The founder of the renowned Bitcoin Ordinals project, Taproot Wizards, Udi Wertheimer, recently revealed that the probability of the Bitcoin Improvement Proposal “OP_CAT” being activated is close to 100%. This means that the Bitcoin network may soon be able to execute new functions such as smart contracts.
(Previous context:
Was Satoshi wrong? How the 13-line code “OP_CAT soft fork” enables Bitcoin to implement smart contracts
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(Background supplement:
Interpreting World3: The decentralized AI autonomous world on Bitcoin
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Recently, Udi Wertheimer, the founder of the renowned Bitcoin Ordinals project Taproot Wizards and Quantum Cats, revealed in an Xverse Podcast that the probability of Bitcoin’s “OP_CAT” being activated is close to 100%. It is understood that on May 1, OP_CAT was launched on Bitcoin’s test network Signet and assigned the BIP-420 number, indicating that the Bitcoin ecosystem is seriously considering upgrading it.
A BIP, short for Bitcoin Improvement Proposal, is a formal proposal document used to suggest improvements to the Bitcoin community. Each BIP describes in detail potential improvements to the Bitcoin protocol or its technical operations.
What is OP_CAT?
OP_CAT is an opcode from the early version of Bitcoin, but Satoshi Nakamoto removed OP_CAT on August 15, 2010, due to concerns that it could lead to an exponential increase in memory usage and code size. However, in October 2023, Bitcoin Core developer Ethan Heilman and Botanix Labs software engineer Armin Sabouri jointly released a draft Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) named “OP_CAT,” bringing OP_CAT back into the spotlight. The draft mentioned that technological advancements and developments in blockchain over the past few years have rendered the issues caused by OP_CAT no longer an obstacle.
OP_CAT provides the ability to concatenate script fragments. Before its introduction, each UTXO script was executed independently. With OP_CAT, we can break down complex execution logic into a series of concatenated simple script fragments stored in different UTXOs, created by different transactions. When full execution is required, full nodes use the OP_CAT command to sequentially concatenate these script fragments and execute them.
With OP_CAT, Bitcoin can achieve more complex types of smart contracts, such as multi-signature contracts, time-locked contracts, and other conditional payment contracts. This will make the Bitcoin network more competitive.
Udi Wertheimer is the number one fan of OP_CAT
Udi Wertheimer has previously publicly supported the restoration of OP_CAT on the Bitcoin network multiple times. After OP_CAT officially received the Bitcoin proposal number BIP-420, Wertheimer celebrated in a post.
On the other hand, the inscription series “Quantum Cats” launched by Udi Wertheimer in early February was actually issued to commemorate “OP_CAT.” The series’ issue price was 0.1 BTC, with the floor price once reaching 0.475 BTC, currently reported at 0.263 BTC.
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