Bitcoin’s ‘OP_CAT’ Possibilities Teased in StarkWare Test Project

OP_CAT is a proposed Bitcoin upgrade that aims to bring Ethereum-like smart contract capabilities to the world’s oldest and largest blockchain network.

Despite having a large following, OP_CAT is still at a very early stage of gaining the consensus needed to be included in Bitcoin’s core software.

Layer-2 developer StarkWare, the main constructor behind the Starknet network on top of Ethereum, has given an insight into what could be done on the Bitcoin blockchain if a pending technical proposal known as OP_CAT is accepted.

Working on the Bitcoin testbed known as Signet and using OP_CAT, StarkWare says it has demonstrated how zero-knowledge proofs — an increasingly popular type of cryptography used to compress data or prove the validity of statements without revealing information that could compromise privacy — can be implemented on the oldest and original blockchain.

The project was intended to demonstrate the capabilities of OP_CAT, a proposed upgrade to Bitcoin that was expected to introduce Ethereum-style “smart contract” programmability, something that has historically been lacking in the blockchain designed by Satoshi Nakamoto as a peer-to-peer payment system.

Despite having a large following, OP_CAT is still at a very early stage of gaining the consensus needed to be included in Bitcoin’s core software.

“StarkWare publicly advocates for approval of the proposal because it provides clear benefits for the Bitcoin community as well as the blockchain ecosystem at large,” the company said in a press release.

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