Binance will soon close its Bitcoin NFT marketplace after opening its trading venue to the network’s collectibles less than one year ago.
In a blog post on Thursday, the crypto exchange said it will “cease support for trades and deposits of Bitcoin NFTs” starting April 18 at 6:00 UTC.
The exchange noted that its support for “any further airdrops, benefits, or utilities” related to Bitcoin NFTs will wrap up on April 10. The decision to cut Bitcoin NFTs is part of Binance’s “ongoing efforts to streamline product offerings on the Binance NFT Marketplace.”
“Users will no longer be able to buy, deposit, bid on, or list NFTs on the Binance NFT Marketplace via the Bitcoin network,” Binance stated.
Once support ends, listing orders will automatically be canceled. “Users are advised to withdraw their Bitcoin NFTs from the Binance NFT Marketplace via the Bitcoin network before [May 18],” the firm added.
Binance first added support for Bitcoin NFTs in May 2023, when the Ordinals protocol flooded Bitcoin with NFTs and tokens once considered foreign to the legacy blockchain network. It’s seen fluctuating waves of demand since ascending to prominence, driving Bitcoin network fees to record highs in November.
According to Cryptoslam, Bitcoin remains the second most popular network for NFT trading, rivaling Ethereum’s total trading volume for digital collectibles over the past 30 days.
Nevertheless, NFT trading volumes on the whole have cratered to multi-year lows. According to Statista, aggregate NFT sales peaked at 117,000 on August 15, 2021, but were as low as 2400 across the Ethereum, Ronin, and Flow blockchains on March 15, 2024.
On Wednesday, Franklin Templeton released a report praising Bitcoin Ordinals for kickstarting the “positive momentum in innovations” on Bitcoin over the past year.
Binance also clarified that any platform users who met the Runestone NFT airdrop conditions should have received their NFT by Thursday. Recipients are advised to withdraw their NFTs by April 10 to ensure they receive “any associated tokens, utilities, and benefits” after that date.
Runestone is an Ordinals NFT project that airdropped over 112,000 inscriptions to early Ordinals users in March. Earlier that month, “The Runestone” – the largest Ordinals inscription ever – sold at auction for $572,973.