Bitcoin News Today: Bitcoin's Core Identity Debate: Data Expansion Sparks Existential Debate

Bitcoin Core v30, released on October 12, 2025, has ignited significant debate within the Bitcoin community over its removal of the 80-byte limit for OP_RETURN data. The update increases the default data carrier size to 100,000 bytes per transaction, effectively permitting nearly 4MB of arbitrary data per transaction while allowing multiple OP_RETURN outputs, according to a Cryptonews report. This change has sparked tensions reminiscent of the 2017 block size wars, with critics warning of spam risks, legal liabilities, and potential network bloat, as CoinCentral noted. Proponents, including Blockstream CEO Adam Back, argue the update includes critical security patches and enhances Bitcoin's flexibility for non-financial use cases, CoinTelegraph reported.

The update also reduces the minimum relay fee from 1 to 0.1 satoshis per vByte and introduces TRUC transaction support for Lightning Network improvements; Cryptonews additionally reported these changes. However, the removal of legacy BDB wallet support and the mandatory migration to descriptor wallets have further polarized the community, CoinViews reported. Bitcoin Knots, an alternative implementation, has gained traction, representing 28% of network nodes as of October 2025, up from 67 nodes in March 2024, according to reporting from Cryptonews. Node operators using Knots enforce stricter data limits, with 21.48% of nodes adopting it to mitigate spam and legal risks, Bitbo noted.

Nick Szabo, a prominent cryptographer, raised concerns about the legal implications of the OP_RETURN expansion. He warned that node operators could face criminal liability for hosting illegal content if it is easily accessible via standard software, emphasizing that "legal outcomes depend less on technical nuance than on non-technical decision-makers' perceptions." Szabo also highlighted that while OP_RETURN data is prunable, its increased accessibility could heighten legal exposure compared to data hidden in non-prunable transaction elements. Adam Back countered that the update's security improvements are essential, calling social attacks against the update "an attack on Bitcoin itself," as Cryptonews reported.

The philosophical divide centers on Bitcoin's core function. Ordinals ecosystem leader Leonidas threatened to fund a Bitcoin Core fork if developers attempt to censor transactions, citing miner support controlling over 50% of the hash rate, according to Cryptonews. Critics like Jimmy Song argue that the Taproot upgrade failed to address unintended consequences of enabling non-financial transactions, while others see potential in future applications like BitVM and Ark, which Cryptonews has also covered. The debate also extends to economic lobbying mechanisms, with Back suggesting fee-paying users could direct payments toward pools that filter non-financial transactions, a point raised in Cryptonews' coverage.

Bitcoin Core v30's security disclosure policy states that five low-severity vulnerabilities fixed in the update will be disclosed in two weeks, while medium or high-severity fixes remain undisclosed for a year. Most fixes have been backported to v29.2, though some vulnerabilities cannot be addressed without revealing them to users, as Cryptonews reported. Luke Dashjr, founder of Bitcoin Knots, criticized Core developers for "unblocking, reblocking" discussions to prevent corrections, while Bitcoin Advocate Alan Watts argued the update is not an existential threat to Bitcoin, another point covered by Cryptonews.

The market impact remains uncertain. While some view the data expansion as a catalyst for decentralized applications, others fear network congestion and increased node storage costs. The debate echoes past scaling disputes, with Knots' growth signaling a potential hard fork if consensus fails. As of October 2025, Knots nodes account for 28% of the network, raising concerns about economic divergence and governance fragmentation, a scenario CoinTelegraph explored.