Developer proposes banning BRC-20 tokens and Ordinals

Bitcoin Core developer Luke Dashjr insists on applying a “spam filter” for tokens of the BRC-20 standard and Ordinals because of their negative impact on Bitcoin’s network. He wrote about it in a note to colleagues and miners.

“Measures should have been taken months ago. Spam filtering has been standard in Bitcoin Core from day one,” the programmer said.

According to him, such an approach would help “screen out” transactions related to Ordinals and BRC-20, which Dashjr called “garbage.” He noted that changes could be made in two ways: via a BIP or an upgrade to the network client.

The developer argues that the filter could be implemented immediately as a “bug fix” and there is no need to wait for a major update or a soft fork.

On May 1, amid a spike in Ordinals activity, the daily transactions on the Bitcoin network reached an all-time high of 685,711.

Binance twice paused withdrawals of the cryptocurrency due to network congestion. Some in the community suggested that the situation could have arisen from the growing popularity of bitcoin NFTs.

Some users criticized Dashjr’s proposal. MicroStrategy co-founder Michael Saylor noted that Ordinals are a “catalyst for mass adoption of Bitcoin.”

I stopped by @PBDsPodcast this morning to discuss currencies, crypto, politics, #bitcoin, banking, macro, money, and the media with @patrickbetdavid. https://t.co/IctlB4l7gN pic.twitter.com/e6ljbGM124

— Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) May 9, 2023

Ethereum advocate Ryan Berckmans said that developers want to “kill” technologies based on the first cryptocurrency.

bitcoin-core devs want to kill ordinals & BRC-20s

Miners likely want to double down on ordinals & BRC-20s to increase fees and the value of private mempools

Ordinals & BRC-20 holders want the right to exist and pursue growth

Civil war https://t.co/QeoAHJpPN4

— Ryan Berckmans ryanb.eth?? (@ryanberckmans) May 9, 2023

“Miners are likely to seek to boost their profits through higher fees and the value of private mempools. Owners of Ordinals and BRC-20s stand for the right to exist. Civil war,” he wrote.

Earlier this January, unknown individuals stole more than 200 BTC from Luke Dashjr. According to the developer, he “has no idea” how the attackers gained access to his key.