The three protocols — pick the right one
All three sit on Bitcoin L1 but solve different problems. Confusing them costs money on inscription fees and tax filings.
Numbers individual sats and inscribes data (image, text, JSON, code) to a specific sat. Each inscribed sat is unique. Used for art collections, profile pictures (PFPs), on-chain documents.
Fungible tokens that piggyback on the Ordinals inscription format. Functional but extremely inefficient — each transfer is two inscriptions. Largely deprecated by Runes in 2024-25.
UTXO-based fungible token protocol. ~80% cheaper than BRC-20 per transfer, atomic swaps possible, scales to billions of holders. Launched at the 2024 halving block and is now the dominant Bitcoin fungible token standard.
Best wallets in Asia
All wallets are non-custodial and ship with Ordinals + Runes support. Tested with hardware wallet (Ledger) where possible.
Best general-purpose Ordinals wallet for Asia. iOS + Android + Chrome. Native sBTC and Stacks support. Hardware wallet via Ledger. Inscriptions and Runes feel like normal Bitcoin sends.
Chrome extension built by the most active Ordinals dev team. Batch inscriptions, Runes etching, advanced fee control, brutal but powerful. Used by most professional inscribers in China, Japan, Korea.
Sparrow Desktop (open source) + Ordpool inscription tooling. Maximum verification, full Coldcard/Trezor compatibility. Highest learning curve but trust-minimised.
Marketplaces — where to trade
| Marketplace | HQ | Volume 2025 | Best for | Asia access | Fees |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Magic Eden | 🇺🇸 US | $3.2B | Top collections, NFT-style UX | Global | 2% |
| OKX NFT | 🇸🇨 SC | $1.9B | Asia retail, integrated exchange | Global, KYC for fiat | 2% |
| UniSat | 🇨🇳 (offshore) | $1.4B | Power users, mempool tools | Global | 1% |
| SaturnBTC | 🇸🇬 SG | $420M | Runes-first, Singapore retail | Global | 1% |
| Ordinals Bot | 🇨🇦 CA | $310M (inscribe-only) | One-shot inscriptions | Global | Service fee |
| Hiro Stacks marketplaces | 🇺🇸 US / 🌏 | n/a | sBTC + Stacks NFTs | Global | varies |
Mempool strategy for cheap inscriptions
Inscriptions are virtually-priced by bytes-per-virtual-byte (vB). A 50KB image at 50 sat/vB costs ~0.025 BTC (~$2,500). The same image at 5 sat/vB costs ~$250. Timing matters.
Sunday mornings UTC (Sunday evenings in Tokyo/Seoul/Singapore). Holidays. Immediately after large miner blocks. Historically the cheapest 6-hour window of any month.
During Runes etching frenzies (typically post-halving), high-volume Ordinals mints, exchange withdrawal surges. Watch mempool.space live.
Compress images aggressively (WebP/AVIF). Inscribe metadata as text not image where possible. Batch multiple inscriptions in a single transaction. Use SegWit + Taproot inputs to reduce vB.
Tax treatment by Asian country (2026)
| Country | Ordinal sale | Rune sale | Inscription cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇸🇬 Singapore | No CGT (if not trading biz) | Same | Capitalised in cost basis | Treated as digital payment token disposal |
| 🇭🇰 Hong Kong | No CGT (capital), profit tax if trading | Same | Deductible if business | Trade frequency determines classification |
| 🇯🇵 Japan | Misc income, up to 55% | Same | Deductible | NTA 2024 Ordinals guidance applies |
| 🇰🇷 South Korea | 20% above 2.5M KRW | Same | Deductible | Same regime as general crypto disposal |
| 🇮🇳 India | 30% + 1% TDS | Same | Not deductible (TDS rules) | VDA classification applies |
| 🇮🇩 Indonesia | 0.1% final tax | Same | Capitalised | Treated as commodity by Bappebti |
| 🇹🇭 Thailand | 15% withholding | Same | Deductible | SEC oversight |
| 🇲🇾 Malaysia | 0% individual (active trading taxed) | Same | Deductible if biz | SC guidance evolving |
| 🇵🇭 Philippines | BIR treats as capital asset | Same | Deductible | BSP recognises crypto as VA |
| 🇦🇪 UAE | 0% individual | Same | n/a | VARA-regulated marketplaces preferred |
FAQ
Are Ordinals NFTs?
Conceptually similar (a uniquely identifiable digital artifact tied to a token), but technically different. NFTs on Ethereum are smart-contract entries; Ordinals are inscribed data on a specific sat at Bitcoin L1. Ordinals don't require a smart contract — the inscription is the artifact itself. This makes them harder to ban, easier to verify, but less programmable.
What's a "rare sat"?
The Ordinal protocol assigns rarity tiers to sats based on Bitcoin epoch milestones — uncommon (1 per block), rare (1 per difficulty adjustment), epic (1 per halving), legendary (1 per cycle), mythic (the first sat of all). Collectors trade these at significant premiums regardless of any inscription.
Can I send Ordinals from a normal Bitcoin wallet?
Technically yes, but you risk spending the inscribed sat as a fee or change output, destroying the inscription. Use an Ordinals-aware wallet (Xverse, UniSat, Sparrow with ordpool) which avoids spending inscribed UTXOs.
How do I etch a new Rune?
Use UniSat or OKX. Choose name (4–28 letters, must be unique), supply, divisibility, mint terms. Etching costs scale with name length — single-letter names trade for >1 BTC. Most retail-friendly etches are 6–10 letter names with capped supply and a 50/50 fair-launch.
Does inscription fee make Bitcoin more expensive for everyone?
Yes, during high inscription activity normal Bitcoin transactions compete for the same block space. The flip side: this is exactly the fee market Bitcoin needs to sustain miner security as the subsidy halves. Lightning Network mitigates the impact on payment users — see our Lightning guide.
Are inscriptions permanent?
As permanent as Bitcoin itself. The data lives in witness data of Bitcoin transactions, replicated by every full node, and is essentially impossible to remove without a hard fork. Inscriptions outlive websites, IPFS pins, and even Ethereum NFT metadata.