Author: Golem
Is the sleeping lion 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 limit that OP_RETURN outputs cannot exceed 80 bytes. The statement noted that the 80-byte limit for OP_RETURN is no longer suitable for current needs, as it is easily bypassed and some private mining accelerators do not enforce these limits; furthermore, it creates distorted incentive mechanisms, as some projects incentivize certain private services to bypass the restrictions. The statement also claimed that the abolition of the 80-byte limit for OP_RETURN has received widespread support.
Currently, there is a token deployment format OP-20 that breaks the 80-byte limit of OP_RETURN on the market. The over-the-counter transaction price of the same-name token op_return has risen to $400 per sheet (one sheet contains 1000), while the cost is only $5-6 per sheet.
Odaily Planet Daily will briefly introduce what OP_RETURN is in this article, the pros and cons it may have on the Bitcoin network after a successful upgrade, and the prospects of issuing OP-20 using this mechanism.
Debate surrounding OP_RETURN.
In the Bitcoin network, OP_RETURN is a script opcode specifically used to carry arbitrary data in transactions. Data carried using OP_RETURN outputs will not be referenced by subsequent transactions and will not occupy node UTXO space.
In the early days, Bitcoin nodes had to permanently retain all unspent outputs (UTXO). Malicious or indiscriminate data writing could create storage pressure on the nodes, so in 2013, the community proposed the idea of adding a new immediate invalidation script to 'lighten' data storage. Subsequently, in 2014, 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 later gradually increased to 80 bytes to balance the demand for data writing and the protection of network resources.
The OP_RETURN limit is no longer suitable for the development needs of the Bitcoin ecosystem.
Hence, the original purpose of Bitcoin developers in designing OP_RETURN was to prevent nodes from excessively inflating storage by processing scripts containing large blocks of data, using it as a 'lightweight record' feature for the blockchain. However, with the development of the Bitcoin ecosystem, various asset protocols, project parties, L2, and cross-chain bridges need to record more and more data on-chain, making the 80-byte limit for OP_RETURN increasingly restrictive.
To meet project needs, various project parties have had to take various actions to bypass this limit, including offering high rewards to miners. This is why Bitcoin Core core contributor Greg Sanders published a statement on GitHub proposing to remove the 80-byte limit in the next version of Bitcoin Core, allowing for OP_RETURN outputs of any quantity and length.
He believes that the removal of the 80-byte limit brings at least two practical benefits:
A cleaner UTXO set. Data can now be placed in an unspendable output that can be proven, rather than 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.
Opposition remains strong.
However, in reality, Bitcoin Core has not yet announced the specific date for the next upgrade. Additionally, there are still many opposing voices present under the GitHub statement of the upgrade.
Community member wizkid057 stated that this is far more than just a minor technical change; it is a fundamental change to the essence of the entire Bitcoin network. The Bitcoin network will transform into an arbitrary data storage system, rather than developing as a decentralized currency. It will also lead to an increase in data-intensive protocols (like inscriptions, NFTs) and 'junk' data.
Upgrade failed, issuing tokens first.
But despite the lack of a conclusion on whether the next version of Bitcoin Core will abolish the 80-byte limit for OP_RETURN, a token deployment standard that breaks this limit, OP-20, has quietly gone live. The first token of this protocol, op_return, is suspected to have been minted out, with the current over-the-counter transaction price reaching $400 per sheet (one sheet contains 1000), while the initial cost was only $5-6 per sheet, achieving a hundredfold 'floating profit'.
The op_return is suspected to have been deployed by the address bc1p...4w5pq6 on the evening of May 6, with a total of 2.1 million, totaling 2100 sheets. As shown in the Bot push below, its token deployment format is essentially no different from BRC-20, except that it adds an 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 into the OP_RETURN Bot website and then pay with the Lightning Network to create an OP_RETURN output, thus completing the minting operation. Currently, the community speculates that op_return has been minted out, but there is no official index or transaction transfer tool available; only over-the-counter double pledges can be made.
Regarding the indexing rules (which determine whether you hit or miss), some community players have listed two situations: one does not allow batch minting (i.e., batch multiple transactions), while the other allows batch indexing.
Some community players have also compared OP-20 with BRC-20, believing that OP-20 does not have concerns about block size inflation and UTXO pollution, making it obviously superior to BRC-20. However, it should be noted that Bitcoin Core has not yet abolished the 80-byte limit for OP_RETURN, so OP-20 cannot, in principle, be packaged on-chain. Users can only wait for mining pools like MARA and f2pool, which may have lifted the 80-byte limit for OP_RETURN, to process on-chain transactions.
In fact, although attention has decreased, there is still a group of committed 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 loud thunder and little rain. So, the age-old topic remains, relying on the expectation of Bitcoin Core version upgrades, can OP-20 lead the Bitcoin ecosystem to rise? We shall see.
