A brief analysis of BTC Stamps: a new outlet for Bitcoin NFT

A new Bitcoin NFT implementation called BTC Stamps has been created, and in the first 20 days of its launch, the number of NFTs minted through this method far exceeds the data of the Ordinals we are already familiar with at the beginning. (For more information about Ordinals, please refer to "A Must-Read for NFT Players: A 10,000-Word Explanation of Bitcoin Ordinals")

Source of the group video: Bitcoin Frontier Fund partner trevor.btc

BTC Stamps was created by an anonymous developer named Mike In Space!. According to the Github data he submitted, the implementation mechanism of BTC Stamps is to embed image data in base 64 format into the transaction output on the Bitcoin chain, thereby permanently saving the corresponding image data on the Bitcoin chain.

Specifically, users need to first encode the binary content of the image into a base 64 format string (base 64 encoding of an image means that an image data can be encoded into a string, and then the string is used instead of the image address), and then add the prefix "Stamps:" before the string. Then use the Counterparty protocol to broadcast the entire text content to the Bitcoin chain. The content will be segmented but numbered one by one to facilitate the upper-level application to reverse decode it to the original image content.

This involves a concept - the Counterparty protocol. The Counterparty protocol was actually born as early as 2014. The "Rare Pepes" who are now regarded as NFT pioneers (there was not even the word NFT at that time) have used this protocol. Its feature is that data can be written in the blank space of the Bitcoin data block, thereby embedding the data into the original Bitcoin transaction.

It is worth mentioning that 99% of Counterparty transactions generally use the OP_RETURN data encoding method, but the data embedded based on this method can be "deleted" by the Bitcoin full node, so it is not suitable for the NFT direction that emphasizes permanent preservation. However, in the case of BTC Stamps, due to the uniform length of the base 64 string, the corresponding Counterparty transaction will default to the P2SH type, which requires the data to be split and embedded into multiple transaction outputs (the larger the content, the more outputs are created), and cannot be "deleted" by the Bitcoin full node, thereby achieving permanent preservation of the image data.

As for the C-end experience of BTC Stamps, there are two points that require special attention.

First, from the perspective of the cost of uploading data to the chain, Mike In Space! recommends that users choose the image specification of "24 x 24 pixels, 8-color depth PNG or GIF" in the Github database, which is also the native resolution of the head project CryptoPunks.

Second, all BTC Stamps NFTs will be numbered according to the transaction timestamp (so the most important thing may not be the image content, but the number). The numbering starts at 0 and will continue indefinitely, but transactions with invalid or unrecognizable base 64 strings embedded in them will not be recognized.

Stampchain data shows that as of 1:30 am Beijing time on April 6, 8,220 BTC Stamps NFTs have been minted, and most of the image content is directly copied from the original CryptoPunks images.

In summary, BTC Stamps provides a new form of implementation for all players interested in Bitcoin NFTs. Compared with Ordinals, there are also some obvious differences.

According to the analysis of Trust Machines, a Bitcoin ecosystem development team, the biggest advantage of BTC Stamps over Ordinals is that its data storage is based on the simplest transaction output. Therefore, Bitcoin full nodes have "no choice" but to choose to save BTC Stamps, while OP_RETURN and "witness data" (the solution adopted by Ordinals) may be "deleted" by full nodes.

However, BTC Stamps also has obvious disadvantages compared to Ordinals. The most important point is that BTC Stamps has a higher fee cost than Ordinals, which also leads to BTC Stamps having to limit the specifications of the original image in order to limit the cost; in addition, Ordinals also supports other file types besides images, such as text, audio, video and even applications, as long as the size does not exceed the 4MB block limit, which is also something that BTC Stamps cannot do for the time being.

The development of Bitcoin NFT is still in its early stages. Both BTC Stamps and Ordinals are not mature enough for the time being. Whether the two can be distinguished in the end, or whether they will move towards different application directions based on different characteristics, will become the key to the future development of Bitcoin NFT. Odaily Planet Daily will continue to accompany you and continue to track the development trend of this segment.