Bitcoin NFT marketplace Bioniq eyes lofty goal of alleviating network congestion

A brand new Bitcoin nonfungible token (NFT) market goals to cut back community charges related to the arrival of Bitcoin Ordinals inscriptions by tapping into the Web Laptop Protocol (ICP).

Developed off the again of the creation of Bitcoin Ordinals in early 2023, Bioniq operates on the ICP and faucets into its native Bitcoin integration to energy the commerce of Bitcoin-based Ordinals inscriptions.

Talking to Cointelegraph on the eve of the platform’s launch, Bioniq CEO and co-founder Bob Bodily mentioned the mission has been in improvement since February 2023. The group has constructed a market that includes Ordinals good contracts auctions on the ICP, an entire cross-chain pockets between Bitcoin and the ICP, in addition to an inscription instrument.

“It had solely been two weeks after Casey Rodarmor launched Ord 0.4.0, and I knew Ordinals had been going to be completely huge.”

The Bioniq group highlighted the expansion available in the market capitalization of BRC-20 tokens since their inception in Jan. 2023. The market cap now exceeds $3 billion, with over 42.6 million Ordinals minted so far. This has straight affected Bitcoin community congestion, resulting in a spike in Bitcoin (BTC) transaction charges final seen since 2021.

Bitcoin transaction charges confirmed vital spikes in 2023 following the arrival of Bitcoin Ordinals and BRC-20 tokens. Supply: Blockchain.com

Bioniq’s platform contains a good pockets for customers to handle non-public keys utilizing Web3Auth. This permits customers to log into the platform utilizing typical Web2 Google accounts whereas sustaining noncustodial management of their wallets and property.

The platform additionally makes use of partially signed Bitcoin transactions (PSBTs) by way of the ICP’s Bitcoin community integration. This unlocks good contract capabilities for Bitcoin, eradicating the necessity for customers to make use of centralized cross-chain bridges.

ICP is a “incredible Bitcoin sidechain”

Constructing on ICP additionally permits Bioniq to say transaction finality instances beneath two seconds, in addition to zero fuel or community charges. Its structure gives optimized storage prices, averaging round $5 per gigabyte of knowledge saved yearly.

Bodily added that Toniq, the studio behind Bioniq, has been growing on the ICP since Could 2021 and has in depth expertise constructing good contract wallets, marketplaces, NFT launchpads and collateralized NFT lending protocols:

“ICP is a incredible Bitcoin sidechain proper now as a result of it has great Bitcoin primitives on the protocol layer.”

Bodily explains that ICP operates a Bitcoin gentle node operating totally on-chain, which facilitates studying the Bitcoin blockchain by way of native good contract calls. The ICP additionally has a threshold digital signature algorithm, often called an Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm. The implementation permits ICP good contracts to signal layer-1 Bitcoin transactions and broadcast them to the mempool.

“These protocol primitives additionally enabled us to construct an Ordinals wrapper completely on the utility layer; we didn’t have to the touch the consensus layer of the protocol in any respect. So it is extremely quick to construct Bitcoin tech on ICP proper now,” Bodily added.

Bitcoin customers and belief assumptions

Cointelegraph additionally inquired whether or not Bioniq’s wrapping course of could possibly be a possible barrier to entry for customers. Bodily admits that whereas the method is essentially automated by the Bioniq pockets and solely requires BTC, there are two concerns which are pertinent for extra discerning customers.

“Wrapping requires a Bitcoin transaction. This implies it’s important to pay with a view to wrap. It is a vital barrier. A technique we’re addressing the issue is by integrating open Nostr PSBT listings into Bioniq,” Bodily defined.

This integration implies that PSBT listings saved on Nostr by way of decentralized Ordinals marketplaces OpenOrdex or Deezy Place can be accessible on Bioniq. He added that it removes the necessity to wrap Bitcoin transactions, as customers may listing straight on Bioniq utilizing open PSBTs.

Maybe extra importantly, Bodily defined that the wrapping course of requires “belief assumptions” on each protocols:

“Wrapping over to ICP means along with trusting Bitcoin, you at the moment are trusting the Web Laptop Protocol. Some Bitcoin customers gained’t need the counterparty threat of bridging property to a different chain.”

Bodily provides that Bioniq is specializing in growing person expertise forward of inheriting Bitcoin’s safety, which is ensured by the finality of layer-1 transactions. Nonetheless, he envisions a “good decentralization path” for purposes like Bioniq.

This may contain the evolution from being constructed on a sidechain with further belief assumptions to “turning into a Bitcoin sovereign rollup on ICP that’s belief minimized.” The ultimate step would see Bioniq turning into a Bitcoin zero-knowledge rollup (ZK-rollup) on the ICP with no further belief assumptions, inheriting the total safety and decentralization of Bitcoin.

“ICP suits completely into this plan as properly as a result of ICP can present a replicated execution setting (decentralized sequencer) or validium (further off-Bitcoin storage for rollups).”

Banking on Bitcoin’s worth proposition

Quite a few NFT marketplaces already supply Bitcoin Ordinals auctions and buying and selling, which begs the query of what an solely Ordinals platform will convey to the ecosystem.

Bodily believes that current choices that featured “softer pivots” to Ordinals on their platforms had been hamstrung by complicated person experiences. Growing a “devoted Bitcoin Ordinals market, constructed for Bitcoin customers natively” hinges on growing a local cross-chain, BTC-ICP pockets.

As well as, Bitcoin’s unchallenged place because the preeminent and largest cryptocurrency by market cap stays one other drawcard for the continued curiosity in Bitcoin NFTs into the long run.

“Should you have a look at the numbers, 89% of individuals on this planet have heard about Bitcoin, Bitcoin accounts for round 50% of the entire crypto market cap, and Ordinals have carried out over $500 million in quantity this yr — so there’s huge demand.”

Bioniq joins the likes of Ordinals Market as a Bitcoin-only Ordinals market. Gamma is one other Ordinals market that straight mints to Bitcoin’s layer-1 chain. Ordswap was an early Ordinals market that has since closed down after dropping management of its web site to hackers. In the meantime, multichain platforms like Magic Eden prominently listing Bitcoin Ordinals NFTs.

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