Bitcoin Developers Reject Proposal to Block Ordinals

Luke Dashjr, a member of the Bitcoin Core team, proposed a code change to block Ordinals, but it failed to gain sufficient support from developers.

BREAKING: BITCOIN DEVS REJECT CAT-EATER @LUKEDASHJR’S “BUG FIX” TO BAN ORDINALS; SAY HIS ATTEMPT “HAS NO HOPE” pic.twitter.com/Aeb8PivcUV

— Udi Wertheimer (@udiWertheimer) January 6, 2024

Concluding the meeting, Blockstream engineer Ava Chow noted that the proposal was contentious and discussions had reached an impasse. 

“At this point, there is no hope of reaching a conclusion acceptable to all,” she stated.

She believes there is no reason to continue exchanging messages in a “dead-end discussion.”

“Bitcoin developers reject Dash’s ‘bug fix’ to ban Ordinals. Tell him the attempt is ‘hopeless’,” commented well-known protocol advocate Udi Wertheimer.

Previously, Dash criticized Ordinals for spreading spam on the network. He argues that the inscriptions issued on the protocol exploit a vulnerability in Bitcoin Core that needs to be “fixed.” His stance sparked lively debate and a wave of criticism.

The developer stated that his team began addressing the bug in the Bitcoin Knots v25.1 update, aiming for complete resolution by version v27 in 2025. The solution involves filtering Taproot transactions to block Ordinals and BRC-20 tokens.

Dash’s position was supported by colleagues William Casarin and Jimmy Song. The latter described the protocol as a fraudulent mechanism for executing Pump & Dump schemes with altcoins. According to Song, scammers find it harder to deceive users by issuing tokens on blockchains like Ethereum or Solana. Bitcoin-based assets inspire more trust, the developer believes.

Altcoin Redux

In a way, the ordinals scam is an excellent sign. Altcoins have long been associated with Bitcoin through the moniker of “crypto” and have used Bitcoin’s good name to scam people through pump and dumps.

But as we’ve seen, this narrative is no longer what it used…

— Jimmy Song (송재준) (@jimmysong) January 1, 2024

Dash and Jack Dorsey’s decentralized Bitcoin mining pool, Ocean, has left the decision on censoring non-financial transactions, such as the issuance of Ordinals inscriptions, to its users.