Gideon Nweze, founder and CEO of Digital Bitcoin Art and Assets (DIBA), has launched a beta version of an NFT Marketplace that uses the RGB Smart Contract Protocol to mint NFTs on top of the Bitcoin network. This alternative approach does not impact the block space or transaction fees, as has been the case with the Ordinals Protocol. The RGB Protocol was introduced in 2016, allowing users to mint NFTs without taking up huge amounts of space on the network, enabling encrypted transactions with Lightning Network functionality.
Nweze believes that the RGB Protocol could solve Bitcoin’s newfound blockspace problems caused by the Ordinals Protocol. Ordinals have attracted widespread criticism for being inefficient and “clunky” because they directly inscribe assets into the Bitcoin blockchain, whereas RGB layers the transactions on top of the network. Nweze likens it to building a house and how storage is not put inside the foundation but on top of it.
While the RGB Protocol can only mint NFTs, another protocol called Trustless Computer uses smart contracts to mint BRC-20 tokens, reducing token bandwidth by 80-90%. The consensus among advocates and experts is that blockchain solutions and assets created on the Bitcoin network are here to stay, having been established through the introduction of the Taproot upgrade.
Nweze is enthusiastic about the cultural and shared human experience that NFTs can provide, stating that “art and music are what make the human heart sing.”
