Introduction to Ordinals for Founders

🎉 Free Collection Creation

Creating a collection on Mintium is completely free for creators. You only need to consider the network fees for inscribing minters, which your collectors will pay during minting.

What are Ordinals?

Ordinals are digital artifacts inscribed directly on the Bitcoin blockchain. Unlike traditional NFTs that store data off-chain, Ordinals contain the entire content within the Bitcoin transaction, making them truly on-chain and permanent.

Understanding Network Fees

Current Fee Examples (at 4 sats/vB):

3 KB file = 3,883 sats
15 KB file = 16,934 sats

Check current network fees at mempool.space

💡 Optimal File Sizes

For the best user experience and lowest network fees, aim to keep your trait files between 1-3KB. As shown above, larger files can increase costs significantly for your collectors.

Factors affecting inscription costs:

File size (bigger files = higher fees)
Current network congestion (check mempool.space)
Bitcoin transaction fee rates

File Optimization Tips

💡 Pixel Art Collections

For pixel art collections, you can use very low dimensions (like 24x24px) to minimize costs. Most ordinal indexers and marketplaces use automatic pixel upscaling for display. Check out Nodemonkes as a great example of a 24x24px collection that looks crisp at larger sizes.

High Resolution Art?
If you want to create high-resolution artwork collections, consider using recursive inscriptions to keep minting costs reasonable for your collectors.

General optimization tips:

Use webp format for final images
Compress images without losing quality
For pixel art: use small dimensions (24x24px to 32x32px)
For high-res art: implement recursion
Remove unnecessary metadata
Consider using SVGs for vector graphics

Recommended Dimensions

Pixel Art: 24x24px to 32x32px
Standard Art: Up to 500x500px
High-res Art: Use recursion for larger sizes

Best Practices

✅ Do

Keep your files under 3KB
Use recursive inscriptions for collections
Optimize all files before inscription
Consider your community's minting costs

❌ Don't

Upload uncompressed images
Ignore file size limitations
Rush inscriptions during high network congestion
upoload files with huge data sizes

Getting Started

Ready to create your collection? Here are your next steps:

Prepare and optimize your artwork
Learn about recursive collections, if necessary
Set up your Mintium dashboard
Join our community for support

Need help optimizing your collection? Join our Discord or contact [email protected]