A new software update on the Bitcoin algorithm is taking the attention from all market participants. According to Bloomberg, The software modification known as OP_CAT, which would add roughly 10 lines to the code to allow concatenation—the joining of two parts together—is the front-runner in the upgrade dispute.
With this code update, the perception of the Bitcoin blockchain as a network that only facilitates digital gold may be shifting as initiatives to enhance its code with additional features become more popular. If accepted, it would allow for many improvements for Bitcoin users, such as improved currency custody and the kind of decentralized finance apps already widely available on competing blockchains like Ethereum and Solana.
But putting OP_CAT into practice entails updating the Bitcoin network, which is significant and needs support from core developers and the community. Although competitors such as Ethereum perform substantial improvements every year, the network of the largest cryptocurrency in the world has not added any new features since 2021.
What Is The OP_CAT Code?
OP_CAT functions by enabling a Bitcoin user to concatenate, or join, two data pieces within a stack. These values are then positioned at the top of the stack, making them the first things that are acted upon in the event of a transaction. The related bitcoin may only be spent under specific circumstances thanks to the concatenated values on the stack.
In the original Bitcoin stack, Satoshi included a Bitcoin opcode called OP_CAT, however, they removed it in 2010. A proposal emerged in October 2023 to redefine the current opcode OP_SUCCESS126 to reinstate OP_CAT as an opcode for tapscript, the scripting language used for transactions enabled by Taproot. OP_CAT has not yet received a BIP number. Because OP_CAT could have been used by a user to upload exponentially more data to the Bitcoin blockchain, potentially causing a denial of service (DoS) attack, Satoshi initially omitted the opcode. Nevertheless, as tapscript now only permits 520 bytes of data to be contained in a single stack (a stack is essentially a data structure for Bitcoin transactions), the original DoS vector is rendered invalid by Bitcoin's 2021 Taproot update.
It's unclear how the Bitcoin community would go about attempting to activate OP_CAT or any other upgrade, should they desire to do so. The process of reaching consensus on code changes involves a loose group of the most engaged Bitcoin users debating various upgrade ideas until they essentially come to a consensus on which one should be implemented next. There are several methods for achieving this, but actually activating these enhancements is a completely different matter.
