What Is eSTAMPS? Bitcoin Stamps, Now on eCash
eSTAMPS writes art directly into eCash transactions.
It went live on fork day, October 29, 2026, and it worked straight away. It is run by Stampchain, the team behind the Bitcoin Stamps protocol, using the same tools they use on Bitcoin.
It also arrived with a back catalogue. Because eCash forked Bitcoin, every stamp ever made on Bitcoin came across with it.
What a stamp is
A stamp is an image stored inside the blockchain itself, rather than on a server somewhere.
That part sounds like an ordinary NFT. Most NFTs only store a link, and the picture sits on a website that can go offline. A stamp holds the actual image data.
The difference that matters is where in the block the data sits.
Why stamps are not Ordinals
Ordinals put their data in the witness. That is a section of the block some nodes are allowed to discard. The data is there, but keeping it is optional.
Stamps write into transaction outputs instead. Those outputs are part of the record every node has to carry. The data cannot be dropped without breaking the node.
That is the whole argument for stamps. Supporters call them permanent in a way Ordinals are not.
It costs more. Output space is more expensive than witness space, which is why stamps tend to be small images.
The three kinds of stamp
The ECX explorer shows three.
Classic stamps use a random numeric identifier. This is the plain option.
Posh stamps use a named Counterparty asset instead of a number, so the stamp carries a real name.
Recursive stamps reference stamps that already exist rather than carrying new image data. That keeps them small and cheap to broadcast.
Underneath all three is Counterparty, an older protocol that has been writing data into Bitcoin transactions since 2014.
eSTAMPS caps a file at 65kB and takes PNG, JPG, GIF, SVG and HTML. That ceiling is why stamps are small pixelated images rather than photographs.
SRC-20 tokens
Stamps also carry a token standard called SRC-20.
It works the way these standards usually do. Someone deploys a ticker, other people mint it, and holders transfer it. It is the stamp equivalent of what BRC-20 is to Ordinals.
None of it has reached eCash yet. The ECX explorer carries the sections for tickers, mints and sales. On the day we looked, all three were empty.
What eCash inherited at the fork
This is the part specific to eCash, and it is unusual.
eCash is a hard fork of Bitcoin. It copied the entire record of unspent transactions at block 973,728, which is where stamp data lives.
So every Bitcoin stamp now exists on eCash too. Stampchain says it plainly: earlier stamps are history that eCash inherited, and ECX-native stamps start at the fork block.
Nobody had to move anything. An entire collection of on-chain art was duplicated onto a new chain the moment it forked.
What we have not verified about eSTAMPS
Three things on this page need confirming, and we would rather say so than guess.
Whether Posh stamps on eCash need XCP. On Bitcoin, registering a named Counterparty asset costs XCP, Counterparty's own token. We do not yet know what that requirement becomes on a forked chain, or whether eCash inherited those balances in a usable form.
How the inherited stamps behave in practice. The data came across with the fork, but we have not tested transferring a pre-fork stamp on eCash.
Whether the indexer is keeping up. The explorer reported the same indexed block, 977,929, twelve hours apart, while the chain moved thousands of blocks past it. Either the page caches hard or the indexer has stalled.
We have asked and will update this page with the answers.
eSTAMPS: common questions
Is eSTAMPS the same as NFTs?
It is the same idea with a stricter rule about storage. A stamp keeps the image in the blockchain rather than linking to a file elsewhere.
What is the difference between stamps and Ordinals?
Where the data lives. Ordinals use witness data, which nodes may discard. Stamps use transaction outputs, which every node keeps.
Do I already own stamps on eCash?
If you held Bitcoin stamps before block 973,728, that data exists on eCash too. Whether you can use it there is the part we are still checking.
Does eSTAMPS need a drivechain?
No. It writes to the eCash main chain. There is no sidechain slot to activate and no miner vote to win.
Are stamps cheaper on eCash than on Bitcoin?
Fees on eCash are very low right now because the chain is new and blocks are fast. That makes stamping cheap today. It is not a permanent property.
Related reading
Sources
eSTAMPS on eCash — the live explorer. Stamp types, SRC-20 activity, the fork block, the 65kB limit, the empty SRC-20 tables and the inherited history note. Read October 30, 2026
Bitcoin Stamps Seek To Improve On Ordinals — background on the protocol and the comparison with Ordinals
Bitcoin Stamps explained — background on SRC-20 and how stamp data is stored
Fork height 973,728 was read from the eCash source, src/kernel/chainparams.cpp
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