Binance has announced the cessation of support for Bitcoin for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on its marketplace, just a few months after their introduction. In a blog post on April 4, Binance revealed its decision to streamline product offerings on the Binance NFT marketplace, leading to the discontinuation of trades and deposits of Bitcoin Ordinals effective April 18.
Users are advised to withdraw their Bitcoin NFTs from the Binance NFT Marketplace via the Bitcoin network before May 18, 2024. Furthermore, the benefits and utilities related to Bitcoin NFTs, including airdrops, will cease after April 10, 2024.
Bitcoin Ordinals, also known as Bitcoin NFTs, enable the inscription of digital content like art, text, or video directly onto the Bitcoin blockchain. While data embedding has been possible within the Bitcoin protocol, the popularity of Ordinals surged with their introduction in late 2022. Developed by Casey Rodarmor, this protocol allows unique digital arts to be embedded into Bitcoin transactions, akin to Ethereum’s nonfungible tokens (NFTs).
Binance highlighted that users of Runestone NFT who meet airdrop conditions should withdraw their tokens by April 10 to ensure eligibility for associated tokens, utilities, and benefits.
This decision surprised the community as Binance had added support for Bitcoin NFTs just a year ago in May 2023, aiming to expand its ecosystem to the Bitcoin network and offer more opportunities to collectors.
The significant volume of NFT transactions has intermittently congested the Bitcoin network since its inception, leading to increased fees and slower processing times due to the validation of numerous transactions on-chain. Data from Dune Analytics shows over 64 million inscriptions on the network to date, generating more than $423 million in transaction fees.