Bitcoin Stamps Protocol: Technical Whitepaper
Core Innovation — Leveraging Bitcoin's UTXO set for permanent data storage, making asset data consensus-critical and unprunable. All full nodes must store stamp data to validate transactions, guaranteeing permanence as long as Bitcoin exists.
Abstract
Bitcoin Stamps is a metaprotocol for creating permanent, immutable digital assets on Bitcoin through direct UTXO storage. Unlike witness-data approaches, Bitcoin Stamps embed asset data in transaction outputs using bare multisig and P2WSH encoding, ensuring universal node storage and consensus-critical permanence.
The protocol evolved from Counterparty foundations (block 779,652) through native Bitcoin encoding (block 793,068) to P2WSH optimization via OLGA (block 865,000). Built on account-based asset tracking, Bitcoin Stamps support fungible tokens (SRC-20), non-fungible assets (base stamps), decentralized naming (SRC-101), and composable recursion (SRC-721).
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| UTXO-based permanence | Data stored in spendable outputs, not witness segments |
| Consensus-critical storage | Required for transaction validation across all nodes |
| Account-based assets | Counterparty-style balance tracking, not UTXO-bound tokens |
| Multi-protocol support | Extensible architecture for tokens, names, and recursion |
| Cost-optimized encoding | OLGA P2WSH reduces fees 30-95% vs bare multisig |
Download
Bitcoin Stamps Technical Whitepaper
Complete specification including architecture, token standards, economics, and implementation details
Table of Contents
Read individual sections on GitHub (canonical source):
| Section | Title | Topics |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction | Protocol motivation, Counterparty origins, genesis block 779,652, OLGA activation |
| 2 | Protocol Architecture | UTXO storage model, bare multisig vs P2WSH encoding, account-based tracking |
| 3 | Token Standards | SRC-20, SRC-721, SRC-721r, SRC-101 — DEPLOY, MINT, TRANSFER operations |
| 4 | Economic Model | Fee structures, UTXO permanence economics, multisig vs P2WSH cost analysis |
| 5 | Stamps Improvement Proposals | SIP governance, active proposals (SIP-0001 through SIP-0008) |
| 6 | Implementation | Indexer architecture, consensus mechanisms, validation logic |
| 7 | Security Analysis | Threat model, attack vectors, permanence guarantees |
| 8 | Future Work | Research directions, SIP roadmap summary |
Protocol Timeline
| Block | Date | Milestone |
|---|---|---|
| 779,652 | March 29, 2023 | First Bitcoin Stamp by mikeinspace |
| 788,041 | April 20, 2023 | First SRC-20 token (KEVIN) deployed by Arwyn |
| 793,068 | April 20, 2023 | First native Bitcoin encoding (no Counterparty) |
| 796,000 | August 15, 2023 | Counterparty cutoff — SRC-20 consensus rule |
| 833,000 | — | P2WSH transactions enabled on stamps |
| 865,000 | October 15, 2023 | OLGA activation — P2WSH optimization for SRC-20 |
Citation
Bitcoin Stamps Community (2026). Bitcoin Stamps Protocol: A Technical Whitepaper.
Version 1.0. Retrieved from https://bitcoinstamps.xyz/en/whitepaper/Community
| GitHub | stampchain-io/btc_stamps |
| Telegram | t.me/BitcoinStamps |
| Community | Bitcoin Stamps Community |
| Protocols | Protocol Documentation |
| Tutorials | Developer Guides |
This whitepaper serves as the canonical technical specification for Bitcoin Stamps protocol.
All implementations should reference this document for protocol compliance and consensus rules.