Galaxy Digital’s research unit has forecast that the Bitcoin non-fungible token (NFT) market could reach a market capitalization of $4.5 billion by March 2025 based on the current growth rate and infrastructure of the Ethereum NFT market. This is due to the emergence of a native on-chain ecosystem for NFTs on Bitcoin, which was not possible before the launch of the Ordinals protocol at the end of January.

Bitcoin NFTs, also known as ordinals, allow users to enroll data such as images, PDFs, video, and audio into individual satoshis, each representing 0.00000001 Bitcoin (BTC). The Bitcoin NFT market has garnered significant attention since the launch of the Ordinals protocol, with NFT giants like Yuga Labs jumping into the market. On February 28, the $4 billion firm behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club announced a Bitcoin-based NFT project dubbed “TwelveFold” in recognition of the Ordinals movement.

Galaxy researchers analyzed the potential growth of Bitcoin NFTs in a new report published on March 3. The report provided three market capitalization predictions based on company analysis, covering bear, base, and bull case scenarios. The benchmark analysis predicted that if Bitcoin NFTs can expand into mainstream NFT culture such as profile pictures, memes, and utility projects, the market capitalization should rise to $4.5 billion.

The researchers also noted that the $4.5 billion projection is based on the rapid development in enrollment awareness along with the marketplace/wallet infrastructure already in place today. In a bearish scenario, Galaxy estimated that Bitcoin NFTs can still reach a market capitalization of $1.5 billion based on the current level of interest and supporting infrastructure. On the bright side of things, Galaxy researchers estimate that the Bitcoin NFT market could reach around $10 billion if it offers strong competition to Ethereum NFTs and provides unique use cases.

The report highlighted the importance and utility of Bitcoin NFTs, noting that the addition of sizable data storage with strong guarantees of availability opens up a variety of use cases, including new types of decentralized software or Bitcoin scaling techniques. Even the NFT use case alone has the potential to dramatically expand the scope of Bitcoin’s cultural impact.

As of the report’s publication, more than 250,000 Ordinals have hit the market, indicating the growing interest and adoption of Bitcoin NFT. With the emergence of a native on-chain ecosystem for Bitcoin NFTs, it will be interesting to see how the market evolves and whether it can compete with the Ethereum NFT market.