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The envelope taxonomy

Research: every way data is carried on Bitcoin (ord envelopes, Counterparty, OP_RETURN protocols, stamps), by bytes over time.

Status on blockspacelabs.com: Research.

What it studies #

The Labs site describes it as: "Every way data is carried on Bitcoin (ord envelopes, Counterparty, OP_RETURN protocols, stamps), by bytes over time."

Data reaches Bitcoin in several shapes. An envelope is the structure a protocol wraps its data in. The card names four families of carrier:

  • ord envelopes: the witness envelopes that carry ordinal inscriptions;
  • Counterparty: its own message encodings;
  • OP_RETURN protocols: data in a provably unspendable output;
  • stamps: data written where it cannot be pruned.

The study counts the bytes each carrier has used, block by block, so the history of how data is put on Bitcoin can be read as one series. block.space's data-types reference describes the formats themselves, field by field.

The data it will use #

"BTI envelopes": the byte census already finds the envelopes in every block and counts their bytes by region. It is a descriptive card; no results are claimed.

Inscriptions explains the ord envelope. Part one of permanent bytes asks a narrower question of the same data: every inscribed byte by kind, over time.

Sources #

  1. The blockspacelabs.com page (index.html) · blockspacelabs.com
  2. block.space docs: data types · block.space/docs/datatypes
  3. Blockspace Holdings records

Updated 2026-10-20 · This page as Markdown