Q: What was actually inscribed in the first Bitcoin Ordinal?

This week’s U.S. Senate Banking Committee hearing thrust crypto regulation back into the spotlight, with regulators and lawmakers debating how to balance innovation with investor protection. Testimony touched on emerging frameworks for digital assets, the role of enforcement vs. clear rulemaking, and how regulators are adapting to onchain markets amid broader legislative efforts like the CLARITY Act.

Citigroup, which manages roughly $2.5 trillion in assets, is building institutional Bitcoin infrastructure designed to integrate BTC into its existing $30 trillion traditional asset framework. Services including custody, key management, reporting, collateral handling, and portfolio integration are expected to roll out in 2026 following multiple years of internal development and testing.

Magic Eden announced it will shutter its Bitcoin Ordinals and EVM NFT marketplaces and discontinue its multichain wallet, refocusing operations on its Solana ecosystem. Users have been instructed to withdraw assets before services are wound down in the coming weeks.

Hemi completed end-to-end ZK proofs of HVM state transitions for the Bitcoin indexer and existing precompiles, with additional precompiles being added ahead of the Jovian activation. This expands Bitcoin data accessibility inside the EVM and moves Hemi closer to full ZK-based settlement.

MinerFi is now running end-to-end in devnet, with testnet deployment imminent. The redesigned threshold signature scheme enables full onchain fault attribution, strengthening protocol security ahead of audit review. MinerFi remains on track for a March launch.

Hemi is evolving its incentive layer into a general-purpose decentralized ZK proving network. Proof jobs can be defined by outcome rather than raw inputs, reducing offchain coordination and laying groundwork for future ChainBuilder L3 interoperability.

veHEMI ensures that those who contribute to Hemi’s long-term success are directly aligned with its growth.

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In bullish or bearish cycles, Hemi makes BTCFi accessible without compromising on security, custody, or economics.

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The Hemigo of the Week award celebrates outstanding members of the Hemi community. Special congratulations go out to this week’s award winner: Gladiy, who developed HemiHeads, a platform created as a tribute to the Hemi ecosystem.

The Hemi Discord Moderation Team will be running weekly games and activities where prizes including Discord XP and Hemi Swag will be awarded to the top three winners of each session.

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The first inscription, included in block 774,628 on January 14, 2023, was a small PNG image, a simple black-and-white pixel artwork of a skull. That modest file marked the beginning of Bitcoin-native NFTs and the Ordinals era.