Screenshot of a Book Of Orbs wallet which lists a number of trading card and in-game tokens.

The past seven months or so, I have spent time researching tokens and assets using Counterparty (XCP) and I’ve gone down some pretty incredible rabbit holes. Surprisingly, “yer boy $crill” has been called upon to give a few talks discussing varying use cases and how to create tokens at Bitcoin-Meet Ups, I’ve been interviewed in an E-Book about trading cards via blockchain and now have recently begun my podcast I host with Cynthia Gayton, “Art On The Blockchain.” I don’t claim to be an expert in this field but I do have some experience farting around in it a lot lately. I’m interested in getting more artists, creatives, musicians, gamers, collectors and the likes, to explore this technology and see what, if anything it can do for you.

Bitcoin can be used, not only as a digital currency store of value, but also as a settlement layer for tokens harnessing its best in class security. By attaching tokens using Counterparty (XCP), one can essentially create your own currency, in-game tokens, trading cards, rewards program, authorization keys or probably something someone smarter and prettier can think of. This is especially useful for artists, musicians, oracles, celebrities, promoters, clubs and more.

Why XCP? I’m not paid by anyone from Counterparty and there are many blockchains buzzing with token talk in communities like Ethereum, Waves, NXT and more. The fact is, XCP is the most trusted and secure as far as I can tell, has a great community- willing to offer help freely- and XCP is certainly the easiest to use that I’ve tried. Counterparty also has many apps and projects using it like Sarutobi, Book Of Orbs, Spells Of Genesis, Takara, Rare Pepe Trading, Folding Coin, Augmentors, Token.fm, Indie Square and many more. If you find any luck with any other blockchain tokens feel free to comment below.

First, you will need a bit of bitcoin and some counterparty.

Acquire bitcoin — there are a few ways…

1. First you will need a bitcoin address. Since we will be using XCP aka Counterparty tokens I will recommend you get a counterparty address from counterwallet.io or counterwallet.coindaddy.io

Write down and safely secure your 12 word passphrase — This is your private key. You should never share or lose it or you will lose access to your wallet..

“Don’t be a fool, saving passwords is cool.” — Crypto T

2. Next, buy bitcoins. (You will use your newly created counterparty address to send them to.)

There are many different ways to acquire bitcoins. The below are simple suggestions and I am not liable for any lost or found coins. It can be a bit frustrating at first, you may email noRiskNoReward@soManyEmotions.com to vent about it.

a. Acquire some anonymously from a friend. (Does your friend love you enough to part ways with their bitcoin they’ve been hoarding? If yes. They are true friends.)

b. Buy semi-anonymously from places like bitquick.co which takes only a few hours or less.

c. Buy from localbitcoins.com — If you do it in person please meet in a public setting. Note: Best to avoid credit card and paypal services.

d. The easiest entry for noobs probably: Buy from coinbase.com — a very easy and reputable company that has a slick app that mimics a bank app almost. If you buy here then you’re not buying anonymously and your bitcoin could be tracked (customers also claim they get banned if they send bitcoin to gambling site or other places deemed shady by them.)

NOW THAT YOU HAVE AQUIRED BITCOIN..

You will need to acquire some counterparty (XCP) to issue any tokens. Tokens cost .5 XCP (this could change in the future depending on XCP’s price) to issue so buy accordingly. At the time of this writing you can get about 292 XCP for 1 BTC or roughly $4.50/each.

Counterparty logo

A few exchanges I can recommend offer XCP — Poloniex.com, bittrex.com, tuxexchange.com or shapeshift.com.

Screenshot from coinmarketcap.com.

I will show you how to use bittrex to acquire XCP for the purpose of this article.

1. Go to www.bittrex.com

2. Click on “Log In” then “Sign Up”

3. Next confirm your email

4. Now you are signed up, sign in to Bittrex and you can click on “Markets”

5. Search “XCP” in the search box

6. Click on BTC-XCP and the order books and charts will appear.

7. For the purpose of this I will just say market buy (as opposed to setting a Bid in the order book to get a better deal) your XCP by…

A. Look under “Trading”

B. Click on “Price” next to “Bid”

C. Click “Ask” on the drop down menu

D. Now next to “Units” click “Max”

E. Now you should have a price like “0.00323400” and a unit of XCP like “4” or “5.4358” in the “Units” section

F. Click “+Buy Counterparty”

G. You now should own some XCP

H. Note: If your entire order didn’t fill then the remainder will show up at the top or near the top of the “Bids” order book. You can either cancel the order and redo steps A-F or wait for the order to fill.

8. Now click “Wallets” at the top of the bittrex menu.

9. Next to your XCP you will see a “+” and “-“ sign. Click the “-“ (minus) sign.

10. Now paste your XCP address from your counterwallet address (the one you stored your passphrase for) in the “Address” portion.

Your XCP address is that 20-something digit string in the above screenshot.

11. Type the quantity to send or tap the double arrow icon next to “Quantity.” (I recommend just sending about .5 XCP to the address to test you have followed the steps correctly, then sending max amount.)

12. Now double check your amounts and your address.

13. Now triple check your address is correct.

14. Now click “Withdrawal.”

15. On the new screen, verify address a 4th time, click “Confirm”

Now in a few minutes you will see your transaction show up as “(x.0)” amount of XCP and a small amount of extra bitcoin “(0.0000xxxx).” Depending on the mempool and fees at present time it could take about 10 minutes to a few hours (rarely, but somethimes you may have to wait longer, don’t panic. You can view your tx in a block explorer like counterpartychain.io to see it’s status.)

NOW… WE CAN FINALLY CREATE OUR OWN FREAKIN TOKEN!

1. Open your counterparty wallet (www.wallet.counterwallet.io) up by pasting or typing in your 12 word passphrase.

2. Next, click on “Address Actions” drop down menu and select “Create A Token”

Click on “Create a Asset (Asset)”

3. Next you will see a pop up menu, where you can name your token for the cost of .5 XCP or make a numeric one for free. Give your token a name that contains 4–12 letters, but it cannot begin with the letter, ”A” (this is changing soon I believe) and the names cannot contain any spaces. Examples of tokens are GORILLAGLUE, RAREIVANKA, PEPECASH, FLDC, etc

4. Write a description of your token in the “Description” portion. You can enhance this asset (add a image, facts, etc) by using coindaddy.io and following their steps.

5. Issue the quantity. Note: this can be changed to only add more later, not take away, if you do not lock the token, so if you are unsure do not lock and just issue 1 unit to begin

Example: I want to squat an asset I’ll be using in the future called BENDERZ. I don’t know how many I’ll need or what exactly it’s use will be so I will just issue the token unlocked at 1 issuance. The only issue you have to determine is whether or not your token should be divisible or not. For some, like in the digital trading card space you will probably be better off making it non-divisible and if it’s going to be a currency you will want it divisible more than likely.

6. Click “Create Token”

7. A few minutes to an hour later your token should appear in your wallet.

At this moment… We are euphoric.

Now What Do I Do With My Token? We will delve into this more soon… But feel free to drop into Telegram to explore more and hit me there or on twitter at @scrillaventura.

Now try sending your token to me here: 1K3BnUCGmDfiMBaaHEpKNQSzdWGN9CGhFW

Thanks to Shawn Leary and Encypted Charms for the proof read =)