• OP_CAT is a proposed Bitcoin upgrade, aiming to bring Ethereum-like smart contract capability to the world's oldest and largest blockchain network.
• While by no means short of supporters, OP_CAT remains in its very early stages in terms of acquiring the consensus necessary to be merged into Bitcoin' core software.

Layer-2 developer StarkWare, the primary builder behind the Starknet network atop Ethereum, has offered a glimpse of what could be possible on the Bitcoin blockchain if a pending technical proposal known as OP_CAT were adopted.

Working on a Bitcoin's testing environment known as Signet, and using OP_CAT, StarkWare says it demonstrated how zero-knowledge proofs - an increasingly popular type of cryptography that's used to compress data or prove the validity of statements without offering information that may compromise privacy - could be carried out on the oldest and original blockchain.

The aim of the project was to demonstrate the capabilities of OP_CAT, a proposed Bitcoin upgrade – tipped to bring Ethereum-style "smart contracts" programmability, historically and famously missing from the blockchain designed by Satoshi Nakamoto as a peer-to-peer payments system.

While by no means short of supporters, OP_CAT remains in its very early stages in terms of acquiring the consensus necessary to be merged into Bitcoin' core software.

"StarkWare is publicly championing the approval of the proposal because of the clear benefits it unlocks for the Bitcoin community as well as the blockchain ecosystem more broadly," the company said in a press release.

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