Exploring Token Information and Enhanced Asset Information
Last updated
Last updated
While you are free to put any type of description in the “description” field, some descriptions are supported to show correctly on Tokenscan and Freewallet.
Counterparty provides a simple standard Enhanced Asset Information and this standard and provides a way to point to more information that could not just be stored in the description text.
These formats include: - IMAGE Format - JSON Format - JSON Format with Hash - IMGUR Format - SOUNDCLOUD Format - YOUTUBE Format - IPFS Format - STAMP Format - ORDINALS Inscription Format
For more information on how to correctly input the description you wish to use please reference CIP 25.
While these formats are commonly used, it is very common for users to experiment with description information as seen with CCSATOSHI (base-64 in description):
There are also many tools and 3rd party websites that offer the service of easily converting your data or file you would like to include in your description to be coded in these “standard” manners to show correctly on Tokenscan and other Counterparty Block Explorers.
These include, but are not limited to:
https://coindaddy.io - This is owned and operated by Jdog and requires a $5 fee to host your data to produce a json for your token. This resource will take you through the process from start to finish if you have not already minted your XCP asset. If you have already minted an asset, but are just looking to change the description and use Enhanced Asset Descriptions, you will have to first sign in with your BTC address by signing a message using Freewallet (or other Counterparty wallets).
https://easyasset.art - This is more recent and uses Arweave to host your data and produce a json for your token. There is a great informative video from RobotLoveCoffee to use this website with use on Counterparty Descriptions.
You can also manually create a json file and host it using Arweave yourself, but the process is a little more in-depth and technically demanding. If you would like to go about this route (with long term data storage in mind) please reference this informative video by RobotLoveCoffee. This process uses this json tool and ArDrive.
For Ordinal Inscriptions it has been recommended by the community to use this tool to mint the details and media of your asset and then use this separate tool to correctly format your Inscription for your Counterparty Description which points to the Inscription. For more information on what an Inscription is, please reference this guide.
It is also possible to host data associated with a token using a JSON hosted with a Github Repository. There is a great Medium article written by Subterranean is avaliable to review how to do this in greater detail and is titled, 'How to Host Your Counterparty Images and Json Files on GitHub'.
Furthermore, using FAKEDUST (an entire music album in a token with additional art) as an example of preparing a specific JSON to show information:
Many different enhanced asset information properties can be used at one time:
For instance, take a look at the FAKEDUST enhanced information above. With just one JSON description a user can include: - An entire album with a custom HTML player shown with the Red Arrow - An attached digital artwork show with the Blue Arrow - Attached Digital Video artwork shown with the Orange Arrow - Categorized Enhanced Asset Information shown with the Green Arrow - Links to the attached Arweave links shown with the Purple Arrow
Keep in mind Counterparty users have been experimenting with token usage, description info, distribution techniques and project rulesets for almost 10 years now. There is usually an example that can help you form the token you wish to create. For more historical tokens check out this Historical Counterparty Token/Developer Timeline (2014-2021).
