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Top global crypto exchange Binance is planning to add support for Bitcoin Ordinal inscriptions on its non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace in late May, the company said in the blog post. Over the past week or so, the number of Ordinals on the Bitcoin chain nearly doubled to 4.8 million.

Binance Will Add Support for Bitcoin Ordinals in Late May

Binance is set to add support for Bitcoin Ordinals on its NFT marketplace later this month, the company announced in a statement on Tuesday. As a result, Binance users will no longer need to use a separate wallet to trade Ordinal inscriptions, also referred to as Bitcoin NFTs.

“Binance users will also be able to purchase and trade Bitcoin NFTs directly with their Binance accounts. This integration offers even more seamless and efficient trading for Binance users.”

– Binance announced in a blog post on Tuesday.

The move comes in the wake of the rapid growth of Ordinals on the Bitcoin network. Over the past eight days, Ordinal inscriptions skyrocketed from 2.5 million to 4.78 million, marking a nearly twofold increase.

In its statement, Binance also said it would add “royalty support” for Bitcoin NFT issuers and other ways to increase their revenues. The world’s biggest crypto exchange will start supporting Ordinals in late May after adding support for Ethereum, Polygon, and BNB chains in recent years.

Ordinals Attract Mixed Responses in Bitcoin Community

Launched in January 2023, Ordinal inscriptions are digital assets inscribed on a satoshi – the lowest denomination of a Bitcoin. Residing entirely on the blockchain, Ordinals allows users to engrave texts, audio, art, or even video games into Bitcoin.

Earlier this week, the unprecedented demand for Ordinals caused a significant bottleneck on Bitcoin, with more than 450,000 unconfirmed transactions on the blockchain. Similarly, Ordinals’ growth led to a massive jump in daily Bitcoin fees of $3.5 million, the highest in two years.

While many in the crypto community have been keenly awaiting the day they could issue and trade NFTs on Bitcoin, not all have welcomed this idea. The so-called Bitcoin purists see Ordinals as a departure from the original intent of Bitcoin, which was designed to be used as a medium of exchange and a decentralized store of value. That said, Bitcoin purists believe the Ordinals have introduced elements of centralization and undermined the idea of Bitcoin being a purely digital and value-neutral currency.

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