A joint statement from Bitcoin core developers has sparked arguments among the members of the community. According to the core devs, they want a hands-off approach to how the Bitcoin network is used, a proposal that has not gone down well with everyone in the community.
The proposal is coming amid the ongoing controversy concerning non-monetary use cases. “This is not endorsing or condoning non-financial data usage, but accepting that as a censorship-resistant system, Bitcoin can and will be used for use cases not everyone agrees on,” the statement published on the Bitcoin Core website said.
In the letter, the developers argued that the Bitcoin network is defined by its users, who are free to choose what software they use and implement the policies they want. The post also highlighted that its core contributors are not in a position to mandate what software or policies they desire. This statement comes amid the ongoing debate over spam inscriptions on the Bitcoin network. “Being free to run any software is the network’s primary safeguard against coercion,” the developers added.
Bitcoin community divided after developers’ statement
The statement seemed to have gone down well with many Bitcoiners, and like with every update, some people were against it. One of its critics was JAN3 CEO Samson Mow , who had issues with the tone of the letter. “Bitcoin Core devs have been changing the network gradually to enable spam and now seem focused on also removing barriers for spammers. It’s disingenuous to just say “It is what it is now, too bad.” This statement itself is also inappropriate. Feels like an NYA from Core devs,” he said.
Mow’s statement comes after a May 8 update in which the core developers decided to remove a long-standing limit on transaction data in a network upgrade to allow for larger data segments. “Bitcoin Core’s next release will, by default, relay and mine transactions whose OP_RETURN outputs exceed 80 bytes and allow any number of these outputs,” the announcement read on GitHub. Like with this update, some Bitcoiners still saw an opening to non-financial use cases.
Meanwhile, Casa founder Jameson Lopp defended the letter. Lopp mentioned that the core developers are saying that they don’t want to force anyone to run a code they don’t want, highlighting what they think about relay policy and network health. “When there was no cohesive message, and it was just a bunch of independent developers making individual statements, Bitcoin Core was accused of having “poor public relations,” Lopp said. He also added that now that the group has published a joint statement, people are finding a reason to be offended about it.
Developers make their case in the joint letter
According to the developers, it is better for the BTC node software “to aim to have a realistic idea of what will end up in the next block, rather than attempting to intervene between consenting transaction creators and miners to discourage activity that is largely harmless at a technical level.” They also added that while this view is not shared by all users and developers, they believe that it is in the best interest of Bitcoin and its users, hoping that they agree with their statement.
The developers mentioned that the main goals of transaction relay are predicting what Bitcoin transactions will be mined, speeding up block propagation” for the transactions expected to be mined, and helping BTC miners learn about fee-paying transactions. Meanwhile, Bitcoiner Carl Honton has criticized the bill saying, “It’s Bit “Coin” not Bit “Bucket” or Bit “Store” or whatever general purpose data store you have in mind. It’s a “peer-to-peer electronic cash system.”
Bitcoin core developer Luke Dashjr also criticized what the group aimed to achieve with the relay policy outlined in the statement. “The goals of transaction relay listed are basically all wrong,” Dashjr said. He added that predicting what will be mined is a centralizing goal. Expecting spam to be mined is defeatism. Helping spam propagate is harmful.
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