The statement is essentially a formal response to the controversy surrounding Ordinals, inscription transactions, and non-financial use data traffic.
Written by: ChandlerZ, Foresight News
Recently, the Bitcoin Core project released a joint statement titled "Bitcoin Core Development and Transaction Relay Strategy" on its official forum, asserting that non-financial uses on the Bitcoin network should not be restricted, and that miners and nodes should not refuse to relay and package such transactions. The statement conveys a reaffirmation of the Bitcoin network's anti-censorship and protocol neutrality principles. However, in the current ecological context, this declaration has sparked extensive discussions among developers and the community.
Since the inscription mechanism gained popularity in 2023, issues such as on-chain resource usage, network congestion, and disputes over discourse power have become central problems in the Bitcoin ecosystem. The subsequent emergence of the BRC20 protocol has diversified asset forms and further highlighted the differences surrounding non-financial applications. The release of this statement has reactivated the debate over the boundaries of Bitcoin network usage, and whether Bitcoin will continue to expand its non-native application space in the future will depend on deeper coordination and consensus between developers and users.
What signals does the Bitcoin Core statement send?
It is clear that the statement is essentially a formal response to the controversy surrounding Ordinals, inscription transactions, and non-financial use data traffic. The statement explicitly states that the Bitcoin network should adhere to decentralization and anti-censorship principles, and that the core development team has no authority to prevent users from using on-chain space for non-financial purposes. Node operators and miners should also not selectively relay or package transactions based on subjective judgments. This position essentially expresses a "technological neutrality" attitude towards inscriptions and other on-chain data applications.
From the context of the statement's release, the Bitcoin Core team's action is not a sudden shift but rather a continuation of its long-standing position on relay policies: the responsibility of node software is to maximize the neutrality and reliability of network operations, rather than to qualitatively judge the purpose of transactions. Previous controversies surrounding the data inflation issue of inscriptions, network congestion, and high transaction fees have led to sharply opposing opinions within the community. This statement attempts to alleviate the long-standing differences between developers and node operators by reinforcing consensus neutrality without interfering with transaction types.
However, once the statement was released, it quickly triggered strong reactions at the community level. Several developers and industry figures expressed varying degrees of dissatisfaction and even skepticism. Casa wallet co-founder Jameson Lopp believes that Bitcoin Core developers are not a unified entity, but the joint statement raises concerns about the governance transparency that a decentralized project should have; JAN3 CEO Samson Mow also pointed out that the statement of "this is how it is" obscures the fact that developers are gradually allowing the network structure to change. Notably, well-known developer Luke Dashjr from within Bitcoin Core bluntly criticized the poorly designed relay objectives of the statement, arguing that the definition of "which transactions should be relayed" lacks clarity, which will lead to further confusion in the relay mechanism.
Behind the disagreements lies a fundamental divergence within the current Bitcoin ecosystem regarding "network positioning." Developers represented by Carl Horton believe that Bitcoin should focus on its function as a "peer-to-peer electronic cash system," rather than being used as a general data storage medium. This stands in clear conflict with practices such as inscriptions and BRC20. Although the current statement does not directly support such non-financial transactions, its "non-intervention" attitude has been widely interpreted by the market as a tacit loosening of restrictions on on-chain expansion applications.
In the short term, this statement may reduce the likelihood of miners or nodes subjectively rejecting inscription transactions, helping to restore the network's inclusivity towards Ordinals. However, in the medium to long term, its impact on the overall path choices of the Bitcoin ecosystem and the redefinition of the relationship between developers and users remains to be seen. The power struggle between the core development team and other community entities may be far from over.
Internal Disagreements and Technical Bottlenecks in the Bitcoin Ecosystem
Looking back at the development trajectory of the Bitcoin ecosystem in recent years, it is evident that while there have been breakthroughs in innovative exploration, the overall ecological construction still faces numerous structural challenges.
There is a lack of consistent technical direction and consensus mechanisms within the ecosystem, with long-standing differences in positions among core developers, miners, wallet service providers, and user groups. Due to the limited native functionality of the Bitcoin protocol, there has never been a unified opinion on whether to support non-financial uses, and this division manifests in low acceptance of new technologies and slow progress in protocol evolution, hindering ecological interaction and construction efficiency.
Non-financial applications represented by inscriptions and the BRC20 protocol have injected some vitality into Bitcoin, but they have also brought about increased resource consumption and heavier burdens on node operations. Some miners and nodes selectively avoid such transactions, exacerbating the opposing sentiments among network participants. This inconsistency in technology and positions makes the entire ecosystem appear lacking in coordination and flexibility when dealing with emerging applications, making it difficult for innovation to create sustained effects.
The Bitcoin Core team's statement that non-financial transactions should not be restricted or rejected is an attempt to intervene in this situation. From an ecological perspective, this statement is expected to break down some technical barriers and cognitive gaps, releasing more space for the deployment of new projects and user participation. If the core developers clearly oppose technical censorship and promote more neutral relay and packaging strategies, then the development path surrounding non-financial applications will gain more certainty. However, this does not mean that ecological issues will be fundamentally resolved; rather, whether technological evolution can truly take root and whether the developer community can form effective collaboration mechanisms will still determine whether this statement can bring about substantial change.
New Play, or a Turning Point for the Bitcoin Ecosystem
Some developers hold a reserved attitude towards the recent statement released by the Bitcoin Core project, but the statement clarifies the Bitcoin network's open stance towards non-financial uses, providing a relatively relaxed policy environment for ecological innovation.
Currently, the development of traditional projects in the Bitcoin ecosystem is slowing down, and the expansion of technology and applications faces certain limitations. In this context, focusing on emerging projects that can seize the opportunity presented by this policy adjustment may offer more growth potential. Although these innovations bring some controversies, such as their impact on network load and stability, they also demonstrate the potential for diversified development of the Bitcoin network.
After all, the Web3 ecosystem excels at continuously trying and creating new things; in the face of challenges, exploring new possibilities may indeed be the direction for the future.
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