The Bitcoin Ordinals craze continues, as perfectly evidenced by the recent “Genesis Cat” auction at Sotheby's auction house. Yes, this is the exact same house that sold NFT collections of bored monkeys. This time, the Ordinals token went under the hammer, reaching a dizzying price of 6.31 BTC.
“Genesis Cat”, the Ordinals token sold for a quarter of a million USD
Sotheby's auction house is not only one of the oldest auction houses in Great Britain. It is also a place that is known for its deep interest in NFT and Web3 tokens. Sotheby's didn't have it easy due to the situation with BAYC. Nevertheless, Sotheby's has absolutely no intention of giving up the promotion and stock sale of digital works of art. The auction of the Quantum Cat collection is a perfect confirmation of this.
The collection by the artist nicknamed FAR presents digital images of cats in a style that is a combination of abstraction and pop art. What makes the entire collection unique is the fact that all digital images have been minted on the BTC blockchain, thanks to the Ordinals protocol. The “Genesis Cat” inscription sold for a record price of 6.31 BTC, or over $254,000. During the auction, there were as many as 50 people willing to purchase the “Genesis Cat” inscription. The success of the auction organized by Sotheby's proves that interest in Bitcoin Ordinals inscriptions is constantly growing.
A collection of cats referring to the foundations of the Bitcoin network
Although the Quantum Cat collection may seem only an abstract reference to the first cryptocurrency, it turns out that the foundation of the entire project is the desire to pay tribute to the early BTC network code called OP_CAT. The ancient (from today's point of view) OP_CAT code was introduced by Satoshi in the first version of the network, but was later disabled. The Quantum Cats collection aimed to show the evolution of the BTC network. What was only a cryptographic project 15 years ago is now a global phenomenon that has strongly influenced traditional finance.
Will the increased popularity of BRC-20 tokens contribute to their more frequent sale at auction houses such as Sotheby's? There are many indications of this, because the Bitcoin Ordinals protocol (despite considerable opposition from bitcoin purists) is a way to use the oldest blockchain in a new context.
