After the Ordinal inscription creation process gained significant traction on the Bitcoin blockchain and over 800,000 inscriptions have been created to date, a new trend in non-corruptible token (NFT) technology, a new trend has emerged. More than 8,000 stamps have been minted so far using this new method of storing images on Bitcoin.
From Ordinaries to Stamps: a new way to store images on Bitcoin is coming to fruition
Bitcoin enthusiasts are introducing a new way to store images on the Bitcoin network that is different from the Ordinal inscription process that has been popular in recent months.
The new bitcoin stamping mechanism was created by Twitter userMike in Space” and the project overviewis hosted on Github. Essentially, the technology provides a way to split an image into a number of unused transaction outputs (UTXOs) by encoding the image with Base64 text and broadcasting it to Bitcoin utilizing the Counterparty protocol.
Bitcoin Stamps cannot be reaped like witness or signature data, and Stamp creation is more expensive than Ordinal inscriptions. Therefore, the Github summary of Bitcoin Stamps states that “the fewer bytes the better” and recommends using “24 x 24 pixel, 8 color depth PNG or GIF” files.
On March 31, 2023,the first 600 bitcoin stampswere stamped, and at the time of writing there are over 8000 stamps. The Bitcoin stamp directory is hosted atstampchain.ioand the project also receives support from Counterparty’sxchain.io. There are also collections such asPixel Godsand bitcoin stamps can be found on the counterparty asset portalkaleidoscopexcp.com
You may not like it, but this is what peak performance looks like.#bitcoin Stumpspic.twitter.com/xzpjR7sZCC
– Mike In Space! (@mikeinspace) . 3 April 2023
The first bitcoin stamp, Stamp 0, wascreatedcriticismsof the Bitcoin StampWhen Mike in Space shared an image of a flowchart showing a Bitcoin Stamp transaction, a personreplied. , “This is intentionally bloating the UTXO set instead of putting data into the witness…. Why are they doing this…?”
Mikerepliedsaid, “Eyewitness data can be pruned. The intent is permanence.” Others were enthusiastic about the project and askedhow they could get involved. Some objected, but in the end, anyone can mint bitcoin stamps at any time without permission.
Image credit:: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons
