Today, NFT based on the Ordinals protocol in the Bitcoin network is very popular. Trading volumes with them in the last 24 hours are equivalent to $2.2 million, which puts BTC in second place in the corresponding blockchain ranking.

That said, the unique NFT token industry as a whole is not in great shape. As IntoTheBlock analysts point out, the total number of NFT holders is approaching the 7.5 million address mark. While the number of new blockchain addresses that acquire NFTs for the first time is now at its lowest since June 2021.

At the same time, trading volumes with NFT have reached their lowest since 2021. In the last year, this figure has fallen by 80 percent.

First trade for bitcoins

The discovery was shared by developer and well-known Bitcoin community representative Udi Wertheimer. He posted a screenshot of a Bitcointalk forum post from January 2010. In it, a user nicknamed Sabunir offers to sell an image he created in JPEG format for 500 BTC, or approximately $1 at the time. In addition, Sabunir left his wallet address for those willing to conduct the transaction.

It's worth noting that the user was initially going to respond to the transaction with 0 BTC, which would be a link to download the purchased image in full quality. However, it didn't come to that in the end. Well, the assumption itself clearly illustrates how early this stage of cryptocurrency development was.


This thread was published on the forum four months before famous sale of two pizzas for 10 thousand BTC. It’s worth noting here that this day has already become a traditional holiday for cryptocurrency fans.

And the current opening has no bearing on the importance of pizza day for bitcoins. After all, pizza is a real product that can be eaten. Well, the JPEG picture is somehow data for PCs and other devices, not something suitable for everyday use.

According to Cointelegraph’s sources, an anonymous Bitcoin creator himself under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto offered to help clarify the transaction in the thread.

Here is the relevant quote, in which the developer explained the technical features of the BTC network. He did so in response to a question about whether a text note could be added to a transaction. In this case, the seller of the picture would be able to provide the address to download it in the blank transfer we discussed above.

Sending to a Bitcoin address adds the transaction to the network, well the recipient learns about it from the network. You don’t connect to the recipients directly, and they don’t have to be online at the time of the transaction.

I’ve been actively trying to find a way to include a short message, but the problem is that the whole world can see it. No matter how much you remind people that such a message won’t be private, it will end up being a disaster that happens sooner or later.

The event is worthy of a landmark – something similar to NFT was sold for bitcoins for the first time, and even with Satoshi himself involved. However, one can’t call Sabunir a full-fledged NFT image – the buyer would not have any sane proof of the “uniqueness” of the picture, except for forum screenshots.

Recall that in the case of full-fledged NFTs, the uniqueness of the latter is confirmed by the corresponding token created in limited numbers. It is impossible to fake it, because the copy will somehow differ from the original.

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Wertheimer’s post, however, has raised doubts about the transaction in the comments. For example, crypto investor Mike MacDonald pointed out that Sabunir later published his address again, with an indication of where to “send his donations”. That is, the sale of the image itself allegedly never actually took place, because almost a month passed between the publication of the image and the transfer of funds.

Wertheimer confirmed that he had indeed “inaccurately stated” in the original tweet. Unfortunately, the image of the author of the publication itself has not survived on the forum. Nor can it be confirmed that the funds he allegedly received were sent specifically for the image.

However, this kind of interaction among crypto-enthusiasts is in any case gratifying. These were the very early days of the cryptocurrency industry, but few Bitcoin users were already looking for uses for digital assets. It's also ironic that representatives of the Bitcoin Core development team are now actively opposing NFT and additional tokens on the Bitcoin network, and suggesting that transactions for interactions with them should be blocked.

Meanwhile, the number of cryptocurrency wallets with balances of 1 BTC or more has reached an all-time high. The day before, the figure passed the one million unit mark. Consequently, the number of Bitcoin investors is actively increasing, and holders of digital assets themselves have no doubts about their future prospects.

As experts point out, this is also an important factor in shaping the long-term base for the new global cryptocurrency bullpen. In 2022, the value of Bitcoin fell by almost 70 per cent, but all the while investors continued to accumulate the cryptocurrency. That means the bullrun will, in theory, have enough “fuel” to delight us with new highs on the charts for the foreseeable future.


We believe that this story provides a clear indication of just how far the digital asset industry has come since its inception in 2009. Today, coin holders are spending millions of dollars every day on NFT, with the niche being covered in the most popular publications. But it had to come to this - and just through small steps like selling a picture for the equivalent of one dollar.