There is something frustrating about this OP_RETURN discussion as to what the blockchain is supposed to be used for.

High hopes in stories about the blockchain being the infinite third party for proof of existence. Then when people think of ways to leverage that power, they get told not to spam the blockchain, because that's not what it's supposed to be used for.

The same with micro payments. When you get to using it, the fee turns out to be larger than the payment amount (prior to v0.9).

I understand this from a technical view point, but as a Bitcoin user, I find it discouraging.


With v0.9 I believe the OP_RETURN implementation provides a balanced solution: prunable outputs, infinite storage for those who want to build on top of it.

Now let's get us novices up and running with examples on how to create transactions with valid OP_RETURN values. Thank you.