{"id":24665,"date":"2025-05-01T09:46:58","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T09:46:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=24665"},"modified":"2025-05-01T09:46:58","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T09:46:58","slug":"bitcoin-news-who-will-win-the-op_return-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=24665","title":{"rendered":"Bitcoin News: Who Will Win the \u201cOP_RETURN\u201d War?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>Bitcoin developers are arguing over a proposal to remove the 83-byte limit currently set for the OP_RETURN function. Who will win? Will the network hard fork? The last time Bitcoin hard forked was in September 2017.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">There is a storm in the Bitcoin community that risks leading to another hard fork, a major one in nearly eight years. A technical debate over a single protocol feature is erupting into a full-blown ideological war. At the heart of this conflict is <\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/bitcoin\/bitcoin\/pull\/32359#issue-3023316478\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">pull request 32359<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, which seeks to remove the 83-byte data limit on the Bitcoin OP_RETURN function.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">DISCOVER:\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/99bitcoins.com\/cryptocurrency\/next-crypto-to-explode\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">20+ Next Crypto to Explode in 2025\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The \u201cOP_RETURN\u201d War: Who Will Win?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Since the activation of this data limit, Bitcoin transactions have been able to hold small amounts of non-financial data. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Now, a proposal aims to remove this limit, allowing files larger than 83 bytes to be embedded directly in Bitcoin transactions. This change would directly impact the size of the blockchain and node operations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The discussion has spiraled into a public spectacle, with supporters and opponents clashing, each adamant that their position is best for the network. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Any change will either align Bitcoin with Satoshi Nakamoto\u2019s vision as a financial layer or transform it into a general-purpose blockchain bloated with potentially useless files. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">In this OP_RETURN War, rifts are emerging, reminiscent of the Bitcoin clash of September 2017, which birthed Bitcoin Cash after a hard fork. Although Bitcoin Cash has faded, it is still one of the <\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/99bitcoins.com\/cryptocurrency\/best-crypto-to-buy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">best cryptos to buy<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> in 2025.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">To understand why this debate is crucial, one must know why the OP_RETURN function was introduced. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">First implemented in 2014, this function was designed as a lightweight way to attach transaction data, such as timestamps, to Bitcoin transactions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Bitcoin, Explained 61: OP_RETURN\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NYj80OGlWGg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">While part of the transaction, its goal was to keep the network \u201clight\u201d and unclogged. It was capped at 83 bytes to prioritize essential financial data. However, debates remain about whether this limit promotes utility, efficiency, or both.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Pull Request 32359, proposed by Peter Todd and Antoine Poinsot of Chaincode Labs, seeks to lift this cap. Instead of 83 bytes, anyone could embed files of any size, effectively storing them on-chain. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Which Way Bitcoin?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Supporters argue the limit is outdated, especially after the activation of Taproot enabled inscriptions and innovations like tokenization.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Additionally, private mempool broadcasting providers, such as <a class=\"general-link\" href=\"https:\/\/slipstream.mara.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">MARA Slipstream<\/a>, already allow larger files to be stored on-chain. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">In a post on X, Todd stated that the limit makes Bitcoin \u201cless efficient\u201d and that lifting it would restructure OP_RETURN\u2019s full-fee structure.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\u201cYour use of the software is giving the attackers the power to carry out their attack. Remove that power.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Knots still relays \u201cspam\u201d transactions\u2026in blocks.<\/p>\n<p>If <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LukeDashjr?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">@LukeDashjr<\/a> and the rest of the Knots crew really want to do something worthwhile, they should propose a soft fork.\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/1eW3ZCitxi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/t.co\/1eW3ZCitxi<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Peter Todd (@peterktodd) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/peterktodd\/status\/1917270065990316081?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">April 29, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Meanwhile, Bitcoin purists, including core developer Luke Dashjr, call the proposal \u201cutter insanity,\u201d warning it could turn Bitcoin into a data dump. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">They point to the inscriptions boom, which spiked transaction fees and strained nodes. <\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">It didn&#8217;t used to be this way \u2013 the devs just instinctively knew, you don&#8217;t use Bitcoin for arbitrary file storage and you do everything you can to make Bitcoin awkward to use for that purpose.<\/p>\n<p>You don&#8217;t lay out the red carpet for scamcoin migrants from ETH-land. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/8t4gGz9n72\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/8t4gGz9n72<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Mechanic #FixTheFilters #300kb (@GrassFedBitcoin) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GrassFedBitcoin\/status\/1916717509476339775?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">April 28, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Removing the limit and adding non-essential data could undermine Bitcoin\u2019s mission as \u201cinternet money\u201d and make the network worthless.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Bitcoin Core developers are about to merge a change that turns Bitcoin into a worthless altcoin, and no one seems to care to do anything about it.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve voiced objections, lost sleep over this, and despite clear community rejection of the PR it&#8217;s moving.<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/dMcQ4g8RjV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/t.co\/dMcQ4g8RjV<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Jason Hughes (@wk057) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/wk057\/status\/1917235710781690171?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">April 29, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">This group urges the community to enforce strict regulations to preserve Bitcoin\u2019s core purpose.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">For now, everyone is curious how the community will receive this proposal. As Bitcoin is more than code: It is a movement worth <a class=\"general-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.coingecko.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">over $1.88 trillion<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Therefore, the debate will only intensify with time, and interesting explanations will be forwarded. Still, whether or not a hard fork is on the cards remains to be seen.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">DISCOVER: <\/span><\/strong><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/99bitcoins.com\/cryptocurrency\/best-meme-coin-icos\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">7 Best Meme Coin ICOs &amp; Presales to Invest in 2025<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"nnbtc-key-takeaways\">\n<h3 class=\"nnbtc-key-takeaways__title\">Bitcoin OP_RETURN War: Will There Be A Hard Fork? <\/h3>\n<ul class=\"nnbtc-key-takeaways__list\">\n<li class=\"nnbtc-key-takeaways__list-item\">\n         <span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Pull request 32359 proposes removing the 83-byte data limit set for the OP_RETURN function in Bitcoin<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0<\/span>    <\/li>\n<li class=\"nnbtc-key-takeaways__list-item\">\n         <span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Supporters think the limit is outdated and bypassed after Taproot activation<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0<\/span>    <\/li>\n<li class=\"nnbtc-key-takeaways__list-item\">\n         <span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Opposers maintain that lifting this limit will allow people to embed spam files<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0<\/span>    <\/li>\n<li class=\"nnbtc-key-takeaways__list-item\">\n         <span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Will this war lead to a hard fork?<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0<\/span>    <\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/99bitcoins.com\/news\/bitcoin-news-who-will-win-the-op_return-war\/\">Bitcoin News: Who Will Win the \u201cOP_RETURN\u201d War?<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/99bitcoins.com\/\">99Bitcoins<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bitcoin developers are arguing over a proposal to remove the 83-byte limit currently set for the OP_RETURN function. Who will win? Will the network hard fork? The last time Bitcoin hard forked was in September 2017.\u00a0 There is a storm in the Bitcoin community that risks leading to another hard fork, a major one in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3,4,5],"class_list":["post-24665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-crypto","tag-doge","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24665\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}