Quantum Cats — the project that will make bitcoin magical again!
Quantum cats are a collection of 3333 cats that will be launched on the bitcoin network as an initiative by the Taproot Wizards team. The goal of this initiative is to bring awareness from the regular bitcoiners about op_cat.
Op_cat (operative code Concatenate) are 10 lines of code that were once part of the bitcoin network and that were removed by Satoshi Nakamoto
because of potential security issues.
This code brings several features to bitcoin that could be a real game changer.
So how does this op_cat work and what did he do ?
- Pops the top two values off the stack,
- concatenate the popped values together,
- and then pushes the concatenated value on the top of the stack.
These points above allow the network to be flexible and multiple use cases to be created:
- Allows Bitstream, a protocol for the atomic swap (fair exchange) of bitcoins for decryption keys, that enables decentralized file hosting systems paid in Bitcoin
- Tree Signatures provide a multisignature script whose size can be logarithmic in the number of public keys and can encode spend conditions beyond n-of-m.
- Post-Quantum Lamport Signatures in Bitcoin transactions.
- Non-equivocation contracts in tapscript provide a mechanism to punish equivocation/double spending in Bitcoin payment channels.
- Vaults which are a specialized covenant that allows a user to block a malicious party who has compromised the user’s secret key from stealing the funds in that output. As shown in [7] OP_CAT is sufficent to build vaults in Bitcoin.
Vaults
It brings several features to the network that add security and beneficial to the business use, for example:
- It makes it possible to create limits on the amount spent per wallet in the time period. Used correctly helps to avoid drains and create payment pomes. It is also useful in the case of joint accounts where there is a possibility to create rules in which the signature of several participants will be required to move the funds.
An equally interesting utility of this feature is the popularity of having a counterparty with access to our wallet, and if a fatality happens or we forget the seed there is a way to recover the lost bitcoin.
Have you ever stopped to think about the number of people who have lost their bitcoin and would love this feature?
These features combined bring many more utilities to the network and complexity, and that could be good to make bitcoin magical again
Conclusion
op_cat seems to really have several advantages for the network, but is it really favorable to do this softfork? At first glance I think so and my opinion is that this change will be good for the network and ensures its longevity and constant improvement.
But since I’m not technically gifted enough to be able to understand what the potential dangers of this softfork can also bring, I would like it to be really analyzed by people who have those technical skills
This is one of the reasons why I support this initiative of the Taproot Wizars and what makes me want to be inside the project is to take this proposal to more people and more qualified people so that there will be more analysis and proof of concept.
