Bitcoin Ordinals Bridged to Cardano for the First Time with BitVMX Protocol

Las Vegas, NV - May 28th, 2025: The first-ever on-chain transaction between Bitcoin and Cardano has been successfully completed, made possible by BitVMX, a cutting-edge interoperability protocol powered by Fairgate. This breakthrough marks a significant advancement in decentralized finance (DeFi), enabling seamless interaction between two of the most prominent blockchain ecosystems. It also expands the potential of Cardano, the first smart contract platform built on a scientific philosophy, by bringing true cross-chain functionality to its network.

This historic technical milestone was revealed this week at the world’s largest Bitcoin conference in Las Vegas, during a Lunch and Learn session hosted by Input | Output (IO), the research engineering company that built the Cardano blockchain platform. Attendees witnessed the first-ever Ordinals transfer from Bitcoin to be recorded on Cardano’s mainnet — a demonstration that redefines what cross-chain asset movement can look like, marking a major leap forward in blockchain interoperability.

“The future of DeFi is cross-chain, and BitVMX exemplifies how Bitcoin can be a foundational layer in this evolution,” said Charles Hoskinson, CEO of IO. “By combining Cardano’s flexibility with Bitcoin’s security, we open the door to entirely new financial instruments and services.”

This is a preview of what’s to come: a full integration between Bitcoin and Cardano that will enable a whole DeFi universe for the Bitcoin community, unlocking an estimated $1.5 trillion in cross-chain volume. With seamless asset movement, trust-minimized security, and decentralized ownership, users will gain the ability to bridge their Bitcoin assets and interact with Cardano’s ecosystem while maintaining full sovereignty — thus powering a new era of decentralized finance for Bitcoin.

"We’re excited to introduce Cardinal, a protocol that enables Cardano’s infrastructure to play a pivotal role in augmenting Bitcoin,” added Romain Pellerin, CTO at IO. “Cardinal defines a secure, trustless mechanism for Bitcoin holders to access DeFi — by wrapping their UTXOs (as demonstrated with Ordinals) and unlocking opportunities for a number of possible use cases like staking, lending, borrowing, and more. This marks the beginning of a new era for Bitcoin DeFi, powered by Cardano’s extended UTXO model and smart contracts combined with BitVMX technology for extending Bitcoin programmability."

BitVMX novel transfer-of-ownership protocol assigns assets on the Bitcoin blockchain to legitimate owners on Cardano, enabling movement of non-fungible tokens like Ordinals and Runes without centralized intermediaries. 

“We’ve extended BitVMX to support the handling of NFTs and other non-fungible assets, no custodial trust required”, said Ariel Futoransky, CSO at Fairgate. “This releases new forms of ownership and liquidity, powered by a truly decentralized validation system.”

“BitVMX is a fundamental piece for real-world financial utility on Bitcoin,” added Jonatan Altszul, CEO of Fairgate. “It enables secure asset movement without compromising decentralization, bridging Bitcoin and Cardano in a way that’s never been done before.”

The session also featured an exclusive preview of Bitcoin DeFi bridge functionality from IO’s Lace Wallet General Manager Brandon Wolf, along with insights on the future of the industry from IO CEO Charles Hoskinson, Fairgate Co-Founder Sergio Lerner, Babylonchain Co-Founder David Tse, and Eric Wall from Taproot Wizards.

This breakthrough showcases Cardano’s growing role in the multi-chain future, empowering users to tap into the best of both worlds: Bitcoin’s unmatched security and Cardano’s smart contract-driven innovation - delivered through secure, user-controlled, and future-ready infrastructure.