There are suggestions that Bitcoin developers will once again face off on how the world’s oldest and largest blockchain should store chained information, reducing the scale of data that will spark a fierce debate reminiscent of a future battle in 2023.
The op_return feature in blockchain allows people to attach extra data to transactions that are commonly used for notes, timestamps, digital records, and more. The proposed changes proposed by developer Peter Todd remove the 80-byte cap of such data. This is a limitation originally designed to discourage spam and maintain the financial integrity of the blockchain.
Supporters argue that the current limit is pointless because the user has already bypassed it using a Taproot transaction. This is how normal inscriptions and inscriptions work (and why critics are there). They embed images or text in Taproot transactions that often don’t dendrip, turning the Bitcoin blockchain into a kind of data storage system.
Bitcoin’s core developer Luke Dashjr is an ordinal vocal critic who has long been labelled “spam attacks” on blockchain, and warned that the proposal would be called “complete madness” and that loosening data restrictions would accelerate what could be seen as a deterioration in Bitcoin’s financial objectives.
“Needless to say, this idea is totally crazy,” Dashjr posted. “Bugs need to be fixed, not abuse is accepted.”
Critics of the proposal also have other concerns. This change could normalize illegal content storage, break down the solubility of the chain, and turn node operators into unconscious hosting of malware and copyright violations.
To demonstrate the possible swirl rocks this could bring, one regular team engraved the entire Nintendo 64 emulator onto the blockchain.
Advocates of changes, including Pieter Wuille and Sjors Provoost, have argued that the laximing op_return limit could actually reduce what is called utxo (unpent transaction output).
UTXO Bloat is a documented side effect of ordinals and inscriptions using Taproot transactions. For example, in May 2023, with the popularity of ordinances, Bitcoin blockchain had to halt for hours as busy Binance had to pause Bitcoin (BTC) withdrawals for several hours.