Original title: Bitcoin Stamps Explained
Original author: WILLIAM M. PEASTER
Original source: banklesshq
Original compilation: Deep Chao TechFlow
Most recently, Ordinals have sparked an explosion of “inscription” tokenization activity on Bitcoin (and other chains).
However, there is another relatively new Bitcoin tokenization protocol that has also been gaining traction recently - Stamps.
Havent you heard of Stamps or SRC-20? don’t worry. In todays article, lets take a look at how Stamps work, how they differ from Ordinals, and how to get into this track!
The Rise of Bitcoin Stamps
The Bitcoin Stamps system was released by Mike In Space in March 2023 and began as a proof-of-concept project on Counterparty (a Bitcoin L2 that has existed since 2014). Stamps moved fully to Bitcoin last summer due to an update to its underlying protocol, now known as SRC-20.
Founder Mike originally envisioned Stamps as a way to mint permanent Bitcoin NFTs. However, the protocol has expanded to replicate BRC-20, a batch-fungible token that has flourished on Bitcoin thanks to the inscription craze since Casey Rodarmor launched Ordinals in January 2023 .
The main difference between Stamps and Ordinals is the architecture. This is because Stamps store their metadata in multi-signature Unspent Transaction Outputs (UTXOs), while Ordinals store their metadata in the “witness” portion of a Bitcoin transaction.
This difference in design shows the developers choice. That said, Stamps UTXO approach makes them untrimmable and thus appear to be permanent, although they are more expensive to manufacture than Ordinals minting. In contrast, the way Ordinals use witness data ultimately makes them prunable, and they cost less to make than Stamps.
So while Ordinals may offer the best persistence-to-cost ratio for NFTs in crypto today (on-chain NFTs are also available on Ethereum, but they are relatively more expensive to build than Ordinals), Stamps currently appear to offer the best Best Direct Forever Guarantee.
Despite this, not everyone thinks these Stamps and Ordinals are harmless!
For example, old-school hardline Bitcoin supporters like Luke Dashjr recently launched attacks on Ordinals and Stamps, claiming that Ordinals and Stamps are spam attacks targeting Bitcoin. For his part, Dashjr, whose newly established Ocean mining pool has been set up to filter Inscription and Stamps transactions, has also floated the idea of changing Bitcoin to another proof-of-work (PoW) algorithm as a way to counter the support for NFTs. Bitcoin miners.
Perhaps the Bitcoin community will eventually be divided again over these differences. Another war about block size may be coming. On one side are the technological innovations who support Ordinals and Stamps, and on the other side are the conservatives who believe that Bitcoin is just currency.
For now, though, Dashjrs recent comments only add fuel to the fire, as the attention and activity surrounding Stamps seems to have reached new all-time highs in recent days. In fact, the first and second-ever Stamps were just bundled for 1.7 Bitcoin (approximately $150,000), indicating a surge in interest.
Of course, the Stamps market may go through boom and bust cycles like all assets, but regardless, the technology is legitimate and compelling. Stamps are interesting not only because of their permanence, but also because they, like Ordinals, provide a new token standard that opens up new possibilities for Bitcoin that did not exist before.
Smart contract platforms like Ethereum and Solana have enjoyed native token standards for years and have little need for such technology. Instead, the Bitcoin ecosystem began to explode in 2023 as advanced technologies such as Ordinals and Stamps began to come to the fore and unleash unprecedented demand.
In other words, this is a renaissance period for Bitcoin. So, assuming youve tried Ordinals, how do you explore Stamps?
In terms of wallets, I recommend starting with a Bitcoin wallet like Leather (formerly Hiro), which supports Ordinals and Stamps as well as BRC-20 and SRC-20. If you have experience using browser wallets such as Coinbase Wallet, MetaMask or Rainbow, you will find that using Leather is very convenient. Despite its Bitcoin-centric approach, it offers a user experience similar to these mainstream products.
That said, whatever you do, it’s recommended that you don’t use an old Bitcoin wallet to research Stamps. If you try to use your assets with an incompatible wallet, you may lose your assets!
Once you have the appropriate Bitcoin wallet ready, you can start looking for Stamp NFT minting or SRC-20 tokens. OpenStamp is a platform where you can currently do both, but there are some other early-stage markets you can consider right now, including RareStamp, Stampscan, and StampedNinja. If you are interested in minting your own Stamps, you can try the Stampsbot platform.
Ultimately, whether Stamps will become a permanent part of the crypto ecosystem remains an open question. However, the current popularity of Stamps and the new possibilities they introduce to Bitcoin cannot be ignored. Combined with Ordinals, Stamps make the Bitcoin innovation scene likely to flourish in the coming years, which also means more disputes with JPG-hating Bitcoin maximalists.
