What Is a Bitcoin Ordinals Wallet?

Bitcoin Ordinals are a new craze in the crypto community, with everyone seeming to be freaking occupied with inscribing their satoshis. 

The Ordinals protocol, brought to the world by blockchain developer Casey Rodarmor in January 2023, is a monumental advancement of the Bitcoin network. Not only did it expand Bitcoin’s ecosystem and unleash the power of NFTs on Bitcoin, opening up new avenues for digital art, collectibles, and even digital property ownership on the blockchain. 

It also propelled the development of dedicated Ordinals storage systems and encouraged existing crypto wallet providers to adapt their products in a way that can satisfy the storage needs of Bitcoin NFT owners.

This guide explains the basics of Ordinals crypto wallets and provides a handful of factors to consider when you are ready to shop for one.

What Are Bitcoin Ordinals?

It’s useless to speak about Ordinals wallets if you don’t understand the meaning of Bitcoin NFTs, for which such storage services have been invented. 

Bitcoin Ordinals are a unique class of electronic assets created by attaching (or inscribing, as it is natively called) unique digital content entries to individual satoshis, the tiniest denominations of Bitcoin. By the way, each Bitcoin unit or coin consists of 100 million satoshis.

Based on the Ordinal Theory, which assigns ordinal numbers to satoshis, the Ordinals protocol enables the inscription of data, such as text, images, and videos, onto these satoshis. For example, it is possible to embed any file in formats like WEBP, JPEG, PNG, SVG, and GIF to an individual satoshi (sat), with the recommended size limit.

The Ordinal Theory is a mathematical concept that assigns ordinal numbers to the satoshis in the Bitcoin blockchain. This allows data to be inscribed onto these satoshis, enabling the creation of collectible digital artifacts.

Bitcoin’s Segregated Witness (SegWit) upgrade enabled inscriptions up to 4MB, while the Taproot update allowed for inscribing the content right within the witness section of a Bitcoin transaction. 

The inscribed satoshis, known as ordinal inscriptions or digital artifacts, represent various assets, including music, art, videos, and collectibles. They are stored directly on the Bitcoin blockchain, making them immutable, decentralized, and censorship-resistant.

Digital artifacts differ from traditional NFTs, which often rely on off-chain storage, making them susceptible to centralization and censorship. Ordinals inscriptions offer a native and tamper-proof solution for digital ownership and value storage on the Bitcoin blockchain.

Since January 2023, the Ordinals market has really taken off. There are now over 69 million digital things and tokens on the Bitcoin blockchain. This is paving new ways to own, buy, and sell digital assets, and creating value on the Bitcoin blockchain.

What Is an Ordinals Wallet?

An Ordinals wallet is a type of Bitcoin crypto wallet that supports the Ordinals protocol. These systems allow an individual to store, send, and receive Bitcoin digital artifacts, as well as to view the media file that is inscribed on each satoshi.

Ordinals wallets are also compatible with Taproot technology, which allows the wallet to interact with the Ordinals protocol. Taproot is a soft fork upgrade that improves Bitcoin’s privacy and efficiency by introducing a new type of transaction called a Schnorr signature. 

Another important attribute of Bitcoin Ordinals wallets is that they are typically non-custodial, meaning that the user holds the private keys and carries complete control over their digital artifacts. The most advanced solutions are also packed with embedded Bitcoin NFT marketplaces, so a user can easily buy, sell, and inscribe their satoshis within a single app. 

How to Choose an Ordinals Wallet? 

Since Bitcoin Ordinals wallets are a niche in the crypto industry, the availability of products might be rather limited. Finding the optimal storage solution for your Bitcoin NFT collectibles requires some research. Here are the key factors to consider when on the quest for the best Bitcoin Ordinals wallet. 

User-Friendly Interface

The whole Bitcoin Ordinals and inscription thing may look abstruse for many enthusiasts, so a good Ordinals wallet must offer a simple interface that allows users to easily view, send, and receive inscribed satoshis. An exceptional Bitcoin NFT wallet, whether a web platform or smartphone application, should prioritize user-friendliness, with all its features and functionalities being easy to find and use.

Non-Custodial Storage

Non-custodial storage also appertains to be a reliable Bitcoin Ordinals wallet. In a non-custodial wallet, the user holds the private keys that control access to their funds. These keys, presented by a string of 12 or 24 words known as a seed phrase, serve as the gateway to your digital assets. Non-custody means that the wallet provider cannot access or spend the user’s funds without their permission. 

In contrast, custodial wallets, where the user trusts a third party to hold their private keys, pose a risk of theft or misuse. For Bitcoin Ordinals collectors, non-custodial storage is crucial because it ensures that they maintain complete control over their valuable digital collectibles.

A Multitude of Useful Features

Another must-have element of a decent Ordinals wallet is the presence of multiple useful features that allow a person to easily interact with the vast Bitcoin ecosystem. The ideal system will allow:

• Ordinal viewing. The wallet should provide a clear and intuitive interface for viewing and managing Ordinals. Users should be able to easily see which Ordinals they own, as well as their metadata and transaction history.
• Ordinal transfer. The best product should allow users to transfer Ordinals to other users. This should include the ability to specify the recipient’s address, as well as the desired satoshi fee.
• Ordinal metadata. Ideally,  the wallet should allow users to view and edit the metadata associated with their Ordinals. This metadata can include information such as the Ordinal’s creator, title, and description.
• Ordinal search. With the perfect system, users can easily search for Ordinals based on their content or metadata. This can help find Ordinals that are related to specific topics or interests.
• Ordinal discovery. The wallet should also allow users to discover new Ordinals that have been created by other users. This can be done through a variety of methods, such as browsing a directory of Ordinals or following other users on social media.

Marketplace Integrations

It is a clever decision to go for an Ordinals wallet that is integrated with top Bitcoin NFT marketplaces, so you can easily trade your artifacts and expand your collections of inscribed satoshis. 

Gamma, Magic Eden, OpenOrdex, and UniSat are popular marketplace integrations to look for in the best Bitcoin Ordinals wallet. Some of these platforms even enable hassle-free satoshi inscriptions, so a wallet with such a capability will also make it easy to inscribe your Bitcoins.

Fiat On-Ramp Purchases

To get hold of Ordinals, you first need to buy Bitcoin in Australia on Changelly or a similar well-established cryptocurrency trading platform. Yet, some top-notch Ordinals wallets offer direct purchases of Bitcoin with fiat currency. This becomes possible thanks to on-ramp functionalities. The on-ramp feature acts as a bridge by connecting the crypto wallet with external fiat payment processors to execute a BTC purchase. With on-ramp functionality, a user can buy Bitcoin with their local money in-app, without resorting to external services.

Excellent Security Features

The best wallet must deliver excellent protection for your precious Bitcoin Ordinals without compromises. Seek products with features like two-factor authentication, where a second layer of verification protects your account from unauthorized access. 

Enabled biometric authentication will also add an infallible layer of security, requiring your unique fingerprint or face scan for every transaction. 

The ideal wallet should also come with time-sensitive auto-lock functions to safeguard your funds. 

Anti-phishing measures, multi-signature support, and hardware wallet integrations are also desirable capabilities of a Bitcoin Ordinals wallet.

How Are Bitcoin Ordinals Stored?

Bitcoin Ordinals store their content within the witness section of transactions. This section was implemented through the SegWit upgrade in 2017, which divided the transaction structure into parts for enhanced efficiency. While the transaction part handles sender and receiver details, the witness part is primarily used for signatures. However, Ordinals uniquely leverage this space to store their content, providing a novel approach to data storage on the Bitcoin blockchain.

What Are Worthy Bitcoin Ordinals Wallets?

Although Bitcoin NFT wallets are a hatchling industry, some services have already received high accolades from the Ordinals owners:

• Ordinals Wallet allows users to hold, store, and transact with their ordinals directly within the wallet. 
• Sparrow wallet. It is a popular Bitcoin crypto wallet that has already integrated Taproot support. It allows users to conduct basic transactions with their Ordinals, such as sending, receiving, and storing their inscribed sats.
• Xverse Wallet offers advanced support for ordinals and allows users to interact with the blockchain without running a full Bitcoin node. 
• Hiro Wallet enables secure storage, sending, and receiving of Bitcoin, as well as quick creation and storage of ordinals with captions. MetaMask can be linked to Generative XYZ for validating ordinals addresses and ensuring secure transactions. 
• OKX Wallet supports ordinals of various networks, making it convenient for users to transact and participate in the Bitcoin ecosystem.

It must be noted that Ordinals wallets are also suitable for storing regular Bitcoins. You can safely send Bitcoin to an Ordinals wallet because Ordinals are built on the Bitcoin network. In fact, you can’t buy or send Ordinals without having Bitcoin in your wallet. That’s why most Ordinals wallets support Bitcoin. You can store, send, receive, and buy Bitcoin with them.