The sleeping lion is about to awaken? This is the feeling of some deep players in the Bitcoin ecosystem recently.
A developer statement on May 6 indicated that the next version of Bitcoin Core may abolish the 80-byte limit on OP_RETURN outputs. The statement noted that the 80-byte cap on OP_RETURN is no longer suitable for current needs, firstly because it can easily be bypassed, as some private mining accelerators do not enforce these limits at all; secondly, it creates a distorted incentive mechanism, as some projects incentivize certain private services to bypass the restrictions. At the same time, the statement said that the abolition of the 80-byte limit on OP_RETURN has received widespread support.
Currently, a new token deployment format OP-20 has emerged in the market, breaking the OP_RETURN 80-byte limitation, and the over-the-counter transaction price of the token named op_return has risen to $400 per unit (with one unit being 1000 tokens), while the cost is only $5-6 per unit.
The Odaily Daily Report will briefly introduce what OP_RETURN is, the advantages and disadvantages it will have on the Bitcoin network after a successful upgrade, and the prospects of issuing OP-20 using this mechanism.
The Debate Surrounding OP_RETURN
In the Bitcoin network, OP_RETURN is a script opcode specifically used to carry arbitrary data in transactions. The data carried by OP_RETURN outputs will not be referenced by subsequent transactions and will not occupy the UTXO space of nodes.
In the early days, Bitcoin nodes had to permanently retain all unspent outputs (UTXO), and malicious or unrestrained data writing could cause storage pressure on the nodes. Therefore, in 2013, the community proposed the idea of "lightening" data storage by introducing a script that immediately invalidates the data. Subsequently, in 2014, the Bitcoin Core version 0.9.0 officially incorporated OP_RETURN outputs into the "standard output" type and set the data limit to 40 bytes, which was gradually increased to 80 bytes to balance the demand for data writing and the protection of network resources.
OP_RETURN restrictions are no longer suitable for the development needs of the Bitcoin ecosystem.
Therefore, the original purpose of Bitcoin developers designing OP_RETURN was to prevent nodes from excessively bloating storage by processing scripts that contained large chunks of data, using it as a "lightweight record" function for the blockchain. However, with the development of the Bitcoin ecosystem, various asset protocols, project parties, L2s, and cross-chain bridges have increasingly needed to record more and more data on-chain, making the 80-byte limit of OP_RETURN increasingly restrictive.
To meet project demands, various project parties have had to bypass this restriction through various operations, including offering high rewards to miners. Therefore, Bitcoin Core core contributor Greg Sanders issued a statement on GitHub, proposing to remove the 80-byte limit in the next version of Bitcoin Core, allowing for any number and length of OP_RETURN outputs.
He believes that the removal of the 80-byte limit brings at least the following two tangible benefits:
A cleaner UTXO set. Data can now be placed in an unspendable output that can be proven, rather than being disguised in spendable scripts or scattered across multiple transactions.
Consistency of behavior. Nodes can relay the transactions that miners want to see, making fee estimation and compact block relaying more reliable.
The opposition voices remain strong.
But in fact, Bitcoin Core has not yet announced the specific date for the next upgrade. At the same time, there are still many opposing voices under the GitHub statement of the upgrade.
Community member wizkid 057 stated that this is far more than just a minor technical change; it is a fundamental change to the very essence of the Bitcoin network. The Bitcoin network will transform into an arbitrary data storage system, rather than evolving as a decentralized currency. At the same time, it will also lead to an overflow of more data-intensive protocols (such as inscriptions and NFTs) and "junk" data.
Upgrade not completed, issuing tokens first
However, despite the fact that there is still no conclusion on the upcoming version of Bitcoin Core abolishing the 80-byte limit on OP_RETURN, a token deployment standard that breaks this limit, OP-20, has quietly gone live. Moreover, the first token of this protocol, op_return, is suspected to have been fully minted, with the current over-the-counter transaction price reaching 400 USD per piece (one piece contains 1000 tokens), while the initial cost was only 5-6 USD per piece, achieving a hundredfold 'floating profit'.
op_return is suspected to have been deployed by the address bc 1 p...4 w 5 pq 6 on the evening of May 6, with a total of 2.1 million, totaling 2100 pieces. As shown in the image, the format of its token deployment is essentially no different from BRC-20, except that there is an additional address in the json text (this may also be the reason why OP-20 exceeds the 80-byte limit).
Therefore, the format for minting op_return is as follows:
{ "p": "op-20", "op": "mint", "tick": "op_return", "amt": "1000", "add": "This is your Bitcoin address" }
Users paste this text information onto the OP_RETURN Bot website and then pay through the Lightning Network to create an OP_RETURN output, thereby completing the minting operation. Currently, the community speculates that op_return has been fully minted, but there has been no official index or transaction transfer tool released, and only over-the-counter double betting can be conducted.
Regarding the indexing rules (which determine whether you have made a hit or not), community players have outlined two scenarios: one is an index that does not allow batch minting (i.e., multiple hits in one transaction), and the other is an index that allows batch minting.
At the same time, community players compared OP-20 with BRC-20, believing that OP-20 has no concerns about block size expansion and UTXO pollution, which is obviously superior to BRC-20. However, it should be noted that Bitcoin Core has not abolished the OP_RETURN 80-byte limit, so OP-20 cannot be packaged on-chain in principle. Users can only wait for mining pools such as MARA and f2pool, which may have lifted the OP_RETURN 80-byte limit, to carry out transactions on-chain.
In fact, although the attention has decreased, there is still a group of dedicated community developers and players actively involved in the Bitcoin ecosystem. Innovations such as Odin.Fun and Alkanes Protocol have emerged recently, but ultimately they have not escaped the fate of much ado about nothing. So, it’s still the old and often wished-for topic: based on the expectations of the Bitcoin Core version upgrade, can OP-20 lead the Bitcoin ecosystem to rise? We shall see.
The content is for reference only, not a solicitation or offer. No investment, tax, or legal advice provided. See Disclaimer for more risks disclosure.
BTC "small upgrade" ignites hundredfold miracle coin, OP-20 Token over-the-counter transaction price exceeds 400 USD/piece | BTC ecosystem
Original | Odaily Daily Report (@OdailyChina)
Author｜Golem（@web3_golem）
The sleeping lion is about to awaken? This is the feeling of some deep players in the Bitcoin ecosystem recently.
A developer statement on May 6 indicated that the next version of Bitcoin Core may abolish the 80-byte limit on OP_RETURN outputs. The statement noted that the 80-byte cap on OP_RETURN is no longer suitable for current needs, firstly because it can easily be bypassed, as some private mining accelerators do not enforce these limits at all; secondly, it creates a distorted incentive mechanism, as some projects incentivize certain private services to bypass the restrictions. At the same time, the statement said that the abolition of the 80-byte limit on OP_RETURN has received widespread support.
Currently, a new token deployment format OP-20 has emerged in the market, breaking the OP_RETURN 80-byte limitation, and the over-the-counter transaction price of the token named op_return has risen to $400 per unit (with one unit being 1000 tokens), while the cost is only $5-6 per unit.
The Odaily Daily Report will briefly introduce what OP_RETURN is, the advantages and disadvantages it will have on the Bitcoin network after a successful upgrade, and the prospects of issuing OP-20 using this mechanism.
The Debate Surrounding OP_RETURN
In the Bitcoin network, OP_RETURN is a script opcode specifically used to carry arbitrary data in transactions. The data carried by OP_RETURN outputs will not be referenced by subsequent transactions and will not occupy the UTXO space of nodes.
In the early days, Bitcoin nodes had to permanently retain all unspent outputs (UTXO), and malicious or unrestrained data writing could cause storage pressure on the nodes. Therefore, in 2013, the community proposed the idea of "lightening" data storage by introducing a script that immediately invalidates the data. Subsequently, in 2014, the Bitcoin Core version 0.9.0 officially incorporated OP_RETURN outputs into the "standard output" type and set the data limit to 40 bytes, which was gradually increased to 80 bytes to balance the demand for data writing and the protection of network resources.
OP_RETURN restrictions are no longer suitable for the development needs of the Bitcoin ecosystem.
Therefore, the original purpose of Bitcoin developers designing OP_RETURN was to prevent nodes from excessively bloating storage by processing scripts that contained large chunks of data, using it as a "lightweight record" function for the blockchain. However, with the development of the Bitcoin ecosystem, various asset protocols, project parties, L2s, and cross-chain bridges have increasingly needed to record more and more data on-chain, making the 80-byte limit of OP_RETURN increasingly restrictive.
To meet project demands, various project parties have had to bypass this restriction through various operations, including offering high rewards to miners. Therefore, Bitcoin Core core contributor Greg Sanders issued a statement on GitHub, proposing to remove the 80-byte limit in the next version of Bitcoin Core, allowing for any number and length of OP_RETURN outputs.
He believes that the removal of the 80-byte limit brings at least the following two tangible benefits:
The opposition voices remain strong.
But in fact, Bitcoin Core has not yet announced the specific date for the next upgrade. At the same time, there are still many opposing voices under the GitHub statement of the upgrade.
Community member wizkid 057 stated that this is far more than just a minor technical change; it is a fundamental change to the very essence of the Bitcoin network. The Bitcoin network will transform into an arbitrary data storage system, rather than evolving as a decentralized currency. At the same time, it will also lead to an overflow of more data-intensive protocols (such as inscriptions and NFTs) and "junk" data.
Upgrade not completed, issuing tokens first
However, despite the fact that there is still no conclusion on the upcoming version of Bitcoin Core abolishing the 80-byte limit on OP_RETURN, a token deployment standard that breaks this limit, OP-20, has quietly gone live. Moreover, the first token of this protocol, op_return, is suspected to have been fully minted, with the current over-the-counter transaction price reaching 400 USD per piece (one piece contains 1000 tokens), while the initial cost was only 5-6 USD per piece, achieving a hundredfold 'floating profit'.
! BTC "Small Upgrade" Detonates 100 Times Divine Coins, OP-20 Token OTC Trading Price Exceeds $400 per Piece|BTC Ecology
op_return is suspected to have been deployed by the address bc 1 p...4 w 5 pq 6 on the evening of May 6, with a total of 2.1 million, totaling 2100 pieces. As shown in the image, the format of its token deployment is essentially no different from BRC-20, except that there is an additional address in the json text (this may also be the reason why OP-20 exceeds the 80-byte limit).
Therefore, the format for minting op_return is as follows:
Users paste this text information onto the OP_RETURN Bot website and then pay through the Lightning Network to create an OP_RETURN output, thereby completing the minting operation. Currently, the community speculates that op_return has been fully minted, but there has been no official index or transaction transfer tool released, and only over-the-counter double betting can be conducted.
Regarding the indexing rules (which determine whether you have made a hit or not), community players have outlined two scenarios: one is an index that does not allow batch minting (i.e., multiple hits in one transaction), and the other is an index that allows batch minting.
In fact, although the attention has decreased, there is still a group of dedicated community developers and players actively involved in the Bitcoin ecosystem. Innovations such as Odin.Fun and Alkanes Protocol have emerged recently, but ultimately they have not escaped the fate of much ado about nothing. So, it’s still the old and often wished-for topic: based on the expectations of the Bitcoin Core version upgrade, can OP-20 lead the Bitcoin ecosystem to rise? We shall see.