BAYC Owner Ditches Ethereum for Bitcoin

Ethereum might be the king when it comes to NFTs, but its reign seems under threat from an unlikely source. A few months ago, NFTs on the Bitcoin network were barely even a thing. However, since the launch of Ordinals, a project that allows individuals to inscribe/mint NFTs directly on Satoshis, things have become very interesting.

Lack of smart contracts and growing criticism from Bitcoin maximalists haven’t stopped the Ordinals project from picking up. Three weeks after launch, the number of inscriptions is fast approaching 100,000. One of these is a valuable Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) #1626, which belongs to Jason Williams. It was bought for 108 ETH in November 2021, or $432,000 at the time.

Over the weekend, Williams decided to burn his BAYC NFT and inscribe (mint) it on Bitcoin using TeleBurn. It’s a newly developed feature that allows users to assign an existing asset from another network to Bitcoin while taking it out of circulation, thus transferring it between chains. Williams compares the act to “throwing a Lamborghini into a trash compactor,” which is “kind of fun.”

BAYC NFT Burn Has Raised Some Eyebrows

However, the burn has attracted some criticism within the BAYC community, with some wondering if the NFT has indeed moved from Ethereum to Bitcoin. According to Greg Solano, Yuga Labs cofounder, by choosing to burn the NFT, Williams lost its license, consequently creating an illegitimate ape.

It’s not “gone from ETH forever.” It’s basically the same as any other transfer: If you transfer your ape to an address you no longer control (even if it’s the ‘burn’ address), you have effectively given up your license.
And no, before someone asks, that doesn’t mean that anyone… https://t.co/E52b7ZjWbu

— Garga.eth (Greg Solano) (@CryptoGarga) February 13, 2023

If creating an illegitimate ape devalues the NFT, then others beg to differ. Given that NFTs such as BAYC’s derive value from being unique and rare, this being the first to be minted on Bitcoin places it in a class by itself.

Alex Miller, the CEO of the Web3 development platform, believes this makes the NFT more valuable.

“He basically turned it into something that is now an ultra-rare [Ape]. The market is going to value it as its own unique piece of art.”

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*All investment/financial opinions expressed by NFT Plazas are from the personal research and experience of our site moderators and are intended as educational material only. Individuals are required to fully research any product prior to making any kind of investment.