2️⃣What is Inscription

Inscriptions are the metadata added or “inscribed” onto Bitcoin satoshis (sats), the smallest unit of the Bitcoin currency, which can include information attached to transactions. They exist solely as digital entries or “digital artifacts” on the Bitcoin blockchain, the public ledger of all bitcoin transactions.

Ordinals are the outcome of inscriptions made in Bitcoin transactions, which include inputs and outputs, where the inputs are the addresses from which the Bitcoin is being sent, and the outputs are the addresses to which the Bitcoin is being sent. Inscriptions are limited by block space allotment for each satoshi, with a ceiling of around 4 MB in size. While satoshis themselves do not inherently have inscriptions, additional data in the form of transaction comments, messages, or assets can be inscribed onto a satoshi. This is what makes an inscription.

The inscription can contain any information that the sender wishes to attach to the transaction so long as it satisfies the limit imposed on block size. We can inscribe text, image or any other data into Bitcoin blockchain. In later pages you will read that by inscribing texts we can make tokens, NFTs, etc.