What Are Bitcoin Ordinals? A Beginner’s Guide to Ordinal Inscriptions
May 9, 2025
Ordinals have emerged as one of the most popular Bitcoin-native assets, with millions of dollars of “Bitcoin NFTs” exchanging hands every day.
Unlike their NFT counterparts on chains like Ethereum or Solana, Ordinals are created on-chain by inscribing data onto individual satoshis to make true digital artifacts that can live on the blockchain forever.
Read on to learn about Bitcoin Ordinals, including how they are created, where you can buy them, and how you can use them as collateral to borrow bitcoin on Liquidium.
What Are Bitcoin Ordinals?
Ordinals provide a way of inscribing data onto individual satoshis to create unique digital assets directly on the Bitcoin blockchain.
Each satoshi has a unique number based on the order in which it was mined. Inscribing data, such as pictures, videos, and memes, transforms the individual satoshis into NFT-like unique assets that can be transferred and traded on-chain.
That has created a thriving market for Bitcoin NFTs and opened up new opportunities for BTCFi.
What is Ordinal Theory?
The Ordinal Theory refers to the way satoshis are assigned numbers according to the order in which they were mined.
This concept was first described in the Ordinal Theory Handbook, written and published by developer Casey Rodarmor, who also launched the Ordinals Protocol itself.
In the handbook, Rodarmor argues that satoshis are the “atomic, native currency of the Bitcoin network,” as one bitcoin can be subdivided into 100 million satoshis, but no further. He goes on to explain that, “Ordinal theory imbues satoshis with numismatic value, allowing them to be collected and traded as curios.”
Inscribing on Bitcoin: How Are Bitcoin Ordinals Created?
To inscribe on Bitcoin, you need to attach data to a sat. This data is embedded within a standard Bitcoin transaction.
Ordinals marketplaces or inscription apps will let you do this in a very user-friendly way, by clicking the type of inscription you want (text, image, etc.) and then adding it from their interface, with no technical knowledge required.
After that, the sat with your inscription needs to pass the usual validation phase on the Bitcoin network. Here, miners confirm the transaction and broadcast it, adding it to the blockchain.
The transaction data will track everything, from the sender, the attached data, to the amount being transacted, for future verifiability.
What’s the Difference Between Ordinals and Traditional NFTs?
While Ordinals are considered “Bitcoin NFTs” in the broader Bitcoin community, there are a number of key differences between the two. In this table, we’ll list the biggest ones.
Benefits and Drawbacks of Ordinals
Ordinals come with their own set of pros and cons that can influence the way people interact with them.
Pros
Security: Ordinals have all the properties of Bitcoin, including the security of the network’s PoW consensus algorithm.
Immutability: Once an Ordinal launches, there’s no changing it, making it immutable.
Originality: Ordinals are the first NFT-like asset on the Bitcoin blockchain, making them different from anything previously seen.
New Bitcoin DeFi opportunities: With the launch of Ordinals, Bitcoin HODLers can now earn yield on BTC by using Ordinals as lending collateral on Liquidium.
Cons
Transaction fees: The fees associated with Ordinals transactions are usually higher due to their size, which could make them harder to get in times of network congestion.
Blockchain bloat: With their on-chain storage, Ordinals often take up more space than traditional transactions.
Top Ordinals Collections on Liquidium
A handful of Ordinals collections have emerged as favorites among collectors, from wizards and puppets to cats and runestones; there’s something for everyone in the Ordinals space!
Fun fact: you can also use inscriptions from all of these Ordinals collections as collateral to borrow bitcoin on the Liquidium lending app. Let’s take a look at the top Ordinals collections available on the platform.
Taproot Wizards
Source: bestinslot.xyz
Taproot Wizards are the offspring of one of the most popular and long-lived Bitcoin memes in history: the Bitcoin wizard made in Paint MS by Reddit user Mavensbot. Following its posting in 2013, the cartoonish picture quickly became one of the most influential images in the Bitcoin meme ecosystem.
Taproot Wizards is a collection of 2,108 unique JPEGs of similarly looking wizards. While Taproot Wizard #0001 looks pretty similar to the original meme, with a few minor tweaks, the others are visibly different and unique.
On Liquidium, Taproot Wizards are accepted by a number of lenders as collateral for a BTC loan.
Ordinal Maxi Biz
Source: bestinslot.xyz
Ordinal Maxi Biz is another leading Ordinals collection, made up of 5,141 Profile Picture (PFP) images. Every single one of these images was drawn by hand, and their attributes, most notably eye color, depend on the block on which it was inscribed.
This is a large part of their popularity: for example, green-eyed PFPs were inscribed on block 9, mined by Satoshi Nakamoto, while blue-eyed landed on block 78, mined by another Bitcoin legend, Hal Finney. These sats were found by digital artist and coder Nullish, who was one of the first people to become a so-called rare sats, or unique satoshis, hunter.
Lenders on Liquidium can accept any OMB as collateral, or they can choose a specific color – blue, green, red, black, and orange are the options. You’ll see the accepted color as a circle next to the name of the collection.
Bitcoin Puppets
Source: bestinslot.xyz
Bitcoin Puppets is a collection of 10,001 hand-drawn MS Paint monkeys doing different things – some edgier than others – founded by Le Puppeteer Fou (a.k.a. L.P. Fou), while the design is attributed to a 12-year-old creator. Also known as The Puppetmaster, L.P. Fou has previously created other NFT collections, including Ord Puppet Inu Undoxxed Millionaires (O.P.I.U.M.), the inspiration behind the Puppets.
With its hand-drawn images and whimsical design, the project leans into absurdity as one of its core tenets, supported by its community. They are humorous and represent a refusal to take anything too seriously – a sentiment that was quickly accepted through social media.
You can find different lending offers accepting Bitcoin Puppets as collateral on Liquidium’s Borrow page.
NodeMonkes
Source: bestinslot.xyz
Moving away from hand-drawn art into heavily pixellated territory, NodeMonkes are a collection of 10,000 unique images made up of blocks, designed to look like pixels and squashed together to resemble different characters, like monkeys and ducks.
Some of the inscriptions reference other NFTs from beyond the Bitcoin space, including CryptoPunks aliens, which are rare and desirable parts of that collection.
NodeMonkes are also pretty popular on Liquidium, where there are currently a large number of active loans using the Ordinals as collateral, as well as active offers for prospective borrowers.
Quantum Cats
Source: bestinslot.xyz
Cats are the very foundation of the Internet, quantum is (apparently) the future of technology, and Quantum Cats are a collection of 3,333 images. They’re a tribute to the OP_CAT function, a part of Bitcoin’s original code written and released by Satoshi Nakamoto, but disabled in 2010.
The team that launched Quantum Cats is Taproot Wizards, also the founders of the eponymous Ordinals collection. They say that the cats will evolve in stages, following the progress of the OP_CAT code, which is proposed to be reactivated.
On Liquidium, you can borrow BTC using your NFT kitties as collateral, or lend BTC and potentially accept the cats if the loan defaults.
Runestone
Source: bestinslot.xyz
Runestones are a collection of 112,383 inscriptions that were created and airdropped to reward the very first Ordinals adopters. It was a pre-Runes project designed to usher in these tokens before the Runes Protocol launched.
In this sense, Runestones are a bridge between Ordinals and Runes, two of the major Bitcoin-based protocols aiming to expand the ecosystem.
You can find Runestones in the Ordinals list on the Liquidium app.
Where & How to Buy an Ordinals Inscription, Step by Step
Buying Ordinals works essentially in the same way as buying an NFT on different L1 chains. Here are the steps:
Choose Ordinals Wallet
There are several Ordinals wallets available, including Xverse, Magic Eden, and Phantom, for you to choose from. Each of them has its own pros and cons, so you should choose according to your own preferences and circumstances.
Access an Ordinals Marketplace
Once you have a Bitcoin wallet that supports Ordinals, you need to access a marketplace where the assets are traded. Some of the best-known marketplaces that support Bitcoin Ordinals include Magic Eden, OKX, and Gamma.
Select an Ordinal inscription
Choose the inscriptions you want to buy. Popular collections include Taproot Wizards, OMB, Quantum Cats, Bitcoin Puppets, and Runestones.
Make the Purchase
When you click on the inscription you want, you’ll be able to see its attributes, how common they are, and what price the seller wants for it. You can match the price and immediately buy the token, or make an offer and wait for the seller to accept it.
And that’s it! Once the transaction settles, you’ll be the proud owner of an Ordinal inscription.
How to Use Ordinals to Borrow Bitcoin
It takes several simple steps for you to borrow BTC against your Ordinals on Liquidium. Here's how you can do it.
1. Find your collateral
Once you've connected your wallet to the Liquidium app and hit that 'Borrow' link on the top left corner of the page, find the Ordinals collection you own and want to borrow against by browsing the list or using the 'Search' field.
2. Check loan offers
After you've found your collateral, check the existing loan offers by clicking 'Offers' next to the collection name, or click 'Borrow,' which will suggest a specific offer, while also allowing you to check what else is in the market for you.
3. Choose the best offer for you
From the list of active offers, pick the one that suits your needs best. You can browse the 7, 16, or 30-day loans, and compare them by principal, LTV, and 'Rating', which simply means the lender’s acceptance rate.
Alternatively, you can set your own terms by clicking 'Create Offer' in the offers page, and hope some BTC lenders will find it attractive.
4. Check interest and choose transaction speed
After you've located what you need, click 'Action,' which will take you to the specific loan's page where you'll also find information on the interest you'll need to pay, and how much you'll need to repay should you accept the offer.
Before confirming the loan, choose your transaction speed by selecting a fee rate – the higher the fee, the faster BTC lands in your wallet.
5. Confirm the loan and wait for approval
Next, confirm the loan in your wallet and wait for the approval to start the loan term, which you can always check in your 'Portfolio' page under the 'Borrowing' option.
Once the lender accepts your request, you’ll get BTC in your wallet, and your loan term begins. If you fail to repay the loan in the agreed period, you lose your collateral.
Use Your Ordinals as Lending Collateral to Borrow Bitcoin
If you’re an Ordinals holder and you want to access bitcoin, but don’t want to sell your assets, you can go on Liquidium and use your inscription as collateral to receive a bitcoin loan.
Repaying the debt unlocks your Ordinals again, and you get them back. It’s a great way to put your idle Ordinals to use without selling them.
Connect your wallet to Liquidium to start borrowing bitcoin using Ordinals as collateral.
Disclaimer: This article does not constitute financial advice, and we strongly recommend conducting your own research and consulting with a professional financial advisor before making any investment decisions. We are not liable for any potential losses incurred from applying the strategies discussed. Proceed with caution and at your own risk.
FAQ
Who created the Bitcoin Ordinals protocol?
The creator of the Bitcoin Ordinals protocol is developer Casey Rodarmor, who launched it in January 2023. He also later created the Runes Protocol. He wrote The Ordinal Theory Handbook, which describes and explains in detail how the protocol works.
Where can you buy Bitcoin Ordinals?
You can buy Bitcoin Ordinals on marketplaces such as OKX, Magic Eden, Unisat, and Gamma. Some marketplaces have only Ordinals or Bitcoin-based assets, while others are multi-chain platforms with various other assets available for sale.
What distinguishes BRC-20 tokens from Bitcoin Ordinals?
Both BRC-20 and Ordinals rely on satoshis and their order in the creation process. BRC-20 is an experimental token standard that serves to create fungible tokens, while Ordinals are used to create non-fungible tokens.
What platform is Bitcoin Ordinals on?
Bitcoin Ordinals are based solely on Bitcoin. They don’t need a Layer 2 or sidechain solution to exist and be used. The assets, however, can be purchased on different platforms and marketplaces.
How much are Bitcoin ordinals worth?
The worth of each Bitcoin Ordinal is dependent upon its rarity and supply and demand for the individual inscription or collection. Some can go for as little as a few sats, while others are sold for thousands of dollars.
How much does it cost to create a Bitcoin ordinal?
The cost of creating an Ordinal depends on the current price of bitcoin and the size of the inscription you want. Text-based inscriptions will set you back as little as $10, while images and larger file sizes can go to hundreds.
Why Are Bitcoin Ordinals Gaining Popularity?
Bitcoin Ordinals are gaining popularity because they’re the first and currently only real way to create Bitcoin-based NFTs that are completely on-chain and not reliant on any outside solutions. They bring new utility into the ecosystem without changing anything about the core of Bitcoin.
How Many Bitcoin Ordinals Are There?
Since their launch in January 2023, there have been countless Ordinals created, so the total number is very hard to estimate. Theoretically, there can be quadrillions of Ordinals, considering each bitcoin has 100 million sats. In practice, at the time of writing (April 2025), Dune.com estimated the total number of inscriptions to be around 85 million.