You may have heard that there are hidden messages on the Bitcoin blockchain, and even on the Ethereum blockchain, too. Indeed, the first-ever block of Bitcoin (the genesis block) will forever carry the headline of a newspaper from that day: “The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.” This was a little wink by Satoshi Nakamoto about why Bitcoin came to exist in the first place. Some chain explorers have the thoughtfulness of sharing this message in a human-readable format now, but it wasn’t stored like that originally. It was in a hexadecimal code, and if you converted it to ASCII (a system for mapping characters to numeric codes), then you’d be able to read it in plain text. chain explorers chain explorers If that sounds awfully complex for average mortals, well, the lesson here is that most crypto networks weren’t exactly built to send messages. However, it’s very possible, and not only has Satoshi engraved eternal notes on a decentralized ledger. First, think about it… So, slipping a note into a crypto transaction sounds fun, yet crypto systems aren’t built for chatting. The main hurdle is practical. Every transaction (including any text) gets copied by every full node forever. Adding more data could make the whole network slower, storage-heavy, and more expensive to maintain. That’s known in the community as “blockchain bloat,” and it risks centralizing things as fewer people can afford to run a node when the chain grows too large. blockchain bloat blockchain bloat On top of that, crypto networks juggle huge pressure to stay secure and decentralized. Every node must validate every transaction, and that limits how much data (even harmless messages) the network can carry at once. Every node must validate every transaction, and that limits how much data (even harmless messages) the network can carry at once. In short, if you want to deliver a text, crypto networks allow it —but only in tiny, deliberate ways. They were never made as conversation platforms, but as immutable ledgers, focused on security and reliability, mainly for financial transactions. Engraving a forever message in a crypto network is possible, but first, think about whether it’s really worth it. Encoded Messages Now, we’re not lying here: it’s possible, but it’ll be complicated in most chains. It’s not rocket science either, but it’ll rarely be enough to just write your thing and press ‘send’. The process often involves converting your message to hexadecimal code, finding specific wallets that support this function or advanced features inside wallets, and pasting that hex code into a specific field, sending a transaction without funds. The process often involves converting your message to hexadecimal code, In any case, each network has its own way to handle it. Bitcoin, for example, uses a special feature called OP_RETURN, which lets you attach up to 80 bytes of data to a transaction. To do this, you can use wallets like Moonshine, Trezor, or imToken, and yes, you’ll need to convert to hexadecimal. Once the transaction is confirmed, that message stays on the chain forever, visible through public explorers —just like the tribute to Len Sassaman. Dogecoin and Litecoin have similar options because they share Bitcoin’s base code. OP_RETURN OP_RETURN Len Sassaman Len Sassaman Ethereum and BNB Chain also let you include data in a transaction. With wallets like MetaMask, you can enable “Show hex data” and paste a hex-encoded message before sending. This doesn’t transfer value unless you want it to, but it leaves your words in the transaction record. include data include data With wallets like MetaMask, you can enable “Show hex data” and paste a hex-encoded message before sending. Other networks, like Ripple (XRP) and Stellar (XLM), have ‘memos’ or ‘tags’ fields meant to identify deposits in centralized exchanges. These spaces are sometimes abused, though, by sharing dubious data or harmful links, since they appear as public in explorers. It’s worth remembering that not all shared messages will be benign, and you should simply ignore the tricks of malicious actors. have ‘memos’ have ‘memos’ harmful links harmful links Human-readable Messages in Obyte Not every crypto network makes the process of sending plain text so difficult. If you want to engrave a permanent message (or even just a temporary one) on a distributed ledger, you can do it without complex steps through the Obyte wallet. In the “Send” menu, you can add a simple text message by choosing “Text” in the “What to send” field which you normally use to select a token, and it’ll become part of the network’s DAG. Anyone will be able to see it through our public explorer. Obyte wallet Obyte wallet In the “Send” menu, you can add a simple text message by choosing “Text” in the “What to send” field And the fun doesn’t stop at plain messages. Besides assets and text, you can also send private profiles, attestations (ID verifications), data into oracles (trusted data sources for smart contracts), or leave temporary data that disappears after a day, while its proof (in the form of a hash) stays forever. data into oracles data into oracles temporary data temporary data The best part is that you won’t need strange codes or ASCII juggling —just type what you want, pay a tiny fee, send, and it’s done. Whether it’s a casual quote, a timestamped note for later reference, or something more creative, Obyte lets anyone put their words alongside their transactions without needing to learn complex things first. Featured Vector Image by vectorjuice / Freepik Featured Vector Image by vectorjuice / Freepik Freepik Freepik
