Ordinal Punk’s NFTs Called “Sketchy”

Anonymous Twitter account The Norwegian expressed concern about Ordinal Punk’s NFTs, asking: “[is this] tthe biggest NFT scam of all time?”

On the 9th of February CryptoSlate reported on the growing popularity of Ordinal Punks, covering the sale of three NFTs according to social media posts, including #94, which reportedly sold for 9.5 Bitcoins ($215,800).

The novelty of NFTs on the Bitcoin chain and the provenance of the chain seems to be driving the demand for these NFTs. However, some question the legitimacy of the collection.

What are the concerns with Ordinal Punks?

Given that the Bitcoin chain was not originally designed to accommodate NFT functionality, there is no infrastructure to verify information such as sales or even to accommodate sales in a click-and-buy process.

Details of Ordinal Punks are limited to people’s accounts of what happened rather than openly available data gleaned from on-chain information.

Referring to the director of research at PROOF Collective, who obtained this information from a “Google document” TheNorweigan said Ordinal Punks has a current price floor of 55.4 ETH ($85,500). He added that this is the ballpark figure for a blue chip NFT collection, but then questioned whether Ordinal Punks is worthy of being classified as blue chip.

In support of this point, TheNorweigan pointed out the following, which leads him to believe that they are “sketchy”:

• Everything happens OTC
• There is a lot of fraud
• There is little to no transparency
• You must run a Bitcoin node to mint
• Extreme information asymmetry

The demand for Bitcoin NFTs is going crazy

@seanbonner tweeted that Bitcoin Punks, a clone of Ethereum’s CryptoPunks, is taking off right now.

Bitcoin Punks suffer from the same disadvantages as Ordinal Punks due to using the same inappropriate, undeveloped NFT infrastructure on Bitcoin.

Nevertheless, according to @seanbonner, despite the lack of smart contracts and the “square stick, round hole” approach, people are going crazy in Discord trying to get a Bitcoin Punk. He advised against falling for FOMO because of the following:

“A. There is no market so you have to rely on trust and scammers are everywhere B. Fomo is crazy and people ask stupid prices C. Receiving is hard, transferring is harder. Again, this is not like eth in that way we are all used to.”

Bonner also pointed out that Bitcoin Punks are not “official”, adding that they are just a copy of cryptopunks on any chain. The same can be said of Ordinal Punks, who The Norwegian pointed out are almost identical to Ethereum’s MutantPunks.

“I think Bitcoin NFTs can be good for the space and bring new people into it. What I am bearish on, however, are orchestrated hypes, and influencers who sell you stones dressed in gold.“

What’s happening on Ordinal Punk’s Discord?

When accessing the Ordinal Punks Discord, the buying and selling activity is not as “crazy” as described by Bonner in the Bitcoin Punks Discord, perhaps because there are only 100 of the former versus 10,000 of the latter.

However, the general channel is very active and seems to be a place to discuss Bitcoin NFTs, not just Ordinal Punks. While browsing, a Google Doc on Bitcoin NFTs was discovered. It showed 43 NFT projects with Discord links and information such as offers and notes for potential buyers.

According to admin FlowStay, the 17th Ordinal Punks were still available for purchase as of the evening of February 9th.

A review of sales also shows that Ordinal Punks changed hands for much less in the early days. The first sale took place on February 2, when #69 was sold for 0.07 BTC. Scrolling down into the present shows a steady increase in price over time.

The sale of #94 was confirmed at 9.5 BTC and was the most expensive recorded in the channel.