Ordinals, a fairly new protocol that allowed digital collectibles such as NFTs to be added to the Bitcoin blockchain (rather than simply walking off Ethereum), announced on Tuesday the creation of a non-profit organization that will help fund and support the open-source development of these NFTs.
The Open Ordinals Institutea registered 501(c)(3), will collect donations in Bitcoin to kick off its mission to support the efforts of its core developers, including the recently appointed lead and anonymous administrator of the Ordinals Protocol, named “Ralf.”
The Ordinals protocol debuted in January after its programmer, Casey Rodarmor, introduced “Inscriptions” to the Bitcoin mainnet. Until now, the financial support for the Ordinals team has come primarily from Rodarmor’s personal funds, supplemented by generous contributions to the core developers.
In May, Ordinals reached 3 million subscriptions, followed by Bitcoin’s network ranking second with the highest NFT trading volume, according to CryptoSlam.
As part of Tuesday’s announcement, the team also launched the Ordinals.org platform. This site, designed to provide updates on the progress of the protocol, now offers an option for supporters to donate directly to the institute through two dedicated Bitcoin wallet addresses.
Speaking about the rationale behind the non-profit initiative, Usually, a core developer at Ordinals, stressed the importance of maintaining the integrity of the protocol. In a press statement, Ordinally stated that establishing a non-profit was the “cleanest way” to fairly compensate developers without compromising the fundamental principles of the protocol.
Erin Redwin, a board member of the Open Ordinals Institute, shared insights with CoinDesk regarding the nonprofit’s broader vision, highlighting the institute’s ambition to empower developers, amplifying the potential of Bitcoin-based NFTs.
“Given the unprecedented pace of adoption of Ordinals and the real-world implications for various crypto economies, we believe it is critical to fund a strong team of non-company-funded developers to ensure the security and neutrality of this open-source protocol. ensure,” Redwin said, adding that “[c]Companies in Web3 ecosystems – including Ethereum, Solana, Stacks and others – are rapidly building Ordinals infrastructure after previously believing that NFT functionality “wasn’t possible” on native Bitcoin.