BITCOIN SEASON 2: Bitcoin OP_RETURN War Explained

Bitcoin developers are clashing over relaxing OP_RETURN limits. This technical debate about arbitrary data on Bitcoin has sparked divisions about what constitutes "spam" and revealed tensions between Bitcoin Core devs and those seeking a "purer" Bitcoin experience.

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What started as a technical proposal has exploded into community division, with accusations of "destroying Bitcoin" flying around. The hosts break down what OP_RETURN is, why some devs want to increase its size limit, and why others view it as enabling "spam" on the blockchain. At its core, this fight reveals deeper tensions about who controls Bitcoin's future and what the network should be used for.

Notes:

- OP_RETURN limit currently set at 83 bytes

- Proposal would increase limit to ~1 megabyte

- 30-45% of Bitcoin transactions are "non-financial"

- Bitcoin Knots node usage has grown to 7-8%

- Out-of-band transactions bypass node relay

- Core devs facing diminished community trust

Timestamps:

00:00:00:00 Start

00:00:36:16 Why's everyone so mad?

00:02:04:14 Claim your bias

00:04:00:03 The backstory

00:08:27:09 Changing the OP_RETRUN limit

00:11:24:06 Post to relax the limit

00:15:39:23 Out of Band payment

00:17:39:06 Standard vs valid consensus

00:19:52:29 What is spam?

00:28:41:05 Arch Network

00:29:13:14 Cons of increasing the limit

00:32:34:25 That's too "woke" bro!

00:35:56:27 Knots

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