Along with the expected Bitcoin halved event, 04/20 has already passed – but the famous meme number is already back in the BTC conversation amidst an attempt at change Bitcoinsoftware.

Advocates for restoring a It was Satoshi The command in Bitcoin’s programming language introduced new code on Monday describing how “OP_CAT” could be used to bring more functionality to Bitcoin. One notable addition: including 420 as the supposed BIP number of the change.

As of this writing, OP_CAT has not received a so-called BIP number in the code repository where other proposed changes to Bitcoin’s software have historically been examined, debated, and tracked. Short for Bitcoin Improvement Proposal, the volunteer-maintained code repository tracks BIPs up to number 389 from initiatives considered in 2011.

Instead, OP_CAT number 420 is reflected in a standalone GitHub page that describes the proposal and was shared by Taproot Wizards co-founder Udi Wertheimer in Monday. A months old version of OP_CAT, posted to GitHub by BastionZero co-founder Ethan Heilman, a key developer behind the proposal, leaves a section for OP_CAT’s BIP number blank.

“OP_CAT aims to expand the toolbox of [Bitcoin] developer with a simple, modular and useful opcode,” states the GitHub page shared by Wertheimer, adding that “OP_CAT was available in early versions of Bitcoin.”

Approval of OP_CAT would allow developers to create so-called covenants on Bitcoin, according to a blog post from Luxor Technology’s head of research, Colin Harper. By specifying the conditions under which Bitcoin can be spent in the future, covenants can be used in areas such as automated payments and reverse transactions.

In January, Wertheimer said Decrypt that agreements could lay the foundation for encryption technology in Bitcoin like smart contracts It is bridges. The renewed framing of the proposal comes as developers push Bitcoin’s technical limits in other ways, such as protocols Ordinals It is Runes who respectively seek to emulate NFTs and meme coins on Bitcoin.

Numbers with strong memetic roots, like 69 or 420, have been mainstays of Internet culture for years – well-established in the days when memes often included text at the top or bottom. Today, the meaning of the two numbers is reflected in cryptography through token standards such as BRC-69and, more recently, the anticipation that the Bitcoin halving could have landed on April 20th.

“It is generally frowned upon in the Bitcoin community for BIP authors to assign BIP numbers to themselves,” Wertheimer he said in a Twitter post (aka X). “Fortunately, BIP-420 was not self-assigned by its authors […] BIP-420 was assigned by the Bitcoin community.”

Who else was requesting this number in the Bitcoin community for OP_CAT was initially unclear. But, as Wertheimer explains, the proposal was developed by Botanix Labs’ chief software engineer, Armin Sabouri, and BastionZero’s Heilman. The two developers were approached by Taproot Wizards – eager to help – following the publication of OP_CAT, CoinDesk reported in February.

Wertheimer created Taproot Wizards alongside influencer Eric Wall early last year. As Ordinals grew in popularity, the company’s collection of Bitcoin-based collectibles became an early highlight – elevated by bombastic debates on the value of Ordinals with Wertheimer and Wall.

The group’s efforts have become associated with a movement within the Bitcoin community to grow beyond the traditionalist vibes promulgated by so-called “laser eyes” who often believe Bitcoin should focus solely on monetary transactions. Announcing that it had raised $7.5 million in a funding round led by venture capital firm Standard Crypto last November, Wertheimer said the money would be used to “finally move Bitcoin forward.”

Taproot Assistants released its Quantum Cats Ordinals collection in January, consisting of 3,333 cat images that were created using Ordinals inscriptions. Dedicated to OP_CAT, the cheapest entry available in the collection is listed for 0.42 BTC or $26,600, at the time of this writing, on the NFT marketplace Magical Eden.

OP_CAT, originally created by pseudonymous Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, was scrapped in 2010 due to concerns that the so-called opcode could be used in a denial-of-service (DoS) attack on Bitcoin. Representing a basic command in the Bitcoin programming language, OP_CAT allowed users to combine two data points into a transaction code structure.

Following Bitcoin Taproot Update In 2021, however, limits on the amount of data that can be included in certain frameworks for Bitcoin transactions have “overridden” historical concerns around OP_CAT, according to Luxor Technology’s Harper.

On Twitter, a publish shared by Casa co-founder and CSO Jameson Lopp — including a gif of Elon Musk smoking weed during a 2018 podcast appearance — suggested that OP_CAT’s new 420 link could help it “attract a lot of people.”

Neither Wertheimer nor the pseudonymous CTO Rijndael of Taproot Wizards immediately responded to requests for comment from Decrypt.

Edited by Andrew Hayward

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