A new proposal called "The Cat" is causing a stir in the Bitcoin community by suggesting the possibility of permanently deleting existing Ordinals and Non-Fungible Token from the network, reigniting one of the most heated debates about the boundary between technical scalability and Bitcoin's core principles. According to the proposal, "The Cat" aims to freeze, or even remove from the system, millions of tiny UTXOs containing data related to Ordinals and Non-Fungible Token, arguing that the number of these UTXOs is increasing too rapidly, causing the Bitcoin blockchain to swell and putting significant pressure on nodes, especially those operating independently with limited resources.
Supporters of this idea argue that Ordinals and Non-Fungible Token have exploited Bitcoin's UTXO architecture in ways the network wasn't originally designed to serve, turning the blockchain into a storage place for "off-purpose" data, from images and text to digital collectibles. They fear that if this trend continues for years, node operating costs will skyrocket, pushing Bitcoin further away from its decentralized goal as only large organizations will be able to maintain adequate infrastructure. Given the surge in Bitcoin transaction fees during previous Ordinals booms, proponents XEM data "cleanup" as a long-term solution to protect the network's operational stability.
Conversely, the reaction from many Bitcoin Core developers was extremely strong. They argued that interfering at the consensus level to freeze or delete valid UTXOs was tantamount to asset seizure, contradicting the fundamental principle that Bitcoin is a permissionless and irrevocable system. According to this argument, once the community accepts the precedent of deleting UTXOs simply because they are "unpopular," trust in Bitcoin's immutability will be severely eroded. Developers also emphasized that approaches like "The Cat" cannot effectively block Non-Fungible Token or Ordinals, as users can easily find new ways to record data on the chain, while the damage to Bitcoin's trust and image could be long-lasting.
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This debate didn't take place in a vacuum but was linked to the Ordinals wave that exploded in 2023, when Bitcoin first witnessed a vibrant Non-Fungible Token ecosystem right on its mainnet. From being XEM a "marginal experiment," Ordinals attracted a host of developers and collectors, and generated significant fee revenue for Miners during periods of declining block rewards. This also deepened the Bitcoin community's Chia between those who wanted to keep Bitcoin as "minimalist" as possible and those who saw expanding use cases as the path to the network's long-term survival and growth.
It's noteworthy that even some proponents of restricting Ordinals acknowledge the enormous risk of accidentally deleting data at the consensus level. A small error in implementation could lead to irreversible consequences, resulting in the loss of users' legitimate assets and a serious crisis of trust. Historically, Bitcoin changes that touch the consensus have always been XEM "forbidden zones," only implemented when there is very broad consensus and the benefits outweigh the risks.
