Bitcoin NFT NodeMonkes Sells for $1M as BTC Inches Toward $69K

Digital pictures of pixellated comic monkeys on the Bitcoin blockchain became the most-traded Ordinals collection in the past 24 hours as a bitcoin (BTC) rally shows no signs of slowing.

Called NodeMonkes, the collection crossed over $11 million in sales volumes, Cryptoslam data shows, setting an all-time high on Monday. The project went live in December 2023 at an initial listing price of nearly $9,000.

The collection claims to be the first 10,000-count profile picture collection on Ordinals, a way to inscribe text, data and art on individual fragments of bitcoin.

While NodeMonkes launched in December 2023, the actual artwork was imprinted on Bitcoin in February last year, before other early collections such as Bitcoin Frogs and Space Pepes. Such an aspect gives the collection a sense of exclusivity and rarity in the eyes of investors.

One such “monke” sold for over $1 million worth of bitcoin earlier Monday. The floor price – or the minimum price of a certain piece – is at least $52,000, while owners of monkes deemed to be rarer have set a listing price of as high as $65 million.

As such, Bitcoin-based collections traded the most volumes in the past 24 hours at $35 million compared to the usual leader, Ethereum (at $22 million) – indicating a surge in demand for Bitcoin-based assets.

Some observers expect such Ordinals activity to continue in March.

“Ordinal inscriptions have been heating up immensely and should be a major focal point of March,” shared Mark Wilson, a representative at meme coin project Dogelon Mars, in a Telegram message. “The Runes protocol will also be highly anticipated as we approach April and the halving.”

Bitcoin crossed the $65,000 mark earlier Monday, adding nearly 5.4% in the past 24 hours. The CD20, a broad-based liquid index of various tokens, jumped nearly 5.8%.