In this series, we interview the co-founder behind Ordzaar company. The bitcoin ordinals is fully in development, and many different technologies are involved in this process. 

In this article we sit down with Naqib Noor development lead and co-founder of Ordzaar, to discuss his bitcoin ordinals platform and the inspiration behind it.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

I am Naqib, the Co-Founder and Development Lead of Ordzaar, a permissionless Zero-Fee Bitcoin Ordinals marketplace where users can buy, sell, and trade Ordinals. Ordzaar empowers artists and inspires collectors by giving them a simple-to-use platform to launch their digital artworks seamlessly and securely, with zero platform fees. 

I have a comprehensive background spanning eight years in the cryptocurrency sector. Prior to building Ordzaar, I was at Kyber Network as an Operations Manager for a period exceeding three years. Separately, I have also been actively advising and supporting crypto projects on a pro bono basis.

My personal goal is to educate and expand the entire Bitcoin Ordinals ecosystem across the globe. And Ordzaar has given me the opportunity to do just that. My Co-Founders and I are fully committed to empowering artists and inspiring creators within the nascent Bitcoin Ordinals ecosystem.

The Ordzaar team has been actively spearheading Ordinals meet-ups in various regions, particularly Asia – i.e. Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, Japan and more. Ordzaar also played an instrumental role in Ordinals Summit 2023, Asia’s first Ordinals event of its scale. Over 400 people from all around the world gathered in Singapore to attend the event. Ordinals Summit 2023’s boasted a stacked speaker line-up featuring prominent industry figureheads such as Udi Wertheimer, creator of Taproot Wizards; Domo, the creator of the BRC-20 Protocol; Erin Redwing, COO, Ordinals Protocol; Raph, Lead Maintainer of the Ordinals Protocol; and many more. There was also a surprise guest appearance from the creator of Bitcoin Ordinals, Casey Rodarmor.

What are bitcoin ordinals, according to you?

Launched on the Bitcoin mainnet by developer Casey Rodarmor on January 20, 2023, ordinal NFTs represent the latest method for creating digital artefacts on the Bitcoin blockchain. Ordinals are digital assets inscribed on a satoshi, the lowest denomination of a bitcoin. Ordinals are means of creating Bitcoin “NFTs” by attaching data such as images, videos, and more to an individual satoshi.

Bitcoin Ordinals are still a relatively nascent innovation and are still in the early stages of its boom. Unlike Ethereum-based NFTs, Ordinals inscribes the entire data file on the Bitcoin blockchain, which makes the digital asset immutable and more secure as the data can’t be altered or lost if an external storage source fails or changes. 

Also, read – Your Ultimate Guide To: Zero Fee Bitcoin Ordinals- Significance And Potential Impact

When and how did you realize the bitcoin ordinals were going to be a big deal?

Ordinals has gained a surge of popularity since launch–as per data from Dune Analytics, the Bitcoin network recently surpassed 35 million Ordinals inscriptions tracked from 14 December 2022 to date.

Although the emergence of Ordinals has sparked conversations within the Bitcoin community regarding the fundamental purpose and ethos of Bitcoin, the Ordzaar team including myself are enthusiastic about the technology and embrace the value that it can bring to Bitcoin. We see the potential for Bitcoin to extend its immutable, decentralized ledger beyond financial transactions, thus broadening its utility and appeal.

Ordinals has proven that Bitcoin is more than just a peer-to-peer payment system and has demonstrated a new, high-value use case for the longest-running cryptocurrency. This has positively impacted the Bitcoin network through reigniting developer interest and incentivizing them to build on the network and improve its security. 

As the industry continues to build and innovate, Ordinals has the potential to unlock even more value on the Bitcoin blockchain, and will lift the entire crypto ecosystem as a whole. Along with the explosive adoption seen in the traditional ETH NFT market, we expect to see a similar trajectory in the Ordinals space.

What’s the story behind your company?

As Bitcoin Ordinal inscriptions continue to surge in popularity, the lack of an easy-to-use Ordinals marketplace posed a major challenge. The ecosystem is still in its infancy and developer tools and platforms are not readily available to users. We felt that there was an urgent need for a reliable and secure platform that allows buyers and sellers to transact in a decentralized manner, giving them complete control over their assets. 

This is where Ordzaar comes in. A portmanteau of the words “Ordinals” and “Bazaar”, Ordzaar was created to empower artists and inspire collectors by providing a simple and seamless method to inscribe Ordinals and publish inscriptions. We focus on being trustless, permissionless, transparent, and secure. 

In the process of building Ordzaar, we have also worked on many toolchains that help make developing Ordinals and Ordinals-based solutions a lot easier. Furthermore, in the spirit of contributing to the community and ecosystem, the Ordzaar developer team has made a series of software development kits (SDKs) open – these are collectively known as Sado SDK, and can be found at https://github.com/sadoprotocol as well as creating various protocols and standards which be found at oips.io.

Who were the people who have been the most helpful in getting you to where you are today? How did they impact your life and your success?

The Bitcoin community has been instrumental in shaping my journey to success in the crypto world. This passionate community has provided a wealth of knowledge, resources, and support, – I have also gained valuable insights and inspiration, thanks to the willingness of Bitcoin enthusiasts to share their experiences.

Moreover, the brilliant minds and pioneers in the Bitcoin community are continuously pushing the boundaries of what’s possible and their commitment to decentralization have not only shaped the technology but also inspired me to excel in my own pursuits. 

What do you hope the crypto space will look like in 10 years?

In the rapidly evolving world of crypto and blockchain technology, it’s exciting to contemplate what the space might look like in 10 years. 

In the next decade, I hope to see a more comprehensive and holistic approach to crypto regulation that acknowledges the benefits of decentralization, and at the same time strives to foster innovation rather than stifle it. By this time, regulatory bodies should have gained a better understanding of blockchain technology and its potential, which should – I hope – result in a clearer and more balanced regulatory framework. This framework should encourage responsible behavior while maintaining the core principles of decentralization, transparency, and security.

One of the most promising aspects of blockchain technology is its ability to decentralize various industries. In 10 years, I hope to see decentralized applications (dApps) that are not only in development but are widely used and integrated into our daily lives. 

With that said, user experience and accessibility have been significant hurdles for the crypto space. Going forward, as the industry continues to evolve, I anticipate a substantial reduction in friction for new users, which would mean an easier onboarding process for individuals who are not necessarily tech-savvy. We should aim for a future where the barriers to entry are lowered, and anyone and everyone can seamlessly and securely jump into the space.

As for Bitcoin Ordinals, we are already witnessing how this new innovation is positively impacting the Bitcoin network through reigniting developer interest and incentivizing them to build on the network and improve its security. Ordinals has undoubtedly sparked a resurgence of interest in the use-case of Bitcoin, and I believe it is the start of the Bitcoin developers’ renaissance whereby developers are flooding (back) in to contribute to the ecosystem. Further down the road, due to its truly immutable nature, I expect to see more real-world use cases for Ordinals outside of PFPs. This could include legal documents, title deeds, and so on.

According to you, how will your company help in smooth transactions of Bitcoin ordinals? What makes Ordzaar different from the competition?

We built Ordzaar to give artists, creators and collectors a platform to create, buy and sell Ordinals trustless-ly, while not needing to pay any middleman fees. Our UI/UX is also one of the easiest to use for artists and creators to launch their artworks. Due to our permissionless nature, any artist or collection can launch in Ordzaar without any barriers (so long as our content guidelines are adhered to). Apart from that, Ordzaar does not require users to sign any form of transaction to use the platform as we strongly believe in a permissionless and seamless experience.

While we started exclusively on Bitcoin Ordinals, we are already looking at future standards, such as BRC20 and on other blockchains. Ultimately, our mission is to make buying and selling blockchain digital assets simple for artists and traders. 

Which Bitcoin ordinals project are you most excited about?

I am super bullish on the Ordinals space as a whole and thus there are just so many projects to choose from. If I had to pick just one, I would like to bring attention to Skelly Uni.

They recently announced that all 555 Skellies from their debut Ordinals collection have been minted and are sold out on Ordzaar.