Author: Golem
Is the sleeping lion about to awaken? This is the feeling of some Bitcoin ecosystem deep players recently.
A developer statement on May 6th showed that the next version of Bitcoin Core may abolish the limit of OP_RETURN output not exceeding 80 bytes. The statement indicated that the 80-byte limit of OP_RETURN is no longer suitable for current needs, firstly because it can be easily bypassed, and some private mining accelerators do not enforce these restrictions at all; secondly, it creates distorted incentive mechanisms, with some projects incentivizing private services to circumvent the limit. The statement also claimed that abolishing the OP_RETURN 80-byte limit has received widespread support.
Currently, a token deployment format OP-20 that breaks through the OP_RETURN 80-byte limit has emerged in the market, and the over-the-counter trading price of the token op_return has risen to $400 per sheet (1 sheet = 1000 tokens), while the cost is only $5-6 per sheet.
Odaily will briefly introduce what OP_RETURN is, the potential advantages and disadvantages of the upgrade for the Bitcoin network, and the prospects of issuing OP-20 using this mechanism.
Debates Surrounding OP_RETURN
In the Bitcoin network, OP_RETURN is a script opcode specifically used to carry arbitrary data in transactions. Data carried by OP_RETURN output will not be referenced by subsequent transactions and will not occupy the node's UTXO space.
In the early days, Bitcoin nodes had to permanently retain all unspent outputs (UTXO), and malicious or unrestrained data writing would cause node storage pressure. Therefore, in 2013, the community proposed a "lightweight" data storage approach by adding a script that would be immediately invalidated. In 2014, Bitcoin Core 0.9.0 officially incorporated OP_RETURN output into the "standard output" type and set the data limit to 40 bytes, which was gradually increased to 80 bytes to balance data writing needs and network resource protection.
OP_RETURN Limit No Longer Meets Bitcoin Ecosystem Development Needs
Initially, Bitcoin developers designed OP_RETURN to prevent nodes from overly expanding storage due to processing scripts with large data blocks, using it as a "lightweight blockchain recording" function. However, with the development of the Bitcoin ecosystem, various asset protocols, project parties, L2, and cross-chain bridges need to record increasingly more data on-chain, making the 80-byte OP_RETURN limit increasingly restrictive.
To meet project needs, project parties have had to bypass this limit through various operations, including offering high rewards to miners. Therefore, Bitcoin Core contributor Greg Sanders published a statement on GitHub proposing to remove the 80-byte limit in the next version of Bitcoin Core, allowing OP_RETURN outputs of arbitrary quantity and length.
He believes that removing the 80-byte limit brings at least two tangible benefits:
- Cleaner UTXO set. Data can now be placed in an output that can be proven unspendable, rather than disguised in spendable scripts or scattered across multiple transactions.
- Consistency of behavior. Nodes can relay transactions miners want to see, making fee estimation and compact block relay more reliable.
Opposition Voices Remain Strong
However, Bitcoin Core has not yet officially announced the specific date of the next upgrade. Meanwhile, there are still many opposing voices on the GitHub page of this proposed upgrade.
Community member wizkid057 stated that this is far more than a small technical change, but a fundamental change to the essence of the Bitcoin network. The Bitcoin network will become an arbitrary data storage system instead of developing as a decentralized currency. It will also lead to more data-intensive protocols (such as inscriptions, Non-Fungible Tokens) and "garbage" data proliferation.
Upgrade Not Yet Confirmed, Token Issuance Ahead
Despite the uncertainty of Bitcoin Core's next version removing the OP_RETURN 80-byte limit, a token deployment standard OP-20 that breaks through this limit has quietly gone online. The first token op_return seems to have been minted, with an over-the-counter trading price of $400 per sheet (1 sheet = 1000 tokens), while the initial cost was only $5-6 per sheet, achieving a hundredfold "gain".
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op_return was reportedly deployed by the address bc1p...4w5pq6 on the evening of May 6th, with a total supply of 2.1 million, spread across 2,100 sheets. The token deployment format is essentially no different from BRC-20, only with an additional address in the JSON text (which might be the reason for exceeding the 80-byte limit).
The minting format for op_return is as follows:
{ "p": "op-20", "op": "Mint", "tick": "op_return", "amt": "1000", "add": "Your Bitcoin address here" }
Users paste this text information into the OP_RETURN Bot website and then pay via the Lightning Network to create an OP_RETURN output to complete the minting. Currently, the community speculates that op_return has been minted, but no official indexing or transaction transfer tools have appeared, and only over-the-counter trading is possible.
Regarding indexing rules, community players have outlined two scenarios: one that does not allow batch minting (multiple mints in one transaction), and another that allows batch minting.
Some community players have compared OP-20 with BRC-20, believing that OP-20 has no concerns about block size inflation and UTXO pollution, making it clearly superior to BRC-20. However, it's important to note that Bitcoin Core has not yet abolished the OP_RETURN 80-byte limit, so OP-20 cannot be packaged on-chain in principle. Users can only wait for miners like MARA and f2pool, who may have already removed the OP_RETURN 80-byte limit, to package the transactions.
In fact, although the attention has decreased, the Bitcoin ecosystem still has a group of dedicated community developers and players actively innovating, with projects like Odin.Fun and Alkanes protocol emerging recently, though they ultimately failed to escape the fate of "thunder and little rain". So, the old question remains: can OP-20 lead the Bitcoin ecosystem to rise, relying on the expected Bitcoin Core version upgrade? We shall wait and see.
