Multi-Chain NFT Platform Magic Eden Announces Expansion to Bitcoin

Multi-chain non-fungible token platform Magic Eden announced on Tuesday that it has expanded to the Bitcoin blockchain. The platform also revealed that, as a proof of support for BTC Ordinals, it is making its Partially Signed Bitcoin Transaction Infrastructure (PSBT) open source through GitHub.

Magic Eden announces its arrival on Bitcoin

Magic Eden, a popular NFT platform, announced on Tuesday that it has joined the Bitcoin blockchain. According to the announcement thread, thanks to the security and degree of decentralization of the nodes, BTC provides “the ultimate home for true digital collectibles”. The extension will enable users to access Ordinals through the regular Magic Eden interface.

Ordinals play an important role in the NFT boom so far in 2023. While they have been in the works for a long time, the author of the theory behind BTC NFTs characterizes them as discovered rather than invented. Ordinals quickly managed to make a big splash. Already in February, they led to the minting of the first non-fungible token on Litecoin, and the creators of the famous Bored Ape Yacht Club, Yuga Labs, announced their first Bitcoin collection later that month.

Magic Eden also announced that it will support developers’ efforts to make NFTs available on the blockchain of the world’s oldest cryptocurrency. The platform has created its Partially Signed Bitcoin Transactions (PSBT) infrastructure open source on GitHub. Finally, regarding royalties, which in recent months has become a hot topic in the community, Magic Eden stated that they would not yet implemented due to the current lack of suitable tools.

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Are NFTs Seeing a Resurgence in 2023?

After seeing huge popularity in 2021, non-fungible tokens were reduced significantly throughout the previous year. The fact is hardly surprising considering that the entire industry saw its market value reduced by around $2 trillion thanks to a number of factors, including record inflation and high-profile disasters such as the LUNA collapse and the shocking bankruptcy of FTX.

However, this year has already proved quite different. Thanks to a combination of factors, including the rise of Bitcoin Ordinals which saw more than 350,000 inscriptions between January and March, and the growing popularity of aggregators, NFTs are seeing a major resurgence. One of the biggest winners of the resurgence has been an aggregator called Blur that even managed to beat the long-reigning king, OpenSea, when it comes to volume soon after the token launch.

Legacy companies are also showing increasing interest in NFTs. Walmart recently applied for a series of web3 and non-fungible token-related trademarks, and Amazon reportedly plans to officially announce its own initiative sometime in April. However, the industry also saw some setbacks this year, the biggest, perhaps, being Meta’s revelation that it will stop supporting digital collectibles on its platforms.

Are you planning to trade Bitcoin NFTs now that they are available through Magic Eden? Let us know in the comments below.

About the author

Tim Fries is the co-founder of The Tokenist. He has a B. Sc. in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan, and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Tim served as a Senior Associate in the investment team at RW Baird’s US Private Equity division and is also a co-founder of Protective Technologies Capital, an investment firm specializing in sensing, protection and control solutions.