According to CoinDesk, a historic sale of inscriptions created using the Bitcoin blockchain's Ordinals protocol brought in about $450,000, exceeding the most optimistic estimates by a factor of five. The auction, which ended Wednesday, featured three images, including a pixelated avocado that sold for more than $100,000 and a drawing resembling a mushroom from the Super Mario franchise that sold for more than $240,000. Derek Parsons, a spokesman for the auction house, said there were 148 bids for the three lots, with more than two-thirds of the bidders being new to Sotheby's. More auctions are planned in the near future.

These results are reminiscent of the mania that swept the digital asset markets a few years ago, when digital works and NFTs first fetched huge sums and captured the public's attention. At the time, one NFT by artist Beeple was sold at Christie's auction for $69 million. However, most of these collections were built on the Ethereum blockchain. Ordinals, which uses Bitcoin's blockchain protocol and was introduced late last year, has seen a surge in popularity this year, leading to congestion and increased fees on the blockchain, which was launched in 2009.

There has been some discussion in the Bitcoin user and developer community about the need to filter transactions in NFTs created using the Ordinals protocol. Some believe that these transactions do not fulfil the original purpose of the blockchain and raise doubts about financial feasibility. However, Ordinals representatives emphasise the artistic value of the images and the pursuit of profit. Three digital images from Ordinals' BitcoinShrooms collection, created by an artist under the pseudonym Shrumtoshi, were sold at a Sotheby's auction, surpassing initial estimates. For example, a pixelated avocado estimated at $20,000-$30,000 was sold for $101,600.