Operation Concatenate (OP_CAT) could be a game-changer for Bitcoin. But if its security risks are not diligently addressed, it could also undermine Bitcoin.
There has been a storm of recent support for reenabling Bitcoin’s (BTC) Operation Concatenate (OP_CAT), a code that Satoshi Nakamoto introduced in the original Bitcoin script that allows Bitcoin users to combine two data sets into a single transaction script. Potential security concerns from overly large stack elements led Nakamoto to disable the code in 2010.
Reintroducing OP_CAT could facilitate asset tokenization, building on the initial success of Ordinals. The proposed opcode addition would streamline manipulating asset metadata and advanced data structures within transaction scripts. However, rushing its implementation could topple Bitcoin’s reign as the most secure blockchain.
The easiest way to understand why Ordinals and OP_CAT are on the rise is to look at Bitcoin’s history of tokenization and nonfungible tokens (NFTs). Before Ethereum (ETH) and CryptoKitties became mainstream, NFTs first appeared on Bitcoin via metaprotocols such as Colored Coins. Proposed in 2012 by Yoni Assia, Colored Coins used small fractions of Bitcoin (satoshis) to represent real-world assets (with limited success). Counterparty was another attempt in this vein, responsible for creating the “Rare Pepe Nakamoto” in 2016. But these early attempts at NFTs were held back by three Bitcoin limitations: reduced speed, poor scalability, and high transaction costs.