OP_RETURN

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Revision as of 00:07, 1 January 2016 by Taras (talk | contribs) (Fixed title)
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OP_RETURN is a script opcode used to mark a transaction output as invalid. Since the data after OP_RETURN are irrelevant to Bitcoin payments, arbitrary data can be added into the transaction by following the OP_RETURN with an OP_PUSHDATA. Since any outputs with OP_RETURN are provably unspendable, OP_RETURN outputs can be used to burn bitcoins.

Currently, the default Bitcoin client relays OP_RETURN transactions up to 80 bytes [1], but does not provide a way for users to create OP_RETURN transactions.

Philosophy

Some members of the Bitcoin community believe that use of OP_RETURN violates the contract of Bitcoin, because Bitcoin was intended to provide a record for financial transactions, not a record for arbitrary data. Despite this, use of OP_RETURN may continue unabated because there is no easy way to stop people from embedding arbitrary data in the blockchain if they want to, and OP_RETURN is reasonably efficient in terms of data bytes stored as a fraction of blockchain space consumed. Compared to some other ways of storing data in the blockchain, OP_RETURN has the advantage of not creating bogus UTXO entries. Discussion on GitHub pull request

Resources on OP_RETURN

OP_RETURN prefixes

Often, OP_RETURN transactions include a prefix to identify which protocol they belong to. There is no standardized method of claiming OP_RETURN prefixes, and not all OP_RETURN transactions use prefixes. At the time of writing, this wiki page is probably the most complete list of OP_RETURN prefixes. Note that this table is an attempt to catalog OP_RETURN prefixes that are already in use, *not* a system for reserving OP_RETURN prefixes!

Prefix Protocol
SPK CoinSpark
DOCPROOF Proof of Existence
CryptoTests- Crypto Copyright
CryptoProof- [Crypto Copyright http://crypto-copyright.com/
BS BlockSign
OA Open Assets
STAMPD## stampd
Factom!! Factom
FACTOM00 Factom
Fa Factom
FA Factom
tradle Tradle
LaPreuve LaPreuve
hex:5888 Blockstore
hex:5808 Blockstore
id Blockstore
BITPROOF Bitproof
S1 Stampery
ASCRIBE Ascribe
ProveBit ProveBit
EW Eternity Wall
CC Colu
omni Omni Layer
MG Monegraph
RMBd Remembr
RMBe Remembr
ORIGMY OriginalMy