Bitcoin upgrade is splitting developers and purists

Bitcoin Core proponents defend OP_RETURN changes as neutral, while critics warn of spam and capture.

Bitcoin Core’s next major upgrade has reignited old tensions in the community, pitting developers who want a neutral, fee-driven network against purists who see non-financial data as spam.

Bitcoin Core v30, expected in October, will remove the 80-byte cap on OP_RETURN, the part of a transaction script that allows users to embed arbitrary data.

Bitcoin Core is software that runs the Bitcoin network, maintained by an open group of developers but widely relied upon by miners and node operators. While alternatives such as Knots exist, Bitcoin Core is the protocol’s reference implementation that is run by the majority of the network.

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