A new NFT marketplace called Bioniq aims to reduce congestion and fees associated with trading Bitcoin-based collectibles known as Ordinals. Bioniq leverages native Bitcoin integration on the Internet ICP

Founder Bob Bodily says he saw the massive potential for Bitcoin NFTs, or Ordinals, shortly after their launch ability was introduced in early 2023. He moved quickly to build Bioniq's marketplace, cross-chain wallet, and minting tools to capitalize.

The growth of the BRC-20 Ordinals ecosystem to over $3 billion market cap and 42 million NFTs minted has directly strained the Bitcoin network. Transaction fees have spiked to highs not seen since the 2017 crypto mania.

By tapping ICP's Bitcoin capabilities, Bioniq offers a scaling solution. ICP facilitates Bitcoin smart contracts and payments to enable features like sub-2-second finality and zero network fees. Bodily touts ICP as a “fantastic Bitcoin sidechain” for unlocking functionality.

While Bioniq currently still relies on some trust assumptions in bridging to ICP, Bodily expects it to eventually transition into a fully trustless Bitcoin rollup inheriting base layer security. For now it focuses on refining user experience for tapping enduring interest in Bitcoin's brand appeal.