Bitcoin / Ordinals / Inscriptions

Inscribing Digital Artefacts onto Bitcoin

Founder / Illustrator

Introduction

In the ever-evolving world of digital art and blockchain technology, a new form of expression has emerged: Bitcoin Ordinals. Much like the ancient Egyptians who inscribed their stories and beliefs into stone, creating a lasting testament to their civilisation, artists today are inscribing their creations onto Bitcoin, the original and most respected chain.

Bitcoin Ordinals, also known as digital artefacts, are a way to inscribe digital content directly onto Bitcoin. Unlike NFTs on other chains, which often rely on IPFS for hosting, Ordinals create an immutable on-chain presence for a range of supported formats, from jpegs to video and everything in between. This process is akin to inscribing hieroglyphs into stone, creating a permanent and unalterable record.

The collection was meant to be built on Cardano, however, the decision to experiment with Bitcoin Ordinals for "Anteaters Wearing Shirts" was driven by several factors. Firstly, Bitcoin is the OG chain, carrying a sense of authenticity and historical significance. Secondly, the process of inscribing NFTs onto specific satoshis offers a unique narrative potential, allowing me to further expound my story.

One of the most intriguing aspects of Ordinals is the concept of satoshi rarities. Each satoshi can be uniquely identified and tracked, much like a numbered print in a limited art series. This allows artists and collectors to source specific satoshis from significant moments in Bitcoin's history, adding an extra layer of meaning and value to the artwork.

For instance, satoshis used in the infamous 10,000 Bitcoin Pizza transaction or those from Block 9, which Satoshi Nakamoto mined and sent to Hal Finney, carry a historical weight. By inscribing artwork onto these specific satoshis, artists can link their creations to pivotal moments in Bitcoin's history, telling a story that is not only visually engaging but also deeply intertwined with the lore of the blockchain.

For Anteaters Wearing Shirts, the concept of inscribing onto specific satoshis was leveraged to create a unique narrative. The collection was inscribed onto satoshis mined by Satoshi Nakamoto himself in 2009.

By choosing to inscribe the collection onto Nakamoto-mined satoshis, I was able to intertwine my personal journey into Bitcoin with the whimsical world of anteaters in clothing. This not only added a layer of personal significance to the collection but also connected it to a pivotal moment in Bitcoin's history.

Inspiration

The inspiration for Anteaters Wearing Shirts came from a 2021 Charles Hoskinson YouTube AMA, where he shared a story about showing photos of anteaters wearing clothes to diffuse a stressful legal meeting. The adorable and amusing images sparked an idea in my mind to utilise them for potentially diffusing complicated and complex terminology and functionality for newcomers to the crypto space. My hypothesis was, by leveraging cute and funny anteaters, maybe we can simplify complex blockchain technology and create a more inclusive environment for users.

Insights

I engaged with founders of leading NFT projects, attended community meetups, and shared my vision with industry experts. The valuable feedback received helped shape the project and refine its direction. Notably, I received advice on keeping the NFT supply limited to create exclusivity, the importance of community building, and the significance of effective marketing strategies to attract a strong commmunity.

Design

Using references from photos of anteaters wearing clothes found on Google. Initial sketches were hand-drawn on paper, capturing the essence of the envisioned artwork. Using Adobe Illustrator, I transformed these sketches into vibrant illustrations. The designs incorporated various attire inspired by popular films, TV shows, and different clothing departments, such as casual wear, sportswear, formal wear, costumes, and accessories.

The entire collection contained:

  • Background colours: 7

  • Types of fur: 11

  • Accessories pieces: 14

  • Types of clothing: 54

  • Mouth variations: 5

  • Eye variations: 12

The total amount of possible combinations: 3,492,720

Inscribing Process

The first step in this process was to register the anteaters.btc domain, which would serve as the home for the collection. This was followed by the actual inscription process, which was facilitated by a tool called Satscribe. This tool allowed me to inscribe my art onto a specific satoshi that was mined by Satoshi Nakamoto himself, adding an extra layer of historical significance to the collection.

Challenges

Developing Anteaters Wearing Shirts came with its fair share of challenges. The time-consuming nature of illustrating a wide array of traits proved to be a significant obstacle. Additionally, managing the social aspect of the project, including maintaining an active presence on platforms like Twitter and Discord, required substantial effort. The technical side of this project - inscribing onto Bitcoin had trade-offs with keeping filesize small, lower quality but cheaper to inscribe vs higher quality, larger filesize and more expensive to inscribes. I chose the former and was somewhat disappointed with the quality outcome.

Lessons Learned

The journey of the Anteaters Wearing Shirts project provided valuable insights and lessons. I realised that building and maintaining an NFT project is a time-intensive endeavour that benefits from having a dedicated team handling various aspects such as marketing, social media engagement, and web development.

Future Plans

As the project continues to evolve, several key areas of focus have been identified for future development. One of the primary challenges faced during the inscription process was the cost associated with larger file sizes. For instance, inscribing a 450x450px png with a file size of 100kb costs nearly $200. However, exporting the same image as a WebP reduced the file size to 19kb, which significantly reduced the cost of inscription to $26. Moving forward, strategies will be explored to further reduce inscription costs without sacrificing the quality of the artwork.

Another exciting development is the introduction of recursive inscriptions, which opened up new possibilities for the Ordinals. Recursive inscriptions allow creators to break free from the 4MB limit by extracting data from existing inscriptions and incorporating them into new ones. Creators can run scripts on-chain by linking data through a series of calls. This breakthrough opens up immense possibilities for interoperability. Projects like OnChainMonkey have already realised the potential of recursive inscriptions, using recursion to inscribe various data packages as ordinals on Bitcoin, enabling them to create stunning 3D art under 1KB in size by making calls to those packages. This innovative approach expands the use cases of ordinals and reduces transaction costs by minimising the volume of data inscribed on each satoshi.

The final aspect of the future plan involves the release of the project to the community. The aim is to foster a sense of ownership and engagement among the community members, encouraging them to contribute to the project's growth and development.

The future of the Anteaters Wearing Shirts project is exciting… Watch this space