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Bitcoin NFTs have been popular among Bitcoiners, but it seems investors are also noticing the growth potential around them. Kostenlose Bilder mit KI/flickr

KEY POINTS

  • Franklin Templeton said positive momentum in innovation is 'primarily driven' by BTC Ordinals
  • It also noted that activity around the Bitcoin NFT space has accelerated in recent months
  • The prospectus' timing comes as Bitcoin nears it halving event where historically, prices spiked

Investment giant Franklin Templeton on Wednesday recognized the contributions of Bitcoin Ordinals or BTC non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in driving activity around the world's first decentralized cryptocurrency.

The global investment firm noted in a new prospectus that the BTC Ordinal collections are "starting to dominate" the global NFT market in terms of market capitalization and volume.

"In the past year, Bitcoin innovation and development has seen a renaissance in activity. Positive momentum in innovation is primarily driven through Bitcoin NFTs, known as Ordinals, new fungible token standards such as BRC-20 and Runes, Bitcoin Layer 2s, and other Bitcoin DeFi (decentralized finance) primitives," the San Mateo-based multinational holding company wrote.

It noted that Bitcoin Ordinals were "never very successful until recently." In the past few months, though, activity has started accelerating within the Bitcoin NFT space, the company said.

Bitcoin enthusiasts on X (formerly Twitter) were quick to celebrate Franklin Templeton's recognition of BTC Ordinals under the investment behemoth's post. "Perfect timing! Let's keep innovating on Bitcoin!" said Yala, a project enabling Bitcoin liquidity transfers through a meta yield stablecoin. The "timing" Yala was referring to could be BTC's recent bull run and the upcoming halving event that only takes place every four years.

Bitcoin Ordinals "are here to stay and PAVE the way," one user said. Another noted that readers of the prospectus "would be wise to take this explosive growth seriously."

Franklin Templeton's analysis of Bitcoin Ordinals comes at a crucial period for the world's largest cryptocurrency by market cap. The halving event, which will cut BTC miners' rewards in half and reduce the rate at which new Bitcoin is circulated in the market, will take place later this month.

Bitcoin has since fallen from its new all-time high last month at $73,000, but its three-month bull run has kept Bitcoiners optimistic. While crypto doubters are confident the digital coin's price will slump further after the halving, others are optimistic that prices could skyrocket, at least based on the history of BTC prices post-halving.

As Bitcoin continues to gain traction worldwide, doubts about the digital currency's potential remain. Chief among non-believers is another investment banking giant: Goldman Sachs.

Sharmin Mossavar-Rahmani, Goldman Sachs' chief investment officer of wealth management, recently said the investment banking company still doesn't see value in Bitcoin and Goldman clients are disinterested in getting exposed to the crypto.

She also noted that Goldman still does not see BTC or digital assets "as an investment asset class." She dropped a question for debate among investors: "If you cannot assign a value, then how can you be bullish or bearish?"

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