Musk Blasts NFTs: Inadvertently Makes Case For Ordinals!

Elon Musk’s recent appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience has sparked a wild discussion surrounding NFTs; specifically about their storage on the blockchain. Although Musk’s comments were bearish in their nature, there is one group of JPEG enthusiasts who are rejoicing!

“It’s Just a URL to a JPEG”

In his characteristically frank style, Musk voiced his concerns about a fundamental flaw with NFTs.”The funny thing is the NFT is not even on the blockchain; it’s just a URL to the JPEG.” he told Joe Rogan.

Musk is correct in saying so, and it’s been a weapon used by the detractors of digital assets for some time. Essentially, the JPEGs are not directly on the blockchain, which means they rely on external Web2 based servers for their existence.

Musk’s proposed solution to this problem was straightforward: “You should at least encode the JPEG in the blockchain. If the company housing the image goes out of business, you don’t have the image anymore.” 

So….who’s going to tell him?

Ordinals Solve this

Musk’s comments inadvertently brought attention to an existing solution, something we at Influencive have been following closely for quite some time: Bitcoin Ordinals!

For those unfamiliar, what sets Ordinals apart from traditional NFTs is their approach to storing digital assets directly on the blockchain.

In essence, each individual Bitcoin Ordinal is inscribed onto individual satoshis, ensuring their longevity and permanence. This approach directly addresses Musk’s concerns about the vulnerability of NFTs relying on external servers for asset storage. 

The Community Responds

Ordinal enjoyers quickly embraced Musk’s critique, and enthusiastically tagged the owner of X in an attempt to divert his attention to their favorite protocol.

Renowned analyst Will Clemente praised Musk’s insights and highlighted the growing popularity of Bitcoin Ordinals. Similarly, DeGods founder, Frank, weighed in, referring to Ordinals as “the most elegant solution to one of the most universal criticisms of NFTs.”

Influencer, Leonidas, took the discussion a step further by embedding a video clip featuring Musk’s comments directly onto the blockchain, driving the point home.

Final Thoughts

As we know, Musk has previously shown interest in crypto and digital assets, famously adding Bitcoin to Tesla’s balance sheet and promoting the memecoin, DOGE, relentlessly in 2021.

However, his views on NFTs have remained relatively unknown until his JRE appearance. Given his prior interest in the space, it’s reasonable to assume that he knows more about NFTs than he’s previously let on.

This raises the question: was Musk already aware of Bitcoin Ordinals? If he wasn’t before, it’s highly likely he is now. Moreover, the fallout from the discussion has likely introduced others in the Web3 space to the concept of Ordinals for the first time.

While traditional NFTs are not in any immediate danger, Ordinals offer something extra for purists and may gain significant traction in the coming year and beyond—especially if Elon decides to bag a few for himself!