No, Bitcoin ordinal does not engrave data into Sats.
This is an opinion editorial by Bitcoin writer Bitcoms.
“Bright things become confusing too quickly”
–William Shakespeare, 『A Midsummer Night’s Dream』
“Inscriptions” are a way to record random information on the Bitcoin blockchain. “Ordinal numbers” are the rules used to track individual satellites and relate them to inscriptions. This article does not attempt to argue for or against the Bitcoin ordinal inscription. Rather, it goes against the way it is presented, marketed, and sold in a confusing, inaccurate, and sometimes ambiguous way.
This addresses the widespread error of implying that ownership of ordinal inscriptions is enforced and protected by the rules of the Bitcoin protocol itself (which I would argue is not the case). And although this error may be argued either doubly or naively, it is always detrimental because it can make the ordinal inscription more attractive to potential buyers.
Here is a typical example:
“Ordinal numbers allow a variety of data, including text, images, and video, to be inscribed into a single satoshi (Bitcoin’s smallest denomination) and permanently stored on the Bitcoin blockchain.”
– Ordinals Market introduction document
This means that the ownership of the inscription is protected by the permanence and immutability of the Bitcoin Timechain itself. However, Bitcoin does not enforce ownership of the inscription. Because the inscription is not inscribed on a “single satoshi” on the blockchain at all.
“The Pure Theory Handbook,” a guide to sequence theory compiled by developers, points out:
“Satoshi lives in the output”, “The content of the inscription is included in the transaction witness”.
Both the output data and the witness data are stored on the Bitcoin blockchain after the SegWit upgrade, but claiming that the inscription data is inextricably linked to the “engraved” Satoshi is misleading, as Bitcoin itself recognizes such a link. It creates a concept that has .
In fact, the link between an inscription and a specific satoshi is manufactured off-chain by a specially built external indexer. It takes data from the Bitcoin blockchain and presents it according to an elegant but ultimately centralized and arbitrary system of rules called “Ordinal Theory.” These rules have absolutely nothing to do with the Bitcoin protocol itself, as their authors explained: Similar to astrology.
Spread of inscription errors
However, in my opinion, the many places where ordinal inscriptions are made, seen, bought and sold, and what is mentioned in press reports, does not explain clearly enough the role of ordinal indexers. Therefore, the idea that the inscriptions are “embedded in” or directly “embedded in” the satoshi and that the inscription data and the corresponding sats are inextricably linked within the Bitcoin protocol without the need for an external indexer has created a dangerous error for potential investors. .
Here are some examples of such statements:
“Ordinal Inscriptions, similar to NFTs, are digital assets engraved in Satoshi, the lowest denomination of Bitcoin.”
–Ordinals.hiro.so
“…an ordinal number is ‘engraved’ into a single satoshi… engraving is the process of putting a piece of data into a blockchain, where the data is forever accessible and immutable.”
–“Coinbase Bytes” Newsletter
“Each sat can be inscribed with data such as JPG, GIF, PDF, etc. to create a Bitcoin ordinal and store it in your wallet.”
–Gamma FAQ
“What is Bitcoin Ordinal? Launched in January 2023, the service allows users to create NFTs on the Bitcoin blockchain by attaching data to individual satoshis using a process called inscription.”
“For the uninitiated, Ordinal Inscriptions, similar to NFTs, are digital assets engraved on satoshis (Bitcoin’s smallest unit of currency).”
– CoinDesk
“The ordinal number engraves the serial number of satoshi, the minimum currency unit of Bitcoin.”
– CoinDesk
“The ordinal number is inscribed directly into the ordinal number of the individual Satoshi, which is then included in the block of the Bitcoin blockchain.”
–Nairametrics
“…the Bitcoin network upgrade allows each satoshi to store several megabytes of data, from text and images to audio and video.”
-Reuters
“The token functions are all achieved by inscribing data into satoshis, the smallest unit of Bitcoin.”
– NICE Newsletter
As mentioned at the outset, this article does not attempt to show whether ordinal inscriptions are good or bad. This only highlights the misleading, sometimes sloppy, and sometimes deceptive way in which it is presented. This falsely implies that Bitcoin itself will enforce inscription ownership without the use of external tools.
So how can potential buyers of ordinal inscriptions avoid falling prey to these errors? We can continue to clear up confusion by pointing this out.
This is a guest post from Bitcoms. The opinions expressed are solely personal and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.
