Bitcoin News Today: Bitcoin's Identity Crisis: Core vs Knots Over Data, Money, and Control

Bitcoin Core and Bitcoin Knots continue to face off over the protocol’s evolving use cases, with ideological lines drawn between proponents of neutrality and those advocating for stricter anti-spam controls. At the heart of the debate is the upcoming Bitcoin Core v30 release, which plans to remove the 80-byte limit for OP_RETURN data, allowing greater flexibility for embedding non-financial data on the blockchain. This move, backed by Core developers, aims to promote broader innovation, including digital art and document verification. However, critics argue that it opens the door to spam and non-monetary transactions, potentially undermining Bitcoin’s primary role as a financial settlement system [1].

Opponents, primarily from the Bitcoin Knots community, have been vocal in their resistance. They argue that removing the data cap will turn the network into a “dumping ground” for spam, diluting its monetary integrity and deterring widespread adoption. Luke Dashjr, a key figure in the Knots movement, has warned that normalizing such transactions could diminish the network’s chances of long-term success unless the community takes a firm stand [1]. The ideological divide is not merely technical; it reflects broader views on Bitcoin’s identity. While Core champions neutrality—where any fee-paying transaction is valid—Knots emphasizes maintaining a lean, monetary-focused network [4].

This ideological clash has had a tangible impact on network participation. Bitcoin Knots nodes have grown from a mere 69 in January 2024 to over 4,200 by September 2025, representing approximately 17.78% of the reachable node network [3]. This rapid growth signals a significant shift in user preferences and highlights the increasing diversity of Bitcoin’s infrastructure. The rise of Knots is being framed not just as a technical preference but as a political and philosophical stance—resisting what some view as unilateral control over Bitcoin’s future by Core developers. Jameson Lopp, a Core advocate, has dismissed such resistance as an imposition of “traditional governance” on a system built on anarchy [1].

The debate has also taken on historical echoes, with some comparing it to the 2017 block size wars. While no hard fork has yet materialized, concerns over fragmentation remain. Peter Tood, a Bitcoin Core developer, has warned that the Knots crowd is becoming a “serious risk to Bitcoin.” The growing adoption of Knots may increase the risk of incompatibility between Core and Knots’ rulesets, potentially leading to transaction rejections or even a chain split [3]. Dashjr has also raised concerns over declining full node usage, noting that at least 85% of economic activity should be processed through full nodes for the network to remain resilient [1].

Despite the ideological intensity, the practical efficacy of Knots’ anti-spam filters remains in question. While Knots users claim to be defending block space for monetary transactions, empirical evidence suggests that their filters have little impact on the broader network. Miners, driven by profitability, often accept transactions directly from clients through out-of-band channels, bypassing Knots’ mempool filters entirely. Services like Marathon’s Slipstream facilitate this process, allowing valid fee-paying transactions to be included in blocks regardless of Knots node settings [4]. This raises doubts about the real-world effectiveness of node-level filtering in shaping the network’s transaction mix.

As the October 2025 release of Core v30 approaches, the debate over Bitcoin’s future direction shows no signs of abating. The growing adoption of Knots and the ideological resistance it represents highlight the community’s appetite for alternatives, even when those alternatives challenge the status quo. While some view this as a threat to Bitcoin’s cohesion, others see it as a strengthening of the network’s resilience through client diversity. Whether this divergence ultimately reinforces Bitcoin’s decentralization or weakens its consensus remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: the conversation is no longer just about technology—it’s about Bitcoin’s identity and its place in the evolving digital economy [3].

Source:

[1] Bitcoin Core vs Knots: Debate Intensifies Over Network ... (https://bitbo.io/news/bitcoin-core-knots-battle/)

[2] Bitcoin Knots Puts Power Back in the Hands of Miners and ... (https://www.trotterinc.com/markets/stocks.php?article=newsdirect-2025-9-5-bitcoin-knots-puts-power-back-in-the-hands-of-miners-and-users-with-v291-release)

[3] Open letter to Bitcoin Core: 'Bitcoin is and must remain ... (https://cryptoslate.com/open-letter-to-bitcoin-core-bitcoin-is-and-must-remain-censorship-resistant/)

[4] Why is Bitcoin Knots Becoming so Popular? (https://blog.bitfinex.com/education/why-is-bitcoin-knots-becoming-so-popular/)