Bitcoin uses the UTXO model (Unspent Transaction Output), meaning your balance is stored in individual outputs rather than a single total. Some outputs contain Ordinals (Bitcoin NFTs) or rare sats—collectible satoshis with unique attributes like early block heights or historical significance.
Phantom's sat protection helps prevent you from accidentally spending these assets.
How it works
Rare sats warning
When you send Bitcoin that includes rare sats, Phantom displays a warning showing how many rare sats are included and identifies the rarest one. You can review this information before deciding whether to proceed.
Ordinals and BRC-20 protection
If your wallet contains Ordinals or BRC-20 tokens, Phantom shows their value in your total balance under Tokens. However, the Bitcoin tied to these UTXOs is excluded from your sendable balance.
This means your total balance may look correct, but your sendable balance may show as $0 if all your Bitcoin is tied to Ordinals.
If you need to send protected Bitcoin
To manually control which UTXOs are included in a transaction, import your recovery phrase into an external wallet like Sparrow. See Send Bitcoin using Sparrow wallet.