# The envelope taxonomy

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

URL: https://blockspace.wiki/research/envelope-taxonomy/

**Status on [blockspacelabs.com](https://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](https://blockspace.wiki/glossary/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](https://blockspace.wiki/glossary/inscription/);
- **[Counterparty](https://blockspace.wiki/glossary/counterparty/):** its own message encodings;
- **[OP_RETURN](https://blockspace.wiki/glossary/op-return/) protocols:** data in a provably unspendable output;
- **[stamps](https://blockspace.wiki/glossary/bitcoin-stamp/):** 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](/concepts/byte-census-t1/) already finds the envelopes in every block and counts their bytes by region. It is a descriptive card; no results are claimed.

## Related pages

[Inscriptions](/concepts/inscriptions/) explains the ord envelope. Part one of [permanent bytes](/research/permanent-bytes/) asks a narrower question of the same data: every inscribed byte by kind, over time.

Sources:

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

Updated: 2026-10-20