Bitcoin developers are again at the odds about how the oldest and largest blockchain should handle storing chain information, with a proposal to relax long-term data size Battles in 2023 in the ordinals.
Blockchain’s OP_RETURN feature gives people to attach a small piece of extra data to a transaction that it is often used for things such as notes, timestamp or digital notes. The suggested changeadvance of Developer Peter ToddThe 80-byte cap will be removed from such data, a limit originally designed to discourage spam and maintain blockchain financial integrity.
Supporters argue that the current limit is futile because users are that -Ypass by using Taproot transactionsTo hide data within the transaction parts intended for cryptographic signatures. This is how ordinal and inscriptions work (and why they have their critics): They have gemed images or texts in Taproot transactions That is often uncontrollable, making the Bitcoin blockchain a type of data storage system.
Bitcoin core developer Luke Dashjr, a voice critic of ordinals, whom he has long Labels a “SPAM ATTAINING” on the blockchainCalled the proposal to “utterly insane” and warned that loosening data restrictions would accelerate what he saw as a breakdown of Bitcoin’s financial goal.
“It has to be said, but this idea is quite crazy,” Dashjr posted. “The bugs should be fixed, not the abuse will be embraced.”
Critics of the proposal also have another concern. The change may normalize the storage of illegal content, drop the chain’s fungibility, and to -on node operators into intolerance hosts of malware and copyright violations.
In order to reflect the potential maelstrom it can carry, a team of ordinals Written a full Nintendo 64 emulator onto the blockchain, which may get the attention of Nintendo, a company known for Being protected by its intellectual possession.
Supporters of the change, including the Pieter Wuille and SJORS Provoost, argue that the relaxed OP_RETURN LIMITATION can actually reduce the known as UTXO (UNSPENT TRANSAKNe Output) that blooms, a phenomenon that slows down the blockchain when the network gets widespread with non -financial transactions, and ruins.
UTXO Bloat is a documented effect of ordinal and inscriptions using Taproot transactions. For example, in May 2023, at the height of the popularity of the Ordinals, Bitcoin’s blockchain became extremely congested Binance must suspend the removal of Bitcoin (BTC) For a number of hours.
“Demand exists,” Wuille wrote. “And pushing it out of the public relay network only causes more harm.”
So far, the proposal remains evaluated. One thing is for sure: the intensity of the GitHub debate and blockchain developer minger -mailing lists show the battle for Bitcoin’s identity is far away.
