GlossaryAdvanced
Inscription
Data (such as an image or text) embedded directly within a Bitcoin transaction's witness data, the mechanism behind Bitcoin Ordinals.
An inscription embeds data — commonly an image, text, or other content — directly within a Bitcoin transaction's witness data, attached to a specific satoshi (see Kaavon's "Satoshi" glossary definition) via the Ordinals numbering scheme.
Unlike an NFT on Ethereum, which typically stores a pointer to off-chain metadata, an inscription's content is stored directly on Bitcoin's own base layer — a meaningfully different storage model with its own trade-offs. See Kaavon's "Ordinals" glossary definition for the numbering scheme inscriptions attach to.
Examples
- An inscription's actual content lives directly on Bitcoin's base layer, unlike many NFTs on other chains, which typically store only a pointer to off-chain content.
- Inscriptions attach their content to a specific satoshi, using the Ordinals scheme to track and transfer that specific satoshi going forward.