have to the touch the consensus layer of the protocol in any respect. So it is vitally quick to construct Bitcoin tech on ICP proper now,” Bodily added.
Bitcoin customers and belief assumptions
Cointelegraph additionally inquired whether or not Bioniq’s wrapping course of could possibly be a possible barrier to entry for customers. Bodily admits that whereas the method is basically automated by the Bioniq pockets and solely requires BTC, there are two concerns which might be pertinent for extra discerning customers.
“Wrapping requires a Bitcoin transaction. This implies you need to pay with a view to wrap. This can be a important barrier. A method we’re addressing the issue is by integrating open Nostr PSBT listings into Bioniq,” Bodily defined.
This integration signifies that PSBT listings saved on Nostr via decentralized Ordinals marketplaces OpenOrdex or Deezy Place shall be accessible on Bioniq. He added that it removes the necessity to wrap Bitcoin transactions, as customers might checklist instantly on Bioniq utilizing open PSBTs.
Maybe extra importantly, Bodily defined that the wrapping course of requires “belief assumptions” on each protocols:
“Wrapping over to ICP means along with trusting Bitcoin, you are actually trusting the Web Laptop Protocol. Some Bitcoin customers gained’t need the counterparty threat of bridging belongings to a different chain.”
Bodily provides that Bioniq is specializing in growing consumer expertise forward of inheriting Bitcoin’s safety, which is ensured by the finality of layer-1 transactions. Nevertheless, he envisions a “good decentralization path” for functions like Bioniq.
This could contain the evolution from being constructed on a sidechain with extra belief assumptions to “changing into a Bitcoin sovereign rollup on ICP that’s belief minimized.” The ultimate step would see Bioniq changing into a Bitcoin zero-knowledge rollup (ZK-rollup) on the ICP with no extra belief assumptions, inheriting the complete safety and decentralization of Bitcoin.
“ICP matches completely into this plan as nicely as a result of ICP can present a replicated execution setting (decentralized sequencer) or validium (additional off-Bitcoin storage for rollups).”
Banking on Bitcoin’s worth proposition
A lot of NFT marketplaces already supply Bitcoin Ordinals auctions and buying and selling, which begs the query of what an solely Ordinals platform will deliver to the ecosystem.
Bodily believes that present choices that featured “softer pivots” to Ordinals on their platforms have been hamstrung by complicated consumer experiences. Creating a “devoted Bitcoin Ordinals market, constructed for Bitcoin customers natively” hinges on growing a local cross-chain, BTC-ICP pockets.
As well as, Bitcoin’s unchallenged place because the preeminent and largest cryptocurrency by market cap stays one other drawcard for the continued curiosity in Bitcoin NFTs into the longer term.
“For those who take a look at the numbers, 89% of individuals on this planet have heard about Bitcoin, Bitcoin accounts for round 50% of the overall crypto market cap, and Ordinals have achieved over $500 million in quantity this yr — so there’s huge demand.”
Bioniq joins the likes of Ordinals Market as a Bitcoin-only Ordinals market. Gamma is one other Ordinals market that instantly mints to Bitcoin’s layer-1 chain. Ordswap was an early Ordinals market that has since closed down after shedding management of its web site to hackers. In the meantime, multichain platforms like Magic Eden prominently checklist Bitcoin Ordinals NFTs.
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