On October 9th, MVC Technology Director and sCrypt founder Xiaohui Liu announced on Twitter that the Bitcoin sidechain MVC (MicrovisionChain) has made significant progress in research in the third quarter of 2024, and will focus on the following three aspects in the next six months: 1. Fully enable OPCAT opcode: MVC, as a Bitcoin sidechain, will utilize the OPCAT opcode to support Layer-1 smart contracts, enabling developers to build Turing-complete Decentralization applications (DApps) under the UTXO model. 2. SegWit Integration: The introduction of SegWit will improve transaction processing efficiency, reduce transaction fees, and optimize the execution of smart contracts, ensuring higher transaction throughput and security. 3. Merger mining research: MVC will further strengthen the security model of Decentralization by merging mining with Bitcoin, leveraging the security and Computing Power of the Bitcoin network, and attracting more miners to participate.

Golden Finance reported that StarkWare has announced the launch of the first phase of the Bitcoin expansion plan: Catnet. Catnet is a custom Bitcoin Signet enabled with OPCAT, used to test the implementation of its Bitcoin Circle STARK validator. Catnet is now live, allowing users to create wallets, claim some test bitcoins, and develop Bitcoin scripts. The next step is to launch a $1 million OPCAT security fund to accelerate all research.

Henry Elder, head of UTXO Management, an investor in Taproot Wizards, said in an interview that if OPCAT's innovation is advanced, then every use case on every on-chain has the potential to return to Bitcoin. For example, OPCAT can enable so-called non-ambiguous contracts – Bitcoin contracts – that penalize people who try to use the same hard coin twice. Alternatively, if someone's wallet is hacked, the owner may have time to reverse the hacked transaction. Blockstream CEO Adam Back said it's a good idea because Bitcoin custody benefits from some additional programmability, and the extra programmability can enable more layer 2 functionality. For example, these features can establish better bridges with second-layer blockchains, making transactions more secure and easier.

According to Jinse Finance, the Bitcoin blockchain may undergo significant changes in 2026 due to the launch of the Runes protocol and the OPCAT proposal. On April 19th, the Runes protocol was launched during the fourth Bitcoin halving, aiming to generate Bitcoin native tokens more efficiently. Within two days of its launch, over 7,000 Runes tokens have been minted, and the current total has exceeded 91,000, with transaction fees amounting to $4.5 million. Runes protocol not only drives token generation, but also promotes liquidity stake, investment activities, Layer 2 scalability, and DeFi innovation. However, Runes is only a part of the BTCFi revolution. The OPCAT proposal expected to be passed in 2025 will re-enable Bitcoin's smart contract functionality, allowing for the possibility of developing Layer 2, smart contracts, and more with conditions and rules.

Taproot Wizards founder Udi Wertheimer announced on platform X that OPCAT (BIP-420) has gone live on the Bitcoin Signet testnet. It is reported that Signet is a Bitcoin Testnet designed for developers to test software, with no Miner, no PoW, and an average of one Block every 10 minutes. Previously, the Bitcoin Improvement Proposal BIP-420 has officially introduced the recovery OPCAT Operation Code, which aims to enable Bitcoin covenants and support the development of features such as smart contracts, secure bridges, and on-chain transactions. Written by Ethan Heilman and Armin Sabouri, the BIP-420 proposal aims to reintroduce OPCAT into Bitcoin through backward compatibility Soft Fork by "redefining Operation Code OPSUCCESS126."

OPCAT (BIP-420) is scheduled to go live on Bitcoin Signet Testnet at Block Height 193,536 (expected next Tuesday). Signet is a Bitcoin Testnet designed for developers to test software, with no Miner, no PoW, and an average of one Block every 10 minutes. Previously, the Bitcoin Improvement Proposal BIP-420 has officially introduced the recovery OPCAT Operation Code, which aims to enable Bitcoin covenants and support the development of features such as smart contracts, secure bridges, and on-chain transactions. Written by Ethan Heilman and Armin Sabouri, the BIP-420 proposal aims to reintroduce OPCAT into Bitcoin through backward compatibility Soft Fork by "redefining Operation Code OPSUCCESS126."

PANews reported on April 28 that OPCAT (aka BIP-420) will be launched next Tuesday (Signet Block Height 193,536) on Bitcoin's official testnet "SIGNET". This will allow developers to build advanced OPCAT applications with CatVM and test them live on official testnets. According to Twitter user @udiWertheimer, OPCAT is expected to go live on Mainnet this year. "Signet" is the name of the Bitcoin Testnet network, designed for developers to test their software. There are no Miners on Signet, and Blocks are created by Signet operators every 10 minutes on average without proof of work. For those familiar with Ethereum Testnet, Bitcoin "signet" is similar to the Ethereum "sepolia" network. Related reading: How will the hotly discussed new proposal OPCAT change the BTC ecosystem?

coin Jiejie.com: coin Jie.com reported that the OPCAT protocol will start testing next Tuesday on Bitcoin Signet Testnet "Signet" is the name of a Bitcoin Testnet designed for developers to test their software, with no Miner, no PoW, and an average of one Block every 10 minutes.

Gold Finance reported that the OPCAT protocol will start testing on the Bitcoin Signet testnet next Tuesday. "Signet" is the name of the Bitcoin test network designed for developers to test their software. There are no miners and no proof of work required. On average, a block is created every 10 minutes.

Bitcoin Improvement Proposal BIP-420 has officially introduced OPCAT, which aims to enable Bitcoin covenants and support the development of features such as smart contracts, secure bridges, and on-chain transactions. Written by Ethan Heilman and Armin Sabouri, the BIP-420 proposal aims to reintroduce OPCAT into Bitcoin through backward compatibility Soft Fork by "redefining Operation Code OPSUCCESS126."