How to set up the best wallet for ordinals and inscriptions

Have you heard about ordinals? This emerging technique for trading bitcoin is driving a new wave of creativity and experimentation on bitcoin, and art is just the beginning.

If you’re planning on creating your inscription or perhaps bidding on an ordinal NFT, there are some important things to consider before you make the leap. Casa’s multi-key vaults are designed to help you secure digital assets including ordinals and inscriptions. Here’s a brief overview of how to get started.

What’s an ordinal?

Ever since bitcoin was created, there has been interest in storing data, such as artwork and text, on the blockchain outside of bitcoin transactions. In fact, Satoshi Nakomoto stamped a newspaper headline in the first bitcoin block in 2009.

Ordinals are a method of assigning unique identifiers to individual satoshis (sats), the smallest denomination of a bitcoin (0.00000001 BTC). Ordinals allow you to attach content to a satoshi and store it on the blockchain, which creates an inscription, a type of digital artifact or non-fungible token (NFT).

How to secure inscriptions

Security is the most important part of any collection. Art theft is real even in the digital world, and there have been numerous instances of stolen NFTs in recent years. If you are in possession of an inscription or bidding in auctions, it’s vital to have a plan for how you’ll take safe custody of your assets.

Because bitcoin’s blockchain is designed to be irreversible, inscriptions can serve as a permanent record. When you send and receive them, the transactions are also permanent, which is all the more reason to keep yours safe.

The best way to secure inscriptions and other digital assets is with multiple keys. That way, your assets are safe even if one of your devices or seed phrases is lost or stolen. Casa vaults are built with multiple keys and are noncustodial, so you have complete control over your inscriptions.

Security options for inscriptions

Purchasing collectibles can be a fast-moving, high-stakes undertaking. If you’re pressed for time, our 3-key vaults are a great way to get started so you can participate in an auction or purchase. These are available on our Standard membership, and these can be quickly set up on your own as long as you have a hardware wallet. That way, you can place secure bids knowing you have your self-custody lined up. Sign up for Standard here.

If you plan on holding your asset for an extended period of time, it’s smart to upgrade your security when you have the chance. Our Platinum membership comes with a 5-key vault, the most robust option for securing digital assets, and it’s well-suited for ordinal collections. Our 5-key vault helps you make the most of your self-custody with complete peace of mind.

Manage collections with a subaccount

Ordinals are special sats. To keep them secure, you need to avoid commingling them with the rest of your bitcoin.

If you don’t keep inscriptions separate from other assets, you put yourself at risk of accidentally sending your inscriptions to someone in an unrelated transaction. Additionally, you need to be sure you’re using the correct bitcoin address when you’re transacting with an inscription. Trust us: you don’t want to pay for coffee with fine art.

Our Casa vaults can help you keep track of your inscriptions using subaccounts. Think of a subaccount as a dedicated room within your vault for your collection.

With a Platinum membership, you can create up to four subaccounts. This gives you one place to generate bitcoin addresses and secure inscriptions, so they are separate from the rest of your bitcoin.

Create and transfer inscriptions securely

Once you create a subaccount, it’s important to be meticulous with trading inscriptions and use different addresses for each inscription. This is because inscriptions are traded within unspent transaction outputs (UTXOs) which are data entries connected to an address that contain a specific amount of bitcoin available to be spent.

To keep your inscription safe, you need to keep track of its UTXO, and the Casa app can help with managing individual UTXOs. This article in our Support Center describes the ordinal transaction process and covers the best practices for managing your inscriptions. Be sure to follow the instructions before proceeding with your first transaction.

Secure ordinals with Casa

Casa takes all the guesswork of securing ordinal inscriptions, so you can focus on the fun parts of managing your collection. Get started with a Casa vault, and secure your personal collection today.

Get privacy and security news

Our weekly Security Briefing newsletter provides quick updates on bitcoin security with analysis from Casa’s experts. Sign up below.