Consensus Cleanup BIP draft

In a recent exchange on the Bitcoin Development Mailing List, a discussion unfolded around the functionality and limitations of 64-byte transactions within certain systems. Eric raised a question about the practicality and potential applications of such compact transactions, given their size constraints which notably do not allow for the inclusion of a public key or signature. He suggested that, despite these limitations, specific use cases like burn transactions or anyone-can-spend clauses might be feasible, acknowledging though that these transactions don't strictly need to be exactly 64 bytes. He also pointed out that any accidental generation of 64-byte transactions could potentially be modified post-creation, albeit this notion requires further examination.

Sjors responded by expanding upon the conversation, indicating that while there's an inherent challenge posed by these 64-byte transactions, the broader issue lies with the fundamental design flaws of the original Merkle tree structure used in such systems. He argued that this flaw necessitates significant engineering workarounds across various aspects of system architecture, suggesting that truly rectifying the problem would necessitate a hard fork, although some improvements might be achievable through softer approaches. Sjors also posited that despite these challenges, smart contract systems might benefit from simplified SPV (Simplified Payment Verification) proofs, thanks to the engineering efforts directed at navigating around the said 'ward'.

The discussion provides insight into the complexities and technical considerations involved in the development and optimization of smart contract systems, particularly those built around or incorporating Bitcoin's infrastructure. It highlights the ongoing dialogue among developers as they grapple with legacy design choices, the trade-offs between system efficiency and security, and the evolving requirements of decentralized finance ecosystems. For further details, one can refer to the discussion thread on Bitcoin Stack Exchange.