Inspect an address
Read outpoints instead of totals, and understand exactly what a balance figure hides.
Universe implementation Verified 2026-08-31
Describes what a Bitcoin Universe service actually does today. It is not a statement about the protocol in general.
- Page ID
-
guides/inspect-an-address - Normative authority
- Universe implementation documentation
- Networks
- mainnet
- Documentation version
- 2026.08
- Audience
- everyone, holder, developer
- Owner
- bitcoin-universe-docs
- Sources
-
- Universe ARC-20 index and Marketplace v1 authority
at
670030e50071private repository - Universe Atomicals NFT, Realm, and Subrealm index
at
1d9109c68d95private repository
- Universe ARC-20 index and Marketplace v1 authority
at
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Before you start
Section titled “Before you start”- Supported networks: mainnet.
- Status: Universe implementation for the read views. The underlying model is protocol behavior.
- Read only. Nothing here spends anything.
What you need
Section titled “What you need”The address, and a data source that reports outpoints.
The procedure
Section titled “The procedure”- Read the portfolio balances view for the address.
- Read the coloured UTXO view for the same address. This is the one that matters.
- For each coloured outpoint, record: the txid and vout, the satoshi value, and the Atomical ID or IDs it carries.
- Note any outpoint carrying more than one Atomical. That is a mixed output. See splat and mixed outputs.
- Record the generation identifier and indexed height the answer came from.
What a balance figure hides
Section titled “What a balance figure hides”| The total says | It does not say |
|---|---|
| 1 246 units | How many outputs that is, or their sizes |
| One token | Whether any output also carries something else |
| A number | Whether any output is below the dust threshold |
| A current figure | Which generation and height produced it |
You cannot plan a transfer from a total. You can only plan one from outpoints.
Reading the response
Section titled “Reading the response”Every Universe response carries a request identifier, a generation identifier, and freshness metadata. Record them. When something looks wrong later, those three fields are what makes the difference explainable. See readiness and freshness.
If it fails
Section titled “If it fails”An empty result and an unavailable service look the same in a user interface and mean opposite things. Read unavailable index against empty balance.
Source
Section titled “Source”UTXO ownership and ARC-20 API.