Introduction to Inscriptions

Rollup technology has injected prosperity into the Ethereum ecosystem’s Layer 2 upgrade. Inscriptions can also be understood as a type of Rollup, a way to transfer data from off-chain to the blockchain, but L1 data is not verified when it is put on-chain. Taking the Ordinals protocol as an example, inscription transactions on the Bitcoin chain, whether they contain valid or invalid data, will be unconditionally accepted by the Bitcoin L1, forming a “dirty ledger” containing both valid and invalid data.

Ordinals Protocol ensures the orderly operation of the ledger through the “client validation” mechanism. Users’ wallets and browsers read the “dirty ledger” locally, remove invalid data, and generate a clean ledger. Whether it is Ordinals NFT or BRC20 tokens, although the ledger exists on the Bitcoin chain, the consensus rules are formulated off-chain. Therefore, the essence of the inscription is a form of off-chain consensus. So, “inscribed” tokens do not completely share the security of Bitcoin. Although the Ordinals protocol has some centralized features, overall, due to the open-source code, anyone can verify the validity of the data, so security issues are not so significant.

The success of Inscriptions is not primarily due to technological innovation but rather because it caters to people’s demand for fair launches and multi-party gaming interests. The underlying logic of Inscriptions is based on supply and demand dynamics and zero-sum games. Unlike general on-chain transaction data, Inscriptions have an additional input data message that acts as a counterparty in the transaction, known as Inscription data. For example, {“p”:”asc-20”,”op”:”mint”,”tick”:”avav”,”amt”:”69696969”}, where p: protocol, represents various -20 protocols; op: deploy, inscribe, transfer; tick: Inscription code; amt: the maximum number of inscriptions in a single transaction. Inscriptions currently lack widespread use cases; anyone can participate in the primary Inscription market, and the cost of inscribing an Inscription is only the gas fee. Before being listed on the secondary market, Inscriptions could only be traded over-the-counter (OTC). With the current development, many marketplaces have emerged, allowing users to list transactions directly, essentially forming a 1.5-level market. The 1.5-2 level market is highly speculative, but the primary Inscription market differs significantly from traditional investment markets. Inscriptions are naturally user-friendly to ordinary investors, as they can freely decide the number of inscriptions to be made (mint) based on their judgment. Investors can participate in inscribing Inscriptions that they find conceptually appealing, with the maximum loss being the gas fee for minting. In the crypto market, most projects issue tokens, NFTs, etc., but with Inscriptions, anyone can deploy (deploy), and others can mint directly. Over-minting is meaningless. Large capital automated sweep addresses are easily detected. Therefore, Inscriptions are very open and transparent.

List of Public Chain Wallets & Data Analysis Websites

We now understand that Inscriptions are off-chain consensus, with the underlying logic based on supply-demand dynamics and zero-sum games. We also know that Inscriptions are a series of input data messages. With this knowledge, we can now prepare to participate in Inscriptions by setting up a wallet. If you are familiar with the cryptocurrency market, the term “wallet” is likely not new to you. A wallet is a software or hardware device used to store cryptographic assets, with the most common solutions being hardware wallets and software wallets. These wallets enable you to store, send, and receive digital assets.

However, not all wallets are the same. An Inscription wallet is a special kind of wallet that uses a novel encryption technique called “Inscription signature.” This signature method allows for signing transactions while preserving the order in which transactions are created without leaking any additional information. This means that Inscription wallets can prevent common attacks that plague regular wallets, such as double-spending, replay attacks, or transaction reordering. Below, we’ll introduce three BTC Inscription wallets: Unisat, Xverse, and Ordinals. Now, the ETH ecosystem has also joined the Inscription race, and its principles are similar to BRC-20. It adheres to the Storage Consensus Paradigm (SCP) standards, forming an off-chain inscription balance state through a protocol standard. In the ETH ecosystem, you can use the MetaMask wallet to add the public chain where you want to inscribe Inscriptions or directly use a wallet supported by the public chain.

Apart from the different public chains, the underlying technology, logic, cost (gas), etc., of Inscriptions are the same. Now, inscribing Inscriptions on any public chain only requires repeating the following steps (getting started with Inscription wallets and data analysis websites):

1. Prepare wallet and gas fee
2. Deploy or mint inscription
3. Sell

Therefore, when you want to inscribe any Inscriptions on a particular blockchain, you only need to find the corresponding wallet and data analysis website for that public chain and proceed to inscribe the desired Inscription.

Getting Started with Inscription Wallet and Data Analysis Websites (Using BRC-20 as an Example)

After understanding the underlying logic and cost of inscriptions, we need to know how to operate them. Inscriptions are classified as a primary market, so you only need to choose a chain that you believe in and find a suitable way to participate in the inscription project based on your own judgment. You can then participate in minting inscriptions and wait for changes in market supply and demand. The following guide is for reference only and should not be considered as investment advice. As mentioned earlier, since we concluded that inscriptions currently lack practical examples and value, there may be significant risks in deploying or casting inscriptions. Please assess your risk tolerance before investing.

Prepare a wallet and $BTC as gas fee

Step 1: Install BTC wallet Unisat (similar to ETH’s Metamask), or download other suitable Bitcoin wallets. When dealing with new things, if the security cannot be confirmed, after downloading, you can create a new wallet for interaction and use.

Step 2: Click on “Create New Wallet,” set a wallet password, and write down the 12-word mnemonic phrase in a secure place (do not send it over the internet, the mnemonic phrase should never be exposed online). Select “Native Segwit” and click “Continue.”

Step 3: Copy your BTC wallet address (starting with “bc”) and send BTC from a centralized exchange (such as Gate) to your wallet.

(Copy Address by Clicking)

Mint BRC20 Inscriptions

Step 1: Through the Geniidata website, you can check the current BRC20 token mints on the blockchain. The ratio of images is positively correlated with the number of mint addresses on the blockchain in the past 24 hours.

Step 2: Enter the Unisat Brc-20 Mint page, and search for the name of the Brc20 token you want to mint, using “INUS” as an example. This is not investment advice (progress of 100% means that all minting has been completed).

(Click on the right box to enter)

(Tick and amount are default, you need to enter the number of inscriptions in the Repeat Mint)

(Default is medium speed. Try to choose fast speed, otherwise failure will result in loss of gas fee)

(Payment via wallet)

Selling Inscriptions

After minting a inscription, it needs to be inscribed again in the wallet before it can be sold. (The example of selling uses “sats” coins from another wallet)

Step 1: In the wallet, find the inscription you want to inscribe. The “balance” represents your remaining balance, and “transferable” represents the amount that can be transferred. If you have a balance but the transferable amount is 0, it means the inscription has not been inscribed yet. Click on the inscription.

Step 2: The installation steps involve selecting the quantity for inscription, and you have the option to inscribe all the quantities together, which will be sold collectively. Alternatively, you can divide the inscription into multiple parts, and each unit when placing an order is a portion after inscription. (In the example, I chose to inscribe all the inscriptions together.)

(Available shows the balance, and the box below it shows the quantity to be minted)

Step 3: After inscribing is completed, go to the Unisat website and find the tokens you want to sell on the marketplace. (After inscribing, you will need to wait for 3 confirmed blocks, which will take approximately an hour before they can be sold)

(Find the Marketplace and select the coin you want to sell)

Step 4: In the market, look for the inscriptions you want to sell and select List.

(Find the coin you want to sell, click on “List” to list it for sale)

Step 5: Please enter the price you want to sell for. If you want to sell quickly, you can refer to the lowest price on the market.

(You can see that the lowest unit price in the market is 0.000535 sats)

Once confirmed, the listing is complete and awaits others to make a purchase. After someone purchases it, the BTC will be automatically deposited into your wallet.

Getting Started with Inscription Wallet and Data Analysis Websites (Using ARC-20 as an Example)

Prepare a wallet and AVAX as gas fee

Step 1: Install the Metamask wallet by downloading it from the official Chrome Web Store. Please note: When dealing with new things, if the security cannot be confirmed, please try to create a new wallet for interaction.

Step 2: Click on “Create New Wallet” and set a password for the wallet. Copy the 12-word mnemonic securely (do not send it over the internet).

Step 3: Copy your AVAX wallet address (starting with 0x) and send AVAX from a centralized exchange (such as Gate) to your wallet.

Mint ASC20 Inscriptions

Step 1: Please check the current ASC-20 inscriptions being minted on-chain through the Avascriptions website.

Step 2: Access the ASC-20 Mint page through Avascriptions. Search for the inscription name of ASC-20 that you want to Mint, using “dino” as an example. This is not investment advice (if the progress is 100%, it means that all Minting has been completed). Click on “dino” to enter the inscription page, and click on “Mint Directly” to proceed with the Minting.

Once the contract security is confirmed, the wallet signs the transaction, and the inscription is successful.

Selling Inscriptions

Step 1: In the Marketplace, choose the inscription you want to sell, for example: dino. This is not investment advice.

Step 2: Click on “dino” to enter the details page. Click on “list” and sign it to sell. After the sale, AVAX will automatically be transferred to your wallet.

Conclusion

Select the wallet of the applicable chain and analyze the number of people inscribing the inscription as well as the quantity of large addresses, which may assist you in choosing the inscription target. As there is currently no practical application scenario for inscriptions, please be mindful of your risk tolerance and invest wisely.