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I noticed some bech32 Bitcoin addresses that have a specific structure with a large number of "q". Here is a few examples: bc1qmdtv5qqqqqp4qnz5ghlejq9evyuxgqqqqq9yj3zp2sydwcmqqqqq2j6wen bc1qqyqzr7gyq5qqqqsq9smqqqqqyyqq6qqqqg6ffrepsrrvmgjspk7srnq0kp bc1qd4sn6vpwxs6ngdf4qqsljpq9q5qqvqpvqyqqzqqcqqwqqqqrmy5q505e7m

Here are other bech32 addresses with a different structure (so most likely a different usage) bc1q9scnqtpn9sejcdza05qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqq5wx2ys bc1q9scjcvpvxykrqtpn9s6jcvf39sc46lgqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqlcyp97

It looks like they are burn addresses used by a specific (or several) protocols on top of Bitcoin. Any idea which protocol is using such addresses. Link to a documentation on the structure of the addresses would be great.

Thanks.

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All of these addresses were created as part of the OLGA standard that is used to put arbitrary data into the UTXO set in the form of "fake" P2WSH outputs that are forever unspendable.

The five addresses you posted each belong to a different transaction, whose arbitrary data payloads are:

  • a 1×1 orange (#FF9900) PNG image (1)
  • a GIF animation (2 and 3)
  • a SRC-721 token mint (4 and 5)

The reason some of the addresses have a long string of q's before the checksum is because the last output in an OLGA transaction must be 0-padded, and "q" corresponds to 0 in the Bech32 alphabet.

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  • Thanks for the answer, it is very useful. I have a last question, using the counterparty decoder (jpja.github.io/Electrum-Counterparty/decode_tx) I indeed found the payload of all but the SRC-721 token. How do you know this transaction corresponds to a SRC 721 token. Thanks?
    – user155892
    Commented Aug 9 at 17:16
  • If you run the raw data through an ASCII/UTF8 encoder you'll get a serialized JSON that includes "src-721".
    – Vojtěch Strnad
    Commented Aug 9 at 17:59

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