Bitcoin Core v30, released recently, removed its spam filter, reigniting an old debate that now threatens to split developers, spark a soft fork, and draw in big names like Michael Saylor.
Summary
- Since 2014, the non-monetary data size per block has been limited to 83 bytes. Bitcoin Core v30 allows node runners to increase this limit.
- The Bitcoin Core team sees the data size carrier limit removal as a resistance to censorship and providing more freedom to people using Bitcoin.
- Proponents call non-monetary data spam and insist Bitcoin should remain mostly a monetary data ledger. Many angered Bitcoin Core users switched to Knots, an alternative client that still has a spam filter.
- They suggest that a flexible limit enables bad actors to post illicit content, like child pornography, on Bitcoin, thus legally jeopardizing node runners.
- The new soft fork proposal BIP-444 is aimed at banning non-monetary data from the Bitcoin network for a year.
- The debate continues with Bitcoin Core v30 proponents and opponents calling each other communists.
BIP-444
On Oct. 24, two weeks after the action of Bitcoin Core v30, GitHub user Dathonohm introduced a pull request with Bitcoin Improvement Proposal 444. BIP-444 proposes a soft fork restricting adding non-monetary data (texts, images, etc) to the Bitcoin blockchain for one year.
The description explains that the proposal is aimed at overcoming Bitcoin’s identity crisis in 365 days:
“The explicitly temporary nature of the softfork further reinforces that this is a targeted intervention to mitigate a specific crisis, not a commitment or proposal of a new direction of development. If no further action is taken by you, it will expire in a year.”
As for the argumentation, Dathonohm repeats all the same reasons that have been circulating on Crypto X after the spam filter removal in Bitcoin Core v30 was announced.
Dathonohm and the BIP-444 supporters in the comment section name the following:
- Bitcoin is supposed to be neutral, but once illegal data is recorded in the immutable Bitcoin blockchain, neutrality is lost.
- The BIP-444 supporters note that while paying for illegal goods only creates records about such payments, the lack of a spam filter welcomes relaying illicit data, which is unlawful itself. It enables additional risks to those who run nodes.
- To those who see Knots and the BIP-444 as censorship, they say that monetary transactions are a form of speech, while arbitrary data is not speech. They liken it to crayon drawings on banknotes or bank cheques.
Understanding the difference in stances
The two camps see the initial purpose of Bitcoin differently. The Knots and BIP-444 proponents believe Bitcoin is an electronic cash system; thus, they don’t want non-monetary data on the blockchain. They suggest that opening gates to illegal images threatens the well-being of Bitcoin’s primary use as a monetary system.
The Bitcoin Core supporters argue that Bitcoin should not always try to catch up with the law, as it was initially built as an alternative to any government. Moreover, they see neutrality in allowing any kind of data to be stored on Bitcoin. There is no “wrong” way to use Bitcoin, in their opinion. Some of them see a soft fork as too serious a change, no matter if it’s only for a year.
Many in both camps insult and troll each other online. They call each other “communists.” Bitcoin Core supporters think that the Knots camp is trying to suppress freedom of expression and censor Bitcoin. Knots and BIP-444 proponents see Bitcoin’s non-monetary use as an attack on financial freedom.
In September, not long before the adoption of Bitcoin Core v30, the founder of MicroStrategy (now called Strategy), Michael Saylor, voiced his concerns over spam data. He noted the following:
“The good idea for Bitcoin will destroy Bitcoin. If I wanted to destroy Bitcoin, I would just fund infinite developers who are very talented and tell them to make it better. I would counsel extreme caution, extreme caution whenever it comes to “upgrading the protocol. The lack of the feature is the feature.”
Saylor’s remarks didn’t influence the situation, and Bitcoin Core v30 was released as planned.
The Bitcoin Core team didn’t explicitly change the protocol. They didn’t remove the spam filter altogether. Rather, they gave users an option to regulate it. By default, the arbitrary data carrier now has a 100,000-byte size, which is way higher than the 83-byte limit. Allegedly, most node runners don’t change it.
However, one month into the use of Bitcoin Core v30, there is no evidence that Bitcoin has changed. Probably, initiatives coming from the limitless, arbitrary data carrier will follow soon. It is too early to judge how they will impact the network. As of the press time, Bitcoin is alive and well, and the main damage was done to the community spirit.
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