Bitcoin Core Contributor Creates Unique 'Block Art' Using Marathon Digital's Logo
Summary:
A Bitcoin Core contributor, identified as Portland.HODL, has used Marathon Digital’s logo to display an innovative piece of "block art" in the data visualization of a Bitcoin block using the mining company's template creation tools. By owning its mining pool, Marathon Digital explained it could order transactions to create the block art. Despite the process being an experimental one, it could potentially open up a new avenue in the Bitcoin realm, the firm speculated. The article also discusses using OP_RETURN transactions in the Bitcoin protocol for creating block art, and the challenges that it might come with, such as the need for significant hashing power.
A key contributor to Bitcoin Core has effectively incorporated Marathon Digital's emblem into a Bitcoin block's data visualization, utilizing the mining company's template creation tools. X user Portland.HODL is accredited for this fascinating example of "block art", a custom image formed by arranging transactions within a block which can then be displayed on Bitcoin indexer sites. Such indexers represent Bitcoin transactions as square blocks, utilizing color gradients that correlate to transaction sizes and fee rates.
Marathon Digital publicized specifics of block 836361, which they successfully extracted on March 26. The firm nicknamed this the M block and aimed for its visualization to showcase its template creation prowess and technology infrastructure.
Marathon Digital made it clear that, through possessing its own mining pool, it can devise transaction order and create a kind of block art. Despite not providing this specific output feature as a service, the firm hypothesized that this could unlock a surge of creativity in the Bitcoin sphere that has yet to be tapped into.
The company added that the Bitcoin network should exempt blocks from full pay-per-share (FPPS) computations for more reliable miner fee predictions. This method intends to eliminate any influence Marathon's tests might have on network costs. Portland.HODL asserts that he painstakingly achieved the block’s visualization after many attempts.
The creation of this block art employed OP_RETURN transactions in the Bitcoin protocol, which permit a minor quantity of discretionary data to be incorporated into a transaction, usually utilized for embedding messages or metadata onchain. If a user meticulously curates the content of these OP_RETURN transactions and sequences them appropriately, an image or pattern materializes when the block data is visualized.
Before a block is mined, all awaiting transactions reside in a space known as the mempool. A miner has the capacity to craft numerous transactions that will generate this type of art once mined into a block. They would construct transactions with outputs that, when visualized, match the pixels of the intended image.
A miner would need to adjust their software to choose specific transactions that will generate the desired pattern rather than prioritizing transactions that optimize profit based on fee density or satoshis per byte to generate block art.
One must also consider the remainder of the network. To mine a block with a specific transaction set to form an image or text requires considerable hashing power like Marathon's. Both Marathon and Portland.HODL have been reached out to by Cointelegraph for further information on the "M block" and the implications of block composability.
Marathon initiated a direct BTC transaction submission service in February 2024, intended to expedite large and complex Bitcoin transactions.
Published At
3/26/2024 4:49:20 PM
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