The move comes with a $1 million fund for researchers.<\/p>\n
StarkWare<\/a>, the team that pioneered zero-knowledge-based rollups in 2018 and has been instrumental to scaling Ethereum through its Layer 2 Starknet, has unveiled an ambitious plan to now scale Bitcoin.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to seize the moment,\u201d StarkWare\u2019s Co-founder and CEO Eli Ben-Sasson told The Defiant. \u201cIn the time since the Taproot upgrade<\/a>, research has helped us to appreciate that it has unlocked pathways to new possibilities over BTC.\u201d<\/p>\n Taproot, which was implemented November 2021, was the latest and largest of Bitcoin\u2019s upgrades. It seeks to boost smart contracts and privacy to Layer 1 transactions, a much-needed feature for the network. But according to a dashboard<\/a> by Bitcoin core contributor Luke Dash Jr., barely 12% of Bitcoin nodes are running an upgraded Taproot version of the software.<\/p>\n Nonetheless, Ben-Sasson is gearing to make the most of the latest improvement.<\/p>\n The team has allocated a $1 million fund for research and development to make StarkWare\u2019s Bitcoin scaling plan possible. Funds will go to researchers specifically dedicated to gaining a deeper understanding of OP_CAT, a Satoshi-era script of Bitcoin that has now resurfaced.<\/p>\n OP_CAT<\/a>, short for \u201cOperation Concatenate,\u201d is an opcode that was initially proposed by Bitcoin\u2019s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. The opcode allows for the combination of two pieces of data into a single piece of data during the execution of a Bitcoin transaction.<\/p>\n Essentially, OP_CAT enables specific features that can limit or expand how bitcoin can be transacted in the future. Use-cases include secure vaults that would allow reversible transactions, automated recurring payments, or time-locked transfers for inheritance schemes.<\/p>\n But Satoshi Nakamoto actually removed OP_CAT in 2011, citing concerns that it would expose the network to security issues, such as denial-of-service (DoS) attacks if used in conjunction with other similar scripts.<\/p>\n According to Ben-Sasson, the probability of OP_CAT being adopted is high, which places StarkWare\u2019s plan in an exciting position. \u201cIt will retain all Bitcoin values unchanged,\u201d he explained, \u201cwhile providing a bare bones framework that is just enough to bring STARK scaling to Bitcoin.<\/p>\n Reactivating OP_CAT has its defenders along with detractors.<\/p>\n Udi Wertheimer, well-known Bitcoin troll and Co-founder of the Taproot Wizards<\/a>, has been touting the script since it was introduced back in October 2022. He has claimed that OP_CAT will allow scaling without changing the core fundamentals of Bitcoin\u2013a sentiment shared by Ben-Sasson.<\/p>\n Others aren\u2019t so sure about that.<\/p>\n Robin Linus, the creator of BitVM, a proposed system that allows complex computations and smart contracts to be executed on the Bitcoin network, previously said that<\/a> OP_CAT \u201cfundamentally changes Bitcoin’s nature, introducing a new attack surface that nobody fully comprehends.\u201d<\/p>\n Notably, Ben-Sasson told The Defiant that one of the teams they were working with to get StarkWare\u2019s ambitious plan off the ground is BitVM.<\/p>\n Others agree with Linus, although in slightly different fashion.<\/p>\n As Matt Corrallo, a Bitcoin core contributor explained in an April 16 post titled \u201cStop Calling It MEV<\/a>,\u201d systems that have arbitrarily expressible smart contracts are likely to have the potential for advanced MEV extraction similar to what we see on Ethereum today.<\/p>\n Implementing OP_CAT opens the door to that possibility.<\/p>\n Corrallo didn\u2019t explicitly state he was against OP_CAT, but his points were taken by bitcoiners that are against the upgrade. Others also called out the inability of OP_CAT defenders to voice risks that come with reviving and reimplementing the script.<\/p>\n The pseudonymous technical editor for Bitcoin Magazine Shinobi wrote on X<\/a> on March 14 that the \u201cIf we don\u2019t know the limits of what this can do or the potential effects it could have, adding it into Bitcoin sounds like a horrible idea, imo.\u201d<\/p>\n That said, Ben-Sasson\u2019s team isn\u2019t shying away from its plan. He also outlined his general vision early this Tuesday morning in a video post<\/a>.<\/p>\nA Controversial Revival<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Detractors Call It An Attack<\/strong><\/h2>\n
An Ambitious Plan<\/strong><\/h2>\n