Proof of Sats : Physical collectible cards containing rare sats

[L-titipi]

Hello everyone,

I’d like to introduce a project I’ve been working on for the past several months: Proof of Sats, physical collectible cards containing rare sats identified through the Ordinals protocol.



Before getting into the project itself, I’d like to make one short clarification about rare sats.

Preamble

I’m fully aware that satoshi numbering is not a native property of Bitcoin Core. It is an off-chain convention that makes it possible to identify and track individual satoshis by applying deterministic rules to transaction history.
Everyone is free to consider that convention interesting, useless, or completely arbitrary.
But the idea itself predates Ordinals by many years. As early as 2012, several developers were discussing here on Bitcointalk the possibility of assigning a unique serial number to individual satoshis:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=117224

Casascius notably suggested numbering satoshis continuously from the Genesis block:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=117224.msg1260610#msg1260610

That is exactly the integer notation used by Ordinals today.
I also find it interesting that some of the conventions later adopted by Ordinals were independently proposed here roughly ten years apart:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5430668.0

Another important clarification: unlike inscriptions, a rare sat does not add any data to the blockchain. Its classification is derived from data that is already there.
I have always been a collector myself, and I find the idea fascinating that certain satoshis can be collected because of their position, provenance, or history.
That is where Proof of Sats came from.

Proof of Sats

The idea is simple: to materialize particular satoshis as physical collectible cards.

The first series is limited to 100 cards. Each card contains a satoshi originating from the oldest bitcoin still in circulation: a bitcoin mined by Satoshi Nakamoto in Block 9 on January 9, 2009.
Strictly speaking, the Block 9 sats in Series 1 are exotic sats, not rare sats under Rodarmor’s rarity classification. The rarity tiers (uncommon, rare, epic, legendary and mythic) are defined by a satoshi’s position within Bitcoin’s block structure. His original thread is itself titled Ordinals: Rare and exotic sats.

At a time when everyone seems to be trying to tokenize physical objects, I liked the idea of doing the opposite: giving physical form to an asset that exists only digitally.

How a card is made

Each card has a unique guilloché design, inspired in particular by patterns used on banknotes and certificates of authenticity.
The pattern is generated deterministically from the satoshi number using SHA-256.
So each card is as unique as the sat it contains.
The card also displays the information needed to identify and verify the satoshi. Everything can be independently checked against the blockchain using a compatible Ordinals indexer.



The private key

This is obviously the most sensitive part of the project.
The private keys are generated on a dedicated machine that is kept completely offline. I bought it specifically for this purpose and physically removed its Wi-Fi card.
The keys are printed using a wired printer with no Wi-Fi capability. I then delete the files containing the private keys.
The cards themselves are printed by a professional without the private keys. I add the keys myself afterwards, under a custom VOID security seal made specifically for the project.



I want to be completely transparent about one point: you have no way of verifying that I actually destroyed the private keys, and I have no cryptographic way of proving it.

Casascius acknowledged exactly the same trust assumption with his physical bitcoins:

“When I create a physical bitcoin, one must trust that I am not keeping the private key.”

My cards have the same limitation.

However, an important part of the system does not depend on my word.
The satoshi contained in the card is not intended to be moved. The owner can therefore check at any time that the UTXO associated with the card remains unspent, without opening the card or revealing the private key.
If I ever moved the satoshi contained in a card I had sold, the transaction would be public, permanent and immediately verifiable.
The sats used in this series also have a relatively limited market value compared with the potential value of the project itself. Sweeping the cards would make little economic sense and would publicly destroy the credibility of the entire project.

One issue with the first production run

I also want to document a mistake present on some cards from this first production run.
In some UTXOs, the rare sat is in the last position rather than the first.
Because the cards are already sealed and the private keys have been destroyed, I obviously cannot reorganize those UTXOs anymore.
This has no consequence as long as the sat remains in the card.

However, if someone eventually opens the card and sweeps the private key using a wallet that is not Ordinals-aware, the rare sat could end up being allocated to the transaction fee.
I will therefore provide a procedure and a small tool that will make it possible to move the satoshi safely regardless of its position within the UTXO.
Recovery is therefore still possible, but it naturally requires opening the seal and destroying the integrity of the card as a sealed collectible.

In my view, the sat is not meant to leave the card. But the owner should obviously always remain able to recover it.

What comes next

I have currently produced two series of 100 cards each, numbered from 1 to 100, as well as a small Genesis series of 22 cards, numbered from 0 to 21.
Genesis #0 is a special one. It contains an Uncommon sat (the first sat of a block) mined only a few minutes before my son was born in July 2010.
It was the first card I ever made, and I gave it to him.



I would now like to explore other categories of sats: Uncommon sats, Alpha sats, palindromes, Pizza sats, and other sats connected to Bitcoin history.
I also want to offer custom cards containing satoshis with a more personal meaning: a sat mined on the day of a birth, a wedding, or another significant event, for example.
If we are going to materialize pieces of Bitcoin, I also like the idea of materializing its almost watch-like precision.
I’m currently building an online store where people will eventually be able to choose a card number and buy it in BTC or fiat.

Thanks for reading, I’m particularly interested in hearing what you think about the concept.

[hybridsole]

This looks like an interesting project, and the presentation is really cool.  I like the design of the card.

I'm just a little fuzzy on how sats are tracked, though.  I'm aware of UTXOs and coin control to spend specific UTXOs.  Here's a hypothetical: If someone sends me 10k satoshis (and it contains a rare sat), and then I send someone else 5k satoshis and keep the other 5k, how do I know whether I have the rare sat or the person I sent to got the rare sat?  Maybe there is some ELI5 out there that explains how satoshis can be individually tracked and it gets broken up into separate UTXOs. 

I suspect that may be the main barrier to something like this taking off. I do not often come across anything with Ordinals (I heard about it a couple years ago for a bit). I tend to lump it into something like NFTs which had its day in the sun and is now seemingly dead. I do like the concept of ordinals more than NFTs though. 

[aoluain]

Yes I agree, really interesting concept  on the face of it but there are no doubt going to be
plenty of questions, as above.

So there are 100 million Sat's in a Bitcoin. When Satoshi mined the Bitcoin in circulation from
Block 9 wouldnt there technically be 100,000,000 "rare" or special Sat's?

Isnt there an argument that there are potentially so many Sat's still in circulation from the first
year, 2009, are they really rare?

Arent the mined Sat's from the first 77 blocks special or rare because they were mined by Satoshi?

How do you isolate 1 Sat?
Is there going to be a demand for a collectible with nust 1 loaded Sat?
Is there really any point to hide the private key? it is uneconomical to move 1 sat.

[tweetious]

Interesting project. I have a couple of questions:

I have currently produced two series of 100 cards each, numbered from 1 to 100, as well as a small Genesis series of 22 cards, numbered from 0 to 21.

If I understood this correctly, you have produced 222 different cards in total (two series of 100 cards each, plus a Genesis series of 22 cards).

What is the circulation of each card design? In other words, how many identical copies of each design exist?

Are the cards individually numbered? For example, for Series 1, if card #1 has a total print run of 50 copies, will each card be individually numbered x/50?

I’m currently building an online store where people will eventually be able to choose a card number and buy it in BTC or fiat.

Will all of the cards be sold individually, or will it also be possible to purchase packs of cards? Perhaps blind packs?

Could you please provide an estimate (or a price range) for the cost of each card?

When are you planning to start selling the cards, or when do you estimate that the online store will be ready?

Is there any chance that you could sell some cards here on the forum before the shop opens?

From which continent/country will the cards be dispatched?



Thanks in advance, and I wish you all the best with your project!

[L-titipi]

This looks like an interesting project, and the presentation is really cool.  I like the design of the card.

I'm just a little fuzzy on how sats are tracked, though.  I'm aware of UTXOs and coin control to spend specific UTXOs.  Here's a hypothetical: If someone sends me 10k satoshis (and it contains a rare sat), and then I send someone else 5k satoshis and keep the other 5k, how do I know whether I have the rare sat or the person I sent to got the rare sat?  Maybe there is some ELI5 out there that explains how satoshis can be individually tracked and it gets broken up into separate UTXOs. 

I suspect that may be the main barrier to something like this taking off. I do not often come across anything with Ordinals (I heard about it a couple years ago for a bit). I tend to lump it into something like NFTs which had its day in the sun and is now seemingly dead. I do like the concept of ordinals more than NFTs though. 

Thanks a lot for the feedback, and for the kind words about the design!

For your example, Ordinals simply uses a first in, first out rule: sats in the inputs are considered ordered, then assigned to the outputs in that same order.
So if your 10,000-sat UTXO contains the rare sat at position 2,000, a 5,000-sat payment would carry it with that output. If the rare sat is at position 8,000, it would remain in the change output.
That convention is what allows Ordinals indexers to track an individual sat through transactions.
And I think you’re right: until you understand that mechanism, the idea of “tracking” a single sat can feel pretty abstract.

Yes I agree, really interesting concept  on the face of it but there are no doubt going to be
plenty of questions, as above.

So there are 100 million Sat's in a Bitcoin. When Satoshi mined the Bitcoin in circulation from
Block 9 wouldnt there technically be 100,000,000 "rare" or special Sat's?

Isnt there an argument that there are potentially so many Sat's still in circulation from the first
year, 2009, are they really rare?

Arent the mined Sat's from the first 77 blocks special or rare because they were mined by Satoshi?

Thanks a lot for the feedback, and for your questions!
Yes, you're right: there are 100 million sats in every bitcoin, so 5 billion sats were created in Block 9. More broadly, a huge number of sats were mined in 2009. So they are not “rare” simply because they are old.
What becomes interesting, in my view, is looking for sats that combine several distinctive characteristics.
To start with, I chose sats from the oldest bitcoin still in circulation because it is historically significant and also very easy to explain, even to someone who knows nothing about Ordinals.

You can then go much further. For example, Alpha sats are the first sats of each bitcoin. Among the sats attributed to Satoshi, they are therefore obviously far fewer in number than all the sats he mined. There are only 950 of them: at that point, the combination of provenance, age and specific position becomes much more interesting from a collecting perspective.

It is also important to distinguish these from protocol-level Rare Sats, which exist in a finite and known quantity. We can calculate exactly how many Uncommon sats — the first sat of a block — exist or will ever exist. And they are infinitely rarer than exotic sats. Barely 950,000 are currently in circulation, and there will never be more than 6,929,975. That is a drop in the ocean compared with the 1 trillion sats involved in the 10,000 BTC transaction used to buy two pizzas in 2010.
So it is important to distinguish between rare sats and exotic sats.

How do you isolate 1 Sat?
Is there going to be a demand for a collectible with nust 1 loaded Sat?
Is there really any point to hide the private key? it is uneconomical to move 1 sat.

To isolate a sat, you do not need to create a UTXO containing only 1 sat. The identified sat can sit inside a UTXO containing many sats, as long as its exact position is known. Ordinals tools can then track it and allow it to be moved specifically.

As for whether there is demand for collectibles based on a single sat, there are already several marketplaces where these sats trade every day. And what is being valued is obviously not their face value of 1 sat, but their provenance and characteristics.
Sotheby’s, for example, held a dedicated rare sat auction in 2024.
https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2024/bitcoin-ordinals-sat-hunting/alpha-uncommon-5-210-000-000-000
And probably the most extreme example is the Epic sat, the first sat of the block mined at the fourth halving, which sold at auction for 33.3 BTC, worth about $2.13 million at the time.
https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2024/04/25/bitcoin-mining-pool-viabtc-sells-epic-first-post-halving-sat-for-213m

That is also why the private key still needs to remain protected. Even if moving a sat for its face value alone would make no economic sense, what is being protected is not the sat as a monetary unit: it is control over that specific sat.

Interesting project. I have a couple of questions:

If I understood this correctly, you have produced 222 different cards in total (two series of 100 cards each, plus a Genesis series of 22 cards).

What is the circulation of each card design? In other words, how many identical copies of each design exist?

Are the cards individually numbered? For example, for Series 1, if card #1 has a total print run of 50 copies, will each card be individually numbered x/50?

Will all of the cards be sold individually, or will it also be possible to purchase packs of cards? Perhaps blind packs?

Could you please provide an estimate (or a price range) for the cost of each card?

When are you planning to start selling the cards, or when do you estimate that the online store will be ready?

Is there any chance that you could sell some cards here on the forum before the shop opens?

From which continent/country will the cards be dispatched?

Thanks in advance, and I wish you all the best with your project!

Thanks a lot for your message and for the encouragement.

Yes, that’s correct: there are 222 cards in total, and every card is unique. The satoshi number, its data, and the generated pattern are different on every card.
The cards are also individually numbered. For example, Genesis 0/21 is card #0, Series 1 - 1/100 is card #22, and Series 2 - 5/100 is card #126.

The cards will be sold individually, with no packs. You’ll be able to choose the card number or simply the generated design you prefer.
I’m currently thinking of pricing them at around $100 per card, as collectible objects.
I’m planning to put Series 1 on sale in September. If the project is well received here, I’m also considering offering the Genesis Series directly on the forum.
The cards will be shipped from France.

Thanks again for your interest

[Kryptowerk]

Definitely interesting. Haven't read it all yet, it's a bit late where I am located but will try to follow up tomorrow.
I noticed you said the patterns (which I like from an artistically standpoint) are derived from "the satoshi number using SHA-256". Can you elaborate a bit on that - only if it does not compromise any uniqueness of your project of course.

Another minor detail, the exact Satoshi (number) with sometimes 10 or 11 digits would be more digestible if there was some separation every 3 digits - but I assume everything was already printed?

Maybe I missed it, but do you plan on selling these? If so, what will be the loading of these cards, just one unique sat or a bunch of sats containing the unique sat? What's your target price point? Just saw on your previous post you mentioned $100 per card.
I might be interested in buying, even though this seems like a very nerdy/niche project (which is super cool btw, don't get me wrong!).

[bitbollo]

...

Interesting, there are few ordinals collectibles and some had a kind of interest in the past by the community (DOGGIE). Plus it's really nice to see all of these anti counterfeit measures introduced.
It is easy to open this slab - or it can broke the card holder? There is any seal for it?
It has been tested while opening? Likewise it crack? It can damage the card itself?

How it change the design of the card?
It has been created randomly or there are likewise rarest similar designs?
Likewise any card is different but there are no similiarities on shapes?

About ordinals (in general and please don't consider based on your project):
It was not planning on bitcoin paper and introduced with a soft fork (that has been made possible after segwit in 2017 + taproot softfork in 2021).
This creates a market distinction between otherwise identical satoshis.
Ordinals have been used for making inscriptions: upload of "non monetary" data inside blockchain.
if you need to make a fast transaction you need to compete with someone that want to upload a "meme" on bitcoin blockchain (technically in some countries they consider illegally using btc/blockchain/mining for that reason)... in certain "rare blocks" (imagine around block 1000000)...
Normal peasant like me can't make a basic transaction a 1sats/byte but need to compete at ... 1000 sats/byte! I would not care if have a raresatoshi or not... I should have a few on my old address but this could be far from bitcoin philosophy in a certain way.
Bitcoin has a value because is sound money, not because of a meme printed on it.
From a consensus perspective, the satoshis remain part of the normal UTXO system... however this could create additional risks, including accidental spending, difficult UTXO management, reduced liquidity and debates about fungibility.

Last but not least, I would not use previous sales from these auctions houses to give credibility to Ordinals as collectibles (these are 2,5 years old...)
There are many reasons for it, just to mention the clear similarity with "NFT concept" or even , as you have already mentioned, there are many "abstract" things on it - (likewise arbitrary count - or introduction of "difference" between two satoshi - loss of fungibility).

(OT: Since you're shipping from FRANCE it has been just introduced a new rule called "EPR" related shipping of goods...)
(OT2: @SurferGG please have a look on this collectible...)

[MoparMiningLLC]

the thing is - (at least in my feeble understanding and simplistic opinion) using FIFO is only an assumption that the sats actually stay in that order - its essentially make believe. There is no way to guarantee that its actually the same sat from txn to txn.

for example - take 100,000 balls and drop them in tubes - you call the first one in the first tube #1 and then you take all those balls and do this again and then you again call the first ball in the first tube #1 - they are most assuredly not the same ball.  

overall an interesting idea but more or less just a way for someone to fleece the crowd - get them to spend 25k sats to get a rare sat for example when really the sat is not rare nor can it actually be confirmed.

That said I may be interested in buying 2 cards if they are serialized - #10 and #76

[L-titipi]

Definitely interesting. Haven't read it all yet, it's a bit late where I am located but will try to follow up tomorrow.
I noticed you said the patterns (which I like from an artistically standpoint) are derived from "the satoshi number using SHA-256". Can you elaborate a bit on that - only if it does not compromise any uniqueness of your project of course.

Thanks for your message, I’m glad you like the pattern!
I created a script that uses SHA-256 to generate a hash from the satoshi number, then transforms that hash into a geometric figure inspired by guilloché patterns.
Values derived from the hash determine things like the number of lines, the angle of the curves, and the colors. So each satoshi number produces its own unique pattern.

Another minor detail, the exact Satoshi (number) with sometimes 10 or 11 digits would be more digestible if there was some separation every 3 digits - but I assume everything was already printed?

Maybe I missed it, but do you plan on selling these? If so, what will be the loading of these cards, just one unique sat or a bunch of sats containing the unique sat? What's your target price point? Just saw on your previous post you mentioned $100 per card.
I might be interested in buying, even though this seems like a very nerdy/niche project (which is super cool btw, don't get me wrong!).

The question of separators did come up. I ultimately chose not to use them because, with numbers this large, I see the satoshi number more as a unique identifier than as a quantity that needs to be read. It’s also the convention used by the main rare sat websites and tools, which generally display satoshi numbers without separators. That said, I agree that using separators is perfectly defensible from a readability standpoint.
As for the loading, each card contains a UTXO of 546 sats: 545 common sats + 1 special sat.

It is easy to open this slab - or it can broke the card holder? There is any seal for it?
It has been tested while opening? Likewise it crack? It can damage the card itself?

Thanks for your feedback!
The slab is sealed with a UV-curing adhesive. I’ve tested opening them: in most cases, the slab cracks or breaks before it can be opened cleanly, without damaging the card itself.
Of course, if someone forces it aggressively, there is still a risk of damaging the card.

How it change the design of the card?
It has been created randomly or there are likewise rarest similar designs?
Likewise any card is different but there are no similiarities on shapes?

As for the patterns, each one is different. And across the few hundred cards I’ve produced, certain characteristics are starting to emerge: very simple designs with fewer lines seem to be rarer; some produce a kind of star shape, while others are particularly regular or symmetrical.

I haven’t created any rarity system for the designs, though these are simply emergent properties of the generator.

About ordinals (in general and please don't consider based on your project):
It was not planning on bitcoin paper and introduced with a soft fork (that has been made possible after segwit in 2017 + taproot softfork in 2021).
This creates a market distinction between otherwise identical satoshis.
Ordinals have been used for making inscriptions: upload of "non monetary" data inside blockchain.
if you need to make a fast transaction you need to compete with someone that want to upload a "meme" on bitcoin blockchain (technically in some countries they consider illegally using btc/blockchain/mining for that reason)... in certain "rare blocks" (imagine around block 1000000)...
Normal peasant like me can't make a basic transaction a 1sats/byte but need to compete at ... 1000 sats/byte! I would not care if have a raresatoshi or not... I should have a few on my old address but this could be far from bitcoin philosophy in a certain way.
Bitcoin has a value because is sound money, not because of a meme printed on it.
From a consensus perspective, the satoshis remain part of the normal UTXO system... however this could create additional risks, including accidental spending, difficult UTXO management, reduced liquidity and debates about fungibility.

Thanks as well for your comments about Ordinals. I completely understand the arguments against using them.
Personally, I think the freedom at the core of Bitcoin also means that everyone should be free to use or not use this kind of convention, as long as the transactions remain valid under the rules of the network.

I would just like to distinguish two things: rare sats themselves do not add any additional data to the Bitcoin blockchain. They rely only on a convention for identifying and tracking sats from data that is already there.
As for using Bitcoin to carry data beyond simple payments, that idea is not new either. The Genesis block itself contains the famous message left by Satoshi. That obviously does not mean modern inscriptions are equivalent to the Genesis block message, only that the idea of using the blockchain as a data carrier did not begin in 2023.

And thanks for the heads-up about EPR.

the thing is - (at least in my feeble understanding and simplistic opinion) using FIFO is only an assumption that the sats actually stay in that order - its essentially make believe. There is no way to guarantee that its actually the same sat from txn to txn.

for example - take 100,000 balls and drop them in tubes - you call the first one in the first tube #1 and then you take all those balls and do this again and then you again call the first ball in the first tube #1 - they are most assuredly not the same ball. 

Thanks for your feedback.

Where I would slightly qualify your analogy with the balls is that Ordinals does not reshuffle the sats randomly with each transaction: it applies the same deterministic rule across the entire transaction history. Any indexer applying those same rules will therefore arrive at the same result.
FIFO is still a convention. And even though that convention is not imposed by Bitcoin itself, I find it interesting that it was intuitive enough to be proposed independently at different times.
In 2012, Johnson Lau already treated fees as coming after the outputs in his satoshi inheritance model (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=117224) ; ten years later, Rodarmor arrived at a very similar logic with Ordinals (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5430668.0).

That obviously does not make the convention “native” or objectively true, but it does show that it was not chosen completely at random.
Whether that convention is enough to give an individual sat an identity or collectible value is a separate question. I completely understand someone taking the view that a sat is simply a sat.

I would also distinguish between rare sats and exotic sats. The Block 9 sats in my first series are exotic because of their provenance, but they are not “rare” under Rodarmor’s rarity tiers. I’m trying to be very transparent about that distinction rather than presenting any old sat as inherently rare.
As for the price, what I’m primarily selling is the physical collectible itself: the design, the production, the sealed key, the provenance, and the sat it contains.

overall an interesting idea but more or less just a way for someone to fleece the crowd - get them to spend 25k sats to get a rare sat for example when really the sat is not rare nor can it actually be confirmed.

That said I may be interested in buying 2 cards if they are serialized - #10 and #76

The first 21 card numbers are currently being kept aside for a possible future sale here on the forum. That said, I’ve already received a few reservation requests by PM, and I’m happy to reserve specific numbers when possible.

So I’ll reserve #76 for you (with absolutely no obligation to buy of course).


Thanks everyone for the encouragement!

[MoparMiningLLC]

I never said ordinals reshuffles the sats - reality reshuffles the sats. UTXO's are not going to keep sats in the exact same order with each transaction so while ordinals follows a set of rules - bitcoin does not follow those same rules so yes it is still 100% random. there is zero guarantee you are actually tracking the sats.

as for sats from a particular block - if they have been thru a few thousand or a few hundred utxo's (or more) it is again not the same actual "sat" after the very first transaction after they are "identified" it is already not he same sat. They are mixed beyond any actual real way to identify them.

and thank you for reserving #76

[L-titipi]

I get your point. The only thing I’d nuance is that Bitcoin doesn’t define any reshuffling that would compete with FIFO. It simply doesn’t say anything about how sats are mapped from inputs to outputs. So saying that “reality reshuffles the sats” is also adding a model that Bitcoin itself doesn’t define.

I’ll keep #76 aside for you, that will be for September

[MoparMiningLLC]

I get your point. The only thing I’d nuance is that Bitcoin doesn’t define any reshuffling that would compete with FIFO. It simply doesn’t say anything about how sats are mapped from inputs to outputs. So saying that “reality reshuffles the sats” is also adding a model that Bitcoin itself doesn’t define.

I’ll keep #76 aside for you, that will be for September

perhaps but without a set definition from Bitcoin one way or the other - it still makes the process ordinals uses as unreliable and a borderline skam. Ordinals requires that Bitcoin - or assumes that Bitcoin - works the way it needs it to.

That said - I see physical items a bit differently as they are tangible

question: do we get to pick the block or sat or w/e for the card we request? or does each card already have one specified?

[L-titipi]

perhaps but without a set definition from Bitcoin one way or the other - it still makes the process ordinals uses as unreliable and a borderline skam. Ordinals requires that Bitcoin - or assumes that Bitcoin - works the way it needs it to.

That said - I see physical items a bit differently as they are tangible

question: do we get to pick the block or sat or w/e for the card we request? or does each card already have one specified?

That’s exactly why I included this disclaimer in my opening post:

I’m fully aware that satoshi numbering is not a native property of Bitcoin Core. It is an off-chain convention.

I think we agree on that part, even if we may disagree on what value that convention has.

For your question: each card already has a specific sat assigned to it.
Series 1 covers a sequence of 100 consecutive sats from the first bitcoin of Block 9, the oldest bitcoin still in circulation, according to Ordinal Theory
You’ll be able to choose your card either by the sat number, the card number (1 to 100, although some are already reserved), or simply by the artwork you prefer. All 100 designs will be visible before purchase.

Longer term, my goal is also to create custom cards containing sats linked to specific dates, blocks or events that have personal meaning.
That’s actually how the idea started for me: the first card I made for my son contains the first sat of a block mined just a few minutes before he was born.
I really like the idea that a sat can carry a personal history.

[MoparMiningLLC]

perhaps but without a set definition from Bitcoin one way or the other - it still makes the process ordinals uses as unreliable and a borderline skam. Ordinals requires that Bitcoin - or assumes that Bitcoin - works the way it needs it to.

That said - I see physical items a bit differently as they are tangible

question: do we get to pick the block or sat or w/e for the card we request? or does each card already have one specified?

That’s exactly why I included this disclaimer in my opening post:

I’m fully aware that satoshi numbering is not a native property of Bitcoin Core. It is an off-chain convention.

I think we agree on that part, even if we may disagree on what value that convention has.

For your question: each card already has a specific sat assigned to it.
Series 1 covers a sequence of 100 consecutive sats from the first bitcoin of Block 9, the oldest bitcoin still in circulation, according to Ordinal Theory
You’ll be able to choose your card either by the sat number, the card number (1 to 100, although some are already reserved), or simply by the artwork you prefer. All 100 designs will be visible before purchase.

Longer term, my goal is also to create custom cards containing sats linked to specific dates, blocks or events that have personal meaning.
That’s actually how the idea started for me: the first card I made for my son contains the first sat of a block mined just a few minutes before he was born.
I really like the idea that a sat can carry a personal history.

on the first part we do agree - on the value we do not.

I would want card #76

I would like if a sat could carry a personal history but because we agree on the first part - that means it cannot. There is zero actual real way to track sats unless you assume Bitcoin runs on FIFO at a sat level which there is no way to verify/prove that so without that verification proof its just a fairy tale - like snake oil.

But add in the art and there is a physical value then.

[L-titipi]

I’ll keep #76 reserved for you.

And thanks, I really appreciate that you see some artistic value in the cards.

[Est2013]

perhaps but without a set definition from Bitcoin one way or the other - it still makes the process ordinals uses as unreliable and a borderline skam. Ordinals requires that Bitcoin - or assumes that Bitcoin - works the way it needs it to.

That said - I see physical items a bit differently as they are tangible

question: do we get to pick the block or sat or w/e for the card we request? or does each card already have one specified?

That’s exactly why I included this disclaimer in my opening post:

I’m fully aware that satoshi numbering is not a native property of Bitcoin Core. It is an off-chain convention.

I think we agree on that part, even if we may disagree on what value that convention has.

For your question: each card already has a specific sat assigned to it.
Series 1 covers a sequence of 100 consecutive sats from the first bitcoin of Block 9, the oldest bitcoin still in circulation, according to Ordinal Theory
You’ll be able to choose your card either by the sat number, the card number (1 to 100, although some are already reserved), or simply by the artwork you prefer. All 100 designs will be visible before purchase.

Longer term, my goal is also to create custom cards containing sats linked to specific dates, blocks or events that have personal meaning.
That’s actually how the idea started for me: the first card I made for my son contains the first sat of a block mined just a few minutes before he was born.
I really like the idea that a sat can carry a personal history.

on the first part we do agree - on the value we do not.

I would want card #76

I would like if a sat could carry a personal history but because we agree on the first part - that means it cannot. There is zero actual real way to track sats unless you assume Bitcoin runs on FIFO at a sat level which there is no way to verify/prove that so without that verification proof its just a fairy tale - like snake oil.

But add in the art and there is a physical value then.

I'm a sucker for some fresh snake oil -- I'd be a buyer -- I really like the innovative approach in trying to convert something intangible into a physical collectible; however difficult that may be. Anything new/change will always have push back.

I'd say the overall success of the project does rely on the adoption of the Ordinal Theory though (and assuming a better system never materializes) -- and if you subscribe to it, you certainly can have a sat carry personal history. Much like any monetary system, the masses choose to believe in it and back it, or not.

Sidebar: Mopar - I do love irony. And somehow, I can't quite put my finger on it, but I see a parallel between your disbelief in the technicalities of a sat having personal history, yet still wanting your sentimental #76 serial number 

Excited to see the it launch - best of luck!

[MoparMiningLLC]

Sidebar: Mopar - I do love irony. And somehow, I can't quite put my finger on it, but I see a parallel between your disbelief in the technicalities of a sat having personal history, yet still wanting your sentimental #76 serial number 

i know right?!?! LoL the skam is ordinals initself - what this maker has done is real though and tangible so yes - I need my 76! Would want 10 as well but that is reserved for now!

[Kryptowerk]

Thanks to the back-and-forth between Mopar and you, L-titipi, and me re-reading your OP I got a better understanding of what exactly is going on.
It's a bit "sad" that the sat identification is simply based on convention - but thinking more about it it's obvious that there can't be any other way; if indeed each sat was tracked by a unique id, we would have an insane bloat of unnecessary data on the blockchain.
All that said, I can mostly echo Mopar's statement:

[...]
I would like if a sat could carry a personal history but because we agree on the first part - that means it cannot. There is zero actual real way to track sats unless you assume Bitcoin runs on FIFO at a sat level which there is no way to verify/prove that so without that verification proof its just a fairy tale - like snake oil.

But add in the art and there is a physical value then.

It's still an interesting project to me and I'll follow this thread for a while. Maybe also gonna buy "a sat or two".
I think you did a great job getting all the relevant info on the card in a visual very pleasing way. Again, the sha256-to-pattern translation is a well done - it reminds me of chaos-attractors or also sonic-resonance patterns visualized in a liquid or sand.

As for the loading, each card contains a UTXO of 546 sats: 545 common sats + 1 special sat.

The 546 extra sats are for potential transaction fees or what's the idea here?

[bitbollo]

Thank you OP for all explanations and clarifications about your artwork.

...genesis block...

OP_return size was 83 bytes and has been pushed to 100.000 bytes...
These outputs can't be spent.  This is way the value associated to this output must always be 0 satoshi (to avoid to burn precious coin).
With ordinals and sats the value assumed is 1. You can use ordinal both as "collectible"/"satoshi to spend"/"certification" ... well, spending 1 sats would be impossible at this moment but in one of the topic you have quoted the first comment was:

...
the coins that record their ownership will become worth more than the stocks themselves.  Etc, etc.

I would agree with the same. At a certain point this would be the only destiny possible...
Examples of another use of OP_return as "certificate of security" during the exchange of money/transfer of the object:

TX_CERT a protocol to certify the originality and the transfer of ownership of a product and/or collectible.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5439719.0

[L-titipi]

I'm a sucker for some fresh snake oil -- I'd be a buyer -- I really like the innovative approach in trying to convert something intangible into a physical collectible; however difficult that may be. Anything new/change will always have push back.

I'd say the overall success of the project does rely on the adoption of the Ordinal Theory though (and assuming a better system never materializes) -- and if you subscribe to it, you certainly can have a sat carry personal history. Much like any monetary system, the masses choose to believe in it and back it, or not.

Sidebar: Mopar - I do love irony. And somehow, I can't quite put my finger on it, but I see a parallel between your disbelief in the technicalities of a sat having personal history, yet still wanting your sentimental #76 serial number 

Excited to see the it launch - best of luck!

That actually sums up pretty well how I see it.
I agree that the value of this kind of collectible ultimately depends on people adopting the Ordinal convention.
Thanks for the encouragement, it really means a lot to see that the concept resonates.

Thanks to the back-and-forth between Mopar and you, L-titipi, and me re-reading your OP I got a better understanding of what exactly is going on.
It's a bit "sad" that the sat identification is simply based on convention - but thinking more about it it's obvious that there can't be any other way; if indeed each sat was tracked by a unique id, we would have an insane bloat of unnecessary data on the blockchain.

Yes, it is a bit sad that the identification ultimately relies on a convention. But what I find encouraging is that this convention has already been adopted by a number of important players. Sotheby’s, for example, held a dedicated Sat Hunting auction, and some mining pools have also started isolating or distributing uncommon sats (first sat of a block).
That is an interesting signal in itself, because rare sats can potentially create an additional source of revenue for miners.

It’s also important to distinguish between rare sats and exotic sats.
Rare sats: mathematical rarity based on Bitcoin’s issuance structure (blocks, difficulty adjustment, halving...), with a finite and predictable supply. Roughly 960,000 Uncommon sats are currently in circulation, and there will ultimately be fewer than 7 million Uncommon sats. That’s a drop in the ocean compared with the trillion Pizza sats (corresponding to the 10,000 BTC Laszlo Hanyecz spent on the pizzas).
Exotic sats: rarity based on provenance, numerical patterns or other characteristics. These categories are more subjective, community-defined, and potentially expandable.

It's still an interesting project to me and I'll follow this thread for a while. Maybe also gonna buy "a sat or two".
I think you did a great job getting all the relevant info on the card in a visual very pleasing way. Again, the sha256-to-pattern translation is a well done - it reminds me of chaos-attractors or also sonic-resonance patterns visualized in a liquid or sand.

Thank you very much I really appreciate it!

As for the loading, each card contains a UTXO of 546 sats: 545 common sats + 1 special sat.

The 546 extra sats are for potential transaction fees or what's the idea here?

The 546 sats are not intended as a fee reserve. 546 because it’s the traditional dust threshold for a P2PKH output. So the special sat sits inside a normal spendable UTXO rather than a 1-sat output. With Taproot, the equivalent threshold is lower, around 330 sats.

...
the coins that record their ownership will become worth more than the stocks themselves.  Etc, etc.

I would agree with the same. At a certain point this would be the only destiny possible...
Examples of another use of OP_return as "certificate of security" during the exchange of money/transfer of the object:

TX_CERT a protocol to certify the originality and the transfer of ownership of a product and/or collectible.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5439719.0

Thanks, that’s an interesting parallel. I like the idea of Bitcoin being used not only to transfer value, but also as a way to establish provenance or certify something.
I wasn’t aware of TX_CERT, so thanks for sharing it. I’ll definitely take a closer look at it.