START
FROM ZERO.

WHAT IS BITCOIN?

Bitcoin is a digital money and payment network that works without a bank, company or government controlling it.

Computers around the world follow the same public rules and maintain a shared record of transactions called the Bitcoin blockchain. From a user's point of view, a wallet lets you send and receive bitcoin. Behind the scenes, the network verifies transactions and miners package them into blocks.

Bitcoin's issuance is predictable and decreases over time, ultimately approaching a maximum of 21 million BTC.

WHO CREATED BITCOIN?

Bitcoin was introduced under the name Satoshi Nakamoto.

Satoshi published the Bitcoin white paper in 2008 and released the first Bitcoin software soon afterward. Bitcoin began operating in January 2009. Satoshi later stepped away from the project without revealing a verified real-world identity.

Today, Bitcoin does not depend on Satoshi. Its software is open-source, and the network's rules are enforced by participants who choose which software they run.

WHAT IS A SATOSHI?

A satoshi — usually shortened to sat — is the smallest commonly used unit of bitcoin.

You do not need an entire bitcoin to use Bitcoin. This tiny unit becomes especially important when we get to Ordinal Theory, because Ordinal Theory gives individual sats identities that can be tracked.

WHAT ARE ORDINALS?

Ordinal Theory is a protocol for assigning serial numbers to individual satoshis and tracking them as they move through Bitcoin transactions.

Sats are numbered in the order they were mined. Ordinal Theory does not create another blockchain or a separate cryptocurrency — it is a way of interpreting and tracking sats that already exist on Bitcoin.

WHAT IS AN INSCRIPTION?

An inscription associates digital content with an individual sat, creating a Bitcoin-native digital artifact.

That content can include images, text, HTML, SVG, audio and other supported file types. Inscription content is stored on-chain, and the inscribed sat can move through normal Bitcoin transactions.

People often compare inscriptions to NFTs, but Ordinals users commonly call them digital artifacts because the content and ownership model are Bitcoin-native.

WHAT IS AN INSCRIPTION ID?

Every inscription has a unique identifier that points back to the Bitcoin transaction where it was revealed.

The part before the i is the transaction ID. The number after the i identifies the inscription's index within that reveal transaction.

WHAT ARE RARE & EXOTIC SATS?

Once individual sats can be identified, collectors can notice that some occupy unusually interesting places in Bitcoin's history.

Some sats are notable because of Bitcoin's issuance schedule. Others are collected because they were mined very early, came from historically significant blocks, passed through famous transactions or have unusual numerical patterns.

The Ordinal Theory Handbook uses the word exotic for sats prized for reasons beyond the formal rarity ladder and explicitly notes that what counts as exotic can be subjective.

ORDINAL RARITY — 60 SECONDS

This is useful background, but it is only one way collectors classify interesting sats.

HISTORICAL & EXOTIC SATRIBUTES

This is where OrdiMutants gets especially interesting. Many specimens are inscribed on sats with a story that exists independently of the artwork.

These categories are community-recognized classifications, not all protocol-level rarity classes. Definitions can come from block history, transaction provenance or numerical patterns.

WHY ORDIMUTANTS CARES ABOUT SAT HISTORY

An OrdiMutant is not only image + traits. The sat beneath the artwork can carry a completely separate layer of Bitcoin history.

That is why satribute badges appear underneath specimens in the collection explorer. A badge such as BLOCK 9, VINTAGE or PIZZA is telling you something about the Bitcoin underneath the art.

WHICH WALLET SHOULD I USE?

Xverse can identify rare and exotic sats and show their satributes. It also uses dedicated wallet handling for ordinary BTC payments versus Ordinals/rare-sat assets, which helps beginners understand that not every Bitcoin UTXO should be spent casually.

SEED PHRASE & WALLET SAFETY

• Verify links before connecting your wallet.
• Read what you are signing before approving a transaction.
• Use a small test transaction while learning.
• Double-check the receiving address.
• Do not store your recovery phrase in screenshots, Discord messages or casual cloud notes.
• Before spending a UTXO that may contain a rare sat or inscription, make sure your wallet is handling it correctly.

HOW DO I CREATE AN INSCRIPTION?

Beginner tools can handle much of the transaction construction for you. OrdiMutants recommends Ord Dropz and Inscribe.dev.

Bitcoin fee conditions can change quickly. Review the destination address, fee rate and total cost before you submit.

WHICH EXPLORERS SHOULD I USE?

YOUR FIRST 10 MINUTES

You have read enough. Now make the concepts real.

BEGINNER GLOSSARY