The Ordinals protocol, which allows non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to be added to the Bitcoin blockchain, has established a non-profit organization to fund its open-source development. The Open Ordinals Institute, a registered 501(c)(3), will collect donations in Bitcoin to initially help bolster the work of its core developers, including lead Ordinals Protocol maintainer Raph. According to Ordinals core developer Ordinally, launching a non-profit was the cleanest way to compensate developers without compromising the values and goals of the protocol.
Erin Redwin, Open Ordinals Institute board member, said the non-profit hopes to empower developers to help grow the newly-discovered utility of Bitcoin-based NFTs. Given Ordinals’ unprecedented pace of adoption and real-world implications for various crypto-economies, we believe it is crucial to fund a strong team of non-corporate funded developers to ensure the security and neutrality of this open-source protocol, Redwin said.
The Ordinals protocol has quickly gained attention from Bitcoin maximalists and NFT collectors for its versatility and potential to pump the value of Bitcoin itself. In May, Ordinals reached 3 million inscriptions, and weeks later, helped Bitcoin come in second as the network with the highest NFT trading volume.