To Meme, Or Not To Meme: The CAT

Is it truly surprising, fixed that cats person fundamentally dominated the net for the past 2 decades, that feline memes person yet taken implicit the Bitcoin abstraction arsenic good successful the past fewer weeks? Cats are the astir viral meme connected the internet, truthful it's not shocking successful the slightest spot that the Taproot Wizards person leaned into it, reinforced by the trolling Luke implicit his “dietary choices.”

The question has to beryllium asked though, are meme campaigns truly however we privation to spell astir deciding and discussing statement changes to a protocol arsenic invaluable arsenic Bitcoin? I’ve seen galore euphony videos, campaigns to spell retired successful the satellite and “educate” radical connected OP_CAT, and the full “Quest” strategy that Taproot Wizards has launched taking place…but the world is the immense bulk of this contented that I person seen has been incredibly superficial.

Rijndael, “Artificer” astatine Taproot Wizards and 1 of the fewer people, if not the lone person, really tinkering and playing with OP_CAT to physique retired usage lawsuit examples, has made a demo of a OP_CAT based covenant script.

This publication enforces a circumstantial magnitude of Bitcoin beryllium sent to a circumstantial address, and by statement determination is nary different mode to walk these coins but with a transaction that meets those nonstop conditions. Look astatine the size of this script:

OP_TOALTSTACK OP_CAT OP_CAT OP_CAT OP_CAT de890a8209d796493ee7bac9a58b62fbced10ccb7311e24f26c461c079ead08c OP_SWAP OP_CAT OP_CAT OP_CAT OP_CAT OP_CAT OP_CAT OP_CAT OP_CAT OP_CAT 54617053696768617368 OP_SHA256 OP_DUP OP_ROT OP_CAT OP_CAT OP_SHA256 424950303334302f6368616c6c656e6765 OP_SHA256 OP_DUP OP_ROT 79be667ef9dcbbac55a06295ce870b07029bfcdb2dce28d959f2815b16f81798 OP_DUP OP_DUP OP_TOALTSTACK 2 OP_ROLL OP_CAT OP_CAT OP_CAT OP_CAT OP_SHA256 OP_FROMALTSTACK OP_SWAP OP_CAT OP_FROMALTSTACK OP_DUP 1 OP_CAT OP_ROT OP_EQUALVERIFY 2 OP_CAT 79be667ef9dcbbac55a06295ce870b07029bfcdb2dce28d959f2815b16f81798 OP_CHECKSIG

This is what it takes to emulate CHECKTEMPLATEVERIFY. The equivalent publication utilizing CTV would simply be:

CTV .

I ask, what is the worth of thing similar OP_CAT successful emulating the lawsuit of basal template covenants (things requiring a spending transaction to fulfill definite conditions defined up of clip to beryllium valid) similar this? We cognize precisely however to grip schemes enforcing a template connected transactions spending an output locked to a template covenant, and person aggregate proposals for them. CTV, TXHASH, OP_TX, and adjacent APO tin emulate these schemes by stuffing a signature successful the locking output of a transaction astatine the outgo of an other 64 bytes.

What existent usage is OP_CAT successful “experimenting” to conscionable the needs of a people of usage cases that are mature capable successful plan that determination are astatine slightest 4 covenant proposals that tin grip those usage cases with a tiny fraction of the information cost? “Oh, we privation to experimentation with CAT due to the fact that it’s flexible!” You privation to usage 30 OP calls to bash thing that tin beryllium done successful one? That is simply a crushed to really enact a statement alteration to Bitcoin? The logic of that is beyond absurd.

Downplaying Risks

In a vacuum OP_CAT is sold arsenic “simply concatenating 2 strings”, and galore of the memes effort framing it arsenic “how tin that beryllium dangerous?” This is simply a wildly disingenuous communicative surrounding the proposal, and it wholly ignores however it interacts with different existing and aboriginal aspects of script.

In peculiar CSFS + CAT opens a monolithic magnitude of possibilities successful presumption of what tin beryllium done with Bitcoin script, not each of it needfully positive. CSFS allows you to verify a signature connected an arbitrary portion of information successful the people of executing a script, and CAT allows you to “glue” antithetic pieces of information unneurotic connected the stack. These 2 things make a massive plan abstraction for what it is imaginable to bash with Bitcoin.

One factual illustration would beryllium the imaginable to enforce amounts, oregon relationships betwixt antithetic amounts, of circumstantial inputs and outputs successful a transaction. CAT allows you to physique up a transaction hash from idiosyncratic pieces connected the stack, and CSFS allows you to verify a signature against a nationalist cardinal successful the locking publication against arbitrary pieces of that transaction arsenic it is built up. This could yet alteration the instauration of open-ended UTXOs anyone tin spend, arsenic agelong arsenic the spending transaction meets definite criteria, specified arsenic a circumstantial magnitude of coins beryllium sent to a circumstantial address. Combine this with the world of OP_RETURN based assets, and this starts getting into the territory of Decentralized Exchanges (DEX).

Some of the worst inducement distortion problems that person travel to fruition connected different blockchains yet stem from the instauration of DEXes connected those chains. Having nonstop non-interactive speech functionality connected the blockchain is 1 of the worst forms of MEV, particularly erstwhile the imaginable exists for miners to lock-in their nett crossed aggregate trades successful the span of a azygous block, alternatively than having to really transportation the hazard of a presumption crossed aggregate blocks earlier closing it retired and realizing profit.

Part of the question down Taproot Wizards is “bringing the innovation back.” I.e. that lessons learned successful shitcoin onshore are coming location to Bitcoin, present portion I firmly cull the conception that thing utile has been developed connected different coins successful the past decennary different than the basal conception of zero cognition proofs, this mantra getting louder ignores a monolithic constituent of that dynamic adjacent if you disagree with my presumption there: there are lessons to beryllium learned regarding what NOT to bash arsenic good arsenic what TO do.

DEXes are 1 of the things NOT to do. Nothing has caused arsenic overmuch chaos, volatility successful interest dynamics (which we request to creaseless retired implicit clip for sustainability of 2nd layers), and conscionable each astir inducement chaos regarding the basal statement layers of these protocols and their grade of centralization. The thought that we should unreserved to bring these types of problems to Bitcoin, oregon exacerbate them by introducing a mode to trustlessly embed the bitcoin plus into them successful much dynamic and flexible ways, is frankly insane. This to maine speaks of ample swaths of radical who haven’t learned thing from watching what happened connected different blockchains successful the past fractional decennary oregon so.

Forever Shackled By The Cat

Looking astatine the dynamic supra betwixt CSFS + CAT, it is worthy pointing retired that Reardencode’s caller LNHANCE connection (CTV + CSFS + Internal Key) offers a way to springiness america eltoo for Lightning successful a mode that is really more blockspace efficient than utilizing APO. If this argumentation, and physique retired of impervious of concepts, winds up winning implicit Lightning developers who privation LN symmetry successful bid to simplify Lightning transmission absorption and implementation maintenance, we precise good could upwind up getting CSFS successful the process. If OP_CAT were progressive anterior to this, past determination is nary mode to debar the types of detrimental broadside effects of the 2 proposals being combined.

This would clasp existent for each brushed fork connection going guardant if OP_CAT were ever activated. It would beryllium intolerable to flight immoderate broadside effects oregon usage cases were enabled by combining OP_CAT with immoderate caller proposals travel successful future. On its ain OP_CAT is clunky, inefficient, and alternatively pointless. But successful operation with different OPs it begins to get stupidly flexible and powerful. This would beryllium a dynamic we would ne'er beryllium capable to escape, and features that mightiness upwind up being critically indispensable successful the aboriginal for Bitcoin’s scalability could inescapably travel with monolithic downsides and risks simply due to the fact that of the beingness of OP_CAT.

Is this a world we privation to participate simply due to the fact that of a meme campaign? Because radical privation to tinker with wildly inefficient means of doing things alternatively of looking done overmuch much businesslike and intent built proposals? I would accidental no.

Meme campaigns tin beryllium fun, I cognize this. They foster a consciousness of assemblage and involvement, it's an inherent and inescapable portion of the net and the galore cultures that beryllium connected it. But this is not however we should beryllium deciding the improvement process of Bitcoin. They tin beryllium fun, and they tin adjacent beryllium viciously savage astatine stabbing straight to the bosom of matters radical creation astir oregon equivocate on. But they are atrocious astatine capturing nuance and complexity successful galore regards.

Trying to steer the statement of a web similar Bitcoin purely based connected the worth of a meme, alternatively than reasoned information of proposals and their implications, is simply a catastrophe waiting to happen. The conservatism and caution of Bitcoin improvement is what has kept it astatine the forefront of this abstraction arsenic shitcoins person travel and gone, imploding successful the consequences of their alert by nighttime carefree improvement attitude. As overmuch arsenic Bitcoin sorely needs to interruption retired of its existent rut of stagnation and deficiency of guardant progress, devolving to uncritical memes and euphony videos is not however to bash that. It risks destroying what made Bitcoin invaluable successful the archetypal place, its coagulated and blimpish foundation.