Can Zcash’s rise revive the Bitcoin OP_CAT discussion?

The crypto assemblage connected X has been dominated by salient figures advocating for the adoption of Zcash arsenic privateness becomes progressively threatened by governments and regulators. 

While the Winklevoss twins, Naval Ravikant, and Balaji Srinivasan amusement beardown condemnation for the adoption of Zcash (ZEC), its occurrence could spur the Bitcoin ecosystem to propulsion for much privateness features by revisiting the reactivation of OP_CAT, according to Eli Ben-Sasson, laminitis of StarkWare and a renowned mathematician who helped pioneer zero-knowledge proofs.

Zcash was inspired by Bitcoin

In 2014, Ben-Sasson and his co-authors published “Zerocash: Decentralized Anonymous Payments from Bitcoin.”

The achromatic insubstantial was the culmination of six years of theoretical work. From 2008, Ben-Sasson and his collaborators had been moving connected general-purpose zero-knowledge impervious technology. While they didn’t person a usage case, they knew the exertion was incredibly powerful.

“We knew zero-knowledge proofs lick 2 problems: scalability and privacy. They connection integrity. They fundamentally tin person you that the close happening has been done, adjacent erstwhile you’re not watching and adjacent erstwhile you don’t really spot each the details,” Ben-Sasson told Cointelegraph’s Chain Reaction liveshow connected X.

Everything changed successful 2013 erstwhile Ben-Sasson gave a speech connected ZK astatine 1 of the earliest editions of the Bitcoin conference.

These aboriginal Bitcoin (BTC) developers and advocates outlined respective ways that Bitcoin could payment from the caller methodology. Suddenly, ZK-proofs had recovered their slayer usage case. 

“So we worked precise diligently connected publishing thing that displays however this exertion tin lick 1 of the astir important problems of blockchains, which is the information that erstwhile you’re doing a Bitcoin transaction, everyone tin spot the amount, tin beauteous overmuch fig retired who paid whom and however much.”

This transparency, portion by design, means that determination is an inescapable constituent of transparency erstwhile utilizing Bitcoin. ZK-proofs connection a solution, but Bitcoin’s codification does not let for their inclusion owed to a determination made by Satoshi Nakamoto galore years ago.

Why OP_CAT holds the cardinal for privateness connected Bitcoin

Ben-Sasson said that Bitcoin tin inactive person autochthonal privateness and infinite scalability if developers tin hold to reinstate OP_CAT, a Satoshi-era OP_Code that Bitcoin’s creator disabled successful 2010.

He besides noted that Zcash’s resurgence successful 2025 could service arsenic a imaginable catalyst for Bitcoin’s propulsion for privacy.

“I anticipation that 1 effect of this would beryllium that the Bitcoin assemblage becomes much unfastened to things similar OP_CAT and OP_STARK truthful that it tin person post-quantum security, privacy, standard and programmability for this beauteous hard plus that is Bitcoin,” Ben-Sasson said.

“The exertion is ready. All you request is simply a brushed fork that adds 9 lines of code, which Satoshi really introduced. It’s called OP_CAT. It’s very, precise easy. If there’s a will, there’s a way. In this case, it’s a precise elemental mode to springiness each of that goodness to Bitcoin itself.”

Related: Leap Therapeutics surges 170% aft $50M Zcash bargain with Winklevoss backing

Prominent Bitcoiners connected societal media person mostly stayed wide of the Zcash narrative, and determination has yet to beryllium immoderate existent speech astir ways to amended privateness erstwhile utilizing Bitcoin for payments.

Cointelegraph besides spoke exclusively to Gemini co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss astatine Bitcoin Amsterdam, who explained their content successful Zcash’s imaginable to complement Bitcoin.

The twins made headlines aft announcing the motorboat of Cypherpunk Technologies, a ZEC-based Treasury Company, pursuing their acquisition and rebranding of Nasdaq-listed Leap Therapeutics successful November.

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