The developer accuses Core developers of ignoring community concerns over the removal of the OP_RETURN limit.
Bitcoin Core developers’ decision to remove OP_RETURN data restrictions in the upgrade to version 30 continues to divide the Bitcoin community.
Recently, developer Jimmy Song launched harsh criticism against the Bitcoin Core team. He labeled the approach taken on the OP_RETURN issue as a “fiat mentality,” accusing developers of ignoring users’ legitimate concerns.
“The idea that spam is difficult to define, and that because of this ambiguity we shouldn’t introduce any distinctions in the software, is a time-wasting argument borrowed from fiat politics, where you pretend not to know the obvious so the real debate can never get off the ground — the non-monetary uses of Bitcoin are spam,” Song said in a video posted on X.
Currently, the OP_RETURN limit is set at 80 bytes, a restriction designed to limit the insertion of non-monetary data into the timechain.
The migration toward Bitcoin Knots
The unilateral decision by Bitcoin Core developers has caused a rift in the community, pushing many node operators toward Bitcoin Knots, the alternative implementation developed by Luke Dashjr.
According to Coin Dance data, Bitcoin Knots now represents about 20% of the network, compared to just 1% in 2024. Such growth in only nine months highlights the widespread discontent regarding the handling of OP_RETURN.
Bitcoin Knots allows operators to maintain strict limits on data size, a feature supporters consider essential to preserving the core characteristics of the Bitcoin protocol.
The issue remains unresolved: on one side, Bitcoin Core developers advocate for greater flexibility in the use of the timechain; on the other, a significant portion of the community prefers to maintain restrictions to safeguard the monetary use of the network.
