Ethereum inscription: A new form of digital art creation

Ethereum inscription ( Ethscriptions ) is an innovative way to create and share digital artworks on the Ethereum network. Compared to traditional NFTs, this method is more cost-effective and has a higher degree of decentralization.

The core idea of Ethereum inscriptions originates from Bitcoin Inscriptions, but it has made some improvements in its implementation. For example, users can participate in inscription creation without running a full node, which greatly lowers the entry barrier. In addition, the popularity of Ethereum wallets is also higher than that of Bitcoin wallets, which is conducive to the promotion of inscription technology.

inscription Working Principle

The process of creating an inscription is as follows:

1. The user initiates an Ethereum transaction, which contains a valid data URI in the transaction's input data.

2. If the data URI is unique and has not been used before (, a new inscription will be created.

3. Inscription supports all valid MIME types.

4. The transfer of inscriptions is completed by sending a transaction containing the original inscription transaction hash.

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Create and Transfer Inscription

There are two ways to create inscriptions:

1. One-click minting through the official website, supporting a maximum upload of 96KB images.

2. Manual operation: Convert the image to Base64 encoding, then to hexadecimal data, and finally send a 0 ETH transaction containing that data.

When transferring an inscription, it is necessary to send a transaction of 0 ETH to the recipient and include the inscription ID ) in the transaction data, which is the transaction hash that created the inscription (.

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Track and View Inscription

You can currently view inscriptions in the following ways:

• The official website provides the latest display of inscription minting.
• Use the indexer to query ). The official indexer has not been open-sourced yet (.
• Retrieve historical data through BigQuery
• Use Alchemy API to get real-time data
• View related statistics on Dune

![Ethereum inscription: Continuation of Bitcoin ordinals or a regression in history?])https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-897ee4432f1095e28d2b94f2ea259acf.webp00&userId=983cb29f-1c52-4091-a69a-810373d1b0d1&cache=v2(

Latest Update

According to the recent announcement by founder Middlemarch, there are the following important updates for Ethereum inscriptions:

1. Inscription Number: Each inscription has a unique serial number that represents its creation order.

2. Indexer Rewrite: The new indexer can more accurately identify valid inscriptions.

3. Double-check: When creating an inscription, the content will be automatically checked for duplication to avoid invalid operations.

![Ethereum inscription: Continuation of Bitcoin ordinals or a regression in history?])https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-9cc8ae13328bd979f011698eaa670654.webp00&userId=983cb29f-1c52-4091-a69a-810373d1b0d1&cache=v2(

Inscription Project Example

After the launch of Ethereum inscriptions, some interesting applications quickly emerged:

• Ethereum Punk: The first Ethereum inscription NFT series is actively trading on OpenSea.

• $eths: A token minting method similar to BRC-20, minted through data in a specific format.

• Other gameplay: such as $gwei, $fomo and other tokens, as well as pure digital inscriptions.

In addition, some users have also inscribed Satoshi Nakamoto's famous quotes on Ethereum, showcasing the cultural value of inscriptions.

![Ethereum inscription: Continuation of Bitcoin ordinals or a regression in history?])https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-0ffd865826faca75b316ab7a572a2002.webp00&userId=983cb29f-1c52-4091-a69a-810373d1b0d1&cache=v2(

Summary

Ethereum inscriptions, as an emerging blockchain application, have sparked considerable discussion. While some question their necessity, the emergence of new things always involves controversy. Inscriptions provide users with a new way to create and participate in digital assets, enriching the blockchain ecosystem. Whether for innovation or speculative purposes, the existence of inscriptions offers us a new perspective to think about the development direction of blockchain technology.

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