Crypto Stamp 4.0 Bull — Austria/Netherlands Joint Issue

History

On 22 September 2022, Österreichische Post and the Dutch PostNL set a historic milestone in the young history of crypto stamps: the world's first international joint issue of a blockchain-based postage stamp. On that day, both postal services simultaneously emitted a crypto stamp with identical bull motif, in their respective national colors and with country-specific design elements.

The preparation phase ran for over a year. As early as May 2022, PostNL publicly announced that it would issue a crypto stamp in the autumn — the first in the history of the Dutch postal service. Pre-orders in the Netherlands opened on 2 September 2022; the joint physical release date in both countries was 22 September. The idea for the joint edition emerged from Österreichische Post's experience with the predecessor editions CS 3.0 and 3.1, and from growing international interest among other postal services in crypto stamp concepts.

Concept: Bull as Symbol

The bull has been an economic symbol for centuries. In stock market parlance, "bull market" denotes a phase of rising prices — in contrast to the "bear market" with falling prices. The etymological origin lies in the characteristic attack movements of the animals: the bull thrusts upward with horns, the bear strikes downward with paws.

In the crypto world, the term is used identically. "Bullish" stands for optimism; "bull run" denotes a phase of exponential price gains — as seen in 2017, 2020/21, and again in spring 2024. Choosing the bull for the first joint edition plays directly on this economic symbolism and underscores the ambitious message: the Crypto Stamp series is going international.

Design: Same Motif, National Accents

Both editions carry exactly the same bull motif — a silver bull silhouette in the upper-left corner of the stamp block. Background and detail elements differ, however:

On the reverse of both stamps, a unicorn logo additionally appears in the upper right corner — a nod to CS 1.0 Unicorn of 2019 and thus the joint emblem of the Crypto Stamp brand.

Technical Innovations

CS 4.0 continues the series' steady technical evolution:

Augmented Reality. For the first time, a Crypto Stamp integrates an AR feature. When scanned with an NFC-capable smartphone, not only does the digital wallet open, but also an AR view: the bull comes alive and appears in the smartphone camera view, embedded in the collector's real environment.

Polygon Sidechain. The blockchain architecture switches from xDai/Gnosis (CS 3.0/3.1) to Polygon — an Ethereum-compatible Layer-2 solution with particularly low transaction fees and reduced energy consumption. Tokens continue to be minted on Ethereum, but the bulk of collector activity now takes place on Polygon.

New Security Features. CS 4.0 integrates invisible UV ray markers and forensic security elements. The NFC chip with 384 bytes AES-SUN NDEF encryption is significantly more capable than predecessor versions.

Material and Format

Both editions are produced at Variuscard in Vienna — the established Crypto Stamp manufacturer since 2019. The stamp paper is Invercote Creato matt at 240 g/m² (reinforced), the stamp itself measures 43 × 53 mm and sits centered on a stamp block of 53.98 × 85.6 × 0.79 mm — exactly the ISO bank card format. PET film and silver metallic finish with foil and varnish round out the material quality.

Collector Market

Because both editions were released in joint format, they are also attractive to collectors as a set: PostNL offered a special "Duo Box" with both stamps plus an exclusive 3D bull mask to assemble. The Duo Box was strictly limited and only available through the PostNL webshop.

On the secondary market, prices per variant and condition range between 30 and 100 EUR for common colors; red variants achieve three- to four-figure collector prices.

Significance

CS 4.0 Bull established the format of international joint editions, which scaled to up to four postal services in subsequent years (CS 5.0 Dragon with Austria, Luxembourg, Belgium, and Netherlands, 2024). It thus stands at the beginning of the international phase of the Crypto Stamp series and simultaneously marks the switch to Polygon as the standard sidechain for all follow-on editions. A Gold Edition Bull followed on 22 November 2022 — as a limited special edition with an embedded 1-gram gold bar.