ALPHA: Quantum Cats by Taproot Wizards

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Bringing OP_CAT back to Bitcoin

“Quantum Cats” is a new Ordinals collection, the first of which hits Sotheby’s on Jan. 12.

Taproot Wizards aims to resurrect an old concept originally introduced by the creator of Bitcoin in its early stages.

“Many blocks ago, in 2010, Satoshi's beloved pet and scripting function, OP_CAT, had grown too powerful. Satoshi was left with no choice but to say goodbye to OP_CAT.

On August 15, 2010, OP_CAT was put down for good... or so we thought.”

But… In 2024, the Taproot Wizards discovered that OP_CAT is not truly dead…

Table of Contents

• First, what is OP_CAT?

  • Original Function of OP_CAT

  • Disabled

  • Re-enabling OP_CAT

• Quantum Cats

  • The cats are evolving

  • Sale start

First, what is OP_CAT?

OP_CAT is an operation code (opcode) in the scripting language of Bitcoin, originally intended to concatenate two strings. In the Bitcoin scripting system, used to define the conditions for transferring bitcoins, each transaction is equipped with a script that must be executed and validated before the transaction can be processed.

Original Function of OP_CAT

Purpose:
The primary function of OP_CAT was to take two sequences of bytes (strings) from the stack (a data structure used in Bitcoin scripting) and merge them into one sequence.

Use in Scripting:
In a hypothetical scenario where OP_CAT would be active, a script could, for example, make a transaction conditional based on the combined output of two previous strings.

Disabled

Several opcodes, including OP_CAT, were disabled by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2010, over concerns about potential vulnerabilities affecting the young and fragile network. Satoshi worried it might be used to launch a denial-of-service (DoS) attack, for instance.

Re-enabling OP_CAT

Udi Wertheimer, thinks it’s high time this particular opcode was reinstated.
It is a relatively simple change to Bitcoin Core code, involving only around 10 lines of code.

One benefit of OP_CAT, is that it wouldn't necessitate a hard fork — the most contentious type of change. Rather, OP_CAT would only require a soft fork, which demands less coordination among stakeholders. The latest occurred in 2021, with the activation of Taproot, enabling the use of Ordinals.

Quantum Cats

Meet the Quantum Cats by TaprootWizards!

🫧 3,333 cats on bitcoin. dead or alive
🫧 on a mission to save satoshi’s pet, OP_CAT
🫧 the artwork evolves over time!
🫧 1-of-1 “Genesis Cat” featured on @Sothebys

The team worked on this project for more than a year. 

As described above, Quantum Cats are trying to bring OP_CAT back to Bitcoin. The story behind OP_CAT is, that OP_CAT was Satoshi's beloved pet and favorite script feature.

Quantum cats were set up because developers found out that OP_CAT can do interesting things for Bitcoin. Many developers would like to bring it back.

The project is there to support these developers and let Bitcoin become more magical.

The cats are evolving

Yes, you read correctly, your Quantum cat can evolve. This new concept called evolving inscriptions is very interesting.

This concept allows inscriptions can evolve over time. For example, if you bought a cat without a mustache, it may well evolve to a period when the cat does have a mustache. Without you having to do anything for it.

They have not yet announced the number of evolutions. But what is clear is that there are many and it is not completed within a week. This will take a long time. This also ensures that it may be wise not to sell your cat too early.

Some cats are dead and some are alive. In the last AMA, the team couldn't say which is better.

Besides, it is also impossible to predict which cat has more value or to predict whether your cat gets better or worse over time. Interesting right?

Sale start

The 3,333 Quantum Cats go on sale on the Quantum Cats website on Jan 24th.