Managing 1Sat Ordinals non-fungible tokens (NFTs) is about to get a lot easier. Blockchain data explorer and indexer WhatsOnChain is now supporting the protocol with a set of APIs in beta testing. Developers will be able to build tools to inscribe individual tokens and collectible series, as well as retrieve any other relevant metadata.
It shows growing support for digital tokens built on the Ordinals principles, specifically the 1Sat Ordinals token protocol that utilizes BSV’s scalable blockchain network for fast transfers and low fees.
The APIs will allow app developers to call different metadata attached to individual tokens: their “origin output,” origin number, data content, most recent transfer and transfer history, and any token data contained within a BSV transaction. WhatsOnChain also tags 1Sat Ordinals transactions on its statistics page so users can see how they compare to other BSV apps and protocols.
For now, the beta-test APIs will handle only 1Sat Ordinals NFTs. WhatsOnChain said support for fungible tokens using the BSV20 and BSV21 protocols will come later:
The documentation section of 1Sat Ordinals’ project homepage also has a collection of API endpoints, as does GorillaPool. If you’d like to learn more about the protocol in general and see how people use it, join the 1Sat Ordinals Discord group.
1Sat Ordinals is the name given to NFTs and other tokens on the BSV blockchain. It follows the “Ordinals” token frameworks that exist in various forms on other blockchains (e.g., BRC-20 tokens on BTC). The basic principle behind Ordinals is that the smallest unit of a blockchain’s native currency unit can be identified with a unique ordinal number. Think of it like a serial number on a banknote, but it’s more useful since it’s digital. In Bitcoin’s case, that’s a “satoshi” or 1/100,000,000th of a bitcoin. 1Sat Ordinals can officially inscribe any satoshi with a serial number starting with those in transaction block 783968 (processed 20th March 2023).
Once identified with its ordinal number, a satoshi can be “inscribed” using Bitcoin Script with additional data such as an image, file, or other value. The unique token now has additional properties that make it useful beyond just being a currency unit—the most common usage is in creating collectible tokens or series of unique NFTs, limited series of fungible tokens, or game items. They may also be used to sell access/usage rights to creative works, serve as tickets or reward points, or any other use case you can imagine for unique digital tokens.
Ordinals are incredibly useful, but they work far better on a scalable blockchain like BSV. Why’s that? Well, if you want to send a single satoshi to someone, fees on non-scalable chains like BTC can be exponentially higher than the transaction value itself. The massive volume of transactions these token transactions create will soon clog a limited network like BTC—much to the annoyance of some BTC developers, who’ve made calls to ban Ordinals transactions on that network.
BSV, however, has an unbounded capacity to scale, and its transaction blocks can handle multiple gigabytes of extra data. Per-transaction fees are still a small fraction of a U.S. cent on average (whereas on BTC, we often talk whole dollars). BSV also does not require bolted-on transaction or contract “layers” (e.g., sidechains, separate networks) to send a single Ordinals-inscribed satoshi and its extra data, hence the name “1Sat Ordinals.”
With potentially trillions of unique tokens, there must be ways to keep track of them all. This includes metadata like what kind of token they are, when they were created, their purpose, whether or not they’re part of a collection/series, and which address currently own them. Wallets need to know this information before a token can be sent to another owner or used for its intended purpose. By the way, it’s possible for a 1Sat Ordinals token to gain a new “origin” (the point at which it became a unique satoshi) as UTXOs get divided up and/or rejoined. This sounds complicated, but the protocol and accompanying APIs are designed to keep track of this, too.
Here’s a flow diagram of how that works, at least for the purposes of WhatsOnChain’s APIs.
WhatsOnChain also has an API set (also in beta) for STAS, another token protocol for BSV.
TAAL Distributed Information Technologies developed the WhatsOnChain service. In addition to processing transactions and “mining” Bitcoins, TAAL is also developing other services to support distributed applications and other solutions for the broader blockchain technology field.
Watch: Tokens on Bitcoin? One Sat Ordinals and sCrypt
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