- Thirty-one Bitcoin Core developers released a joint statement emphasizing a neutral stance on the use of the Bitcoin network.
- The statement highlights that developers are not in a position to set or enforce how the network is used.
- Recent network upgrades have removed limits on transaction data size, raising debate about non-financial use cases and so-called spam transactions.
- Key figures in the Bitcoin community expressed mixed reactions, with some supporting the approach and others claiming it may encourage spam activity.
- Developers said the main purpose of transaction relay is to improve network operation, not to police specific activities.
On June 6, a group of 31 Bitcoin Core developers published a statement describing a hands-off approach to managing how the Bitcoin network is used. The developers said their role is to maintain the software and allow users to freely choose their own ways of using the network.
The official statement notes that “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 letter appears as debates continue over “spam inscriptions,” which refer to the sending of large amounts of non-monetary data over the Bitcoin system.
The group clarified that Bitcoin‘s open design means that nobody is in a position to mandate acceptable use cases. “Being free to run any software is the network’s primary safeguard against coercion,” the developers stated on the Bitcoin Core website.
Community reactions varied. JAN3 CEO Samson Mow criticized the statement on social media, saying “It’s disingenuous to just say ‘it is what it is now, too bad’” and accused developers of enabling spam. In contrast, Casa founder Jameson Lopp defended the approach, noting “Core Devs are a group saying we can’t force anyone to run code they don’t like; here is our thinking on relay policy and network health.” Bitcoin developer Luke Dashjr also challenged the relay policy, arguing that predicting what will be mined is a centralizing goal.
In May, Bitcoin Core developers removed an old limit on the size of transaction data to allow for bigger data segments. Some users see this as encouraging activities beyond the original monetary focus of Bitcoin.
The developers explained that the main goals for transaction relay are to predict what will be mined next, speed up how data moves through the network, and keep miners informed of fee-paying transactions. The statement concludes by saying that while this stance is not universally shared, the developers believe it serves the interests of the network and its users.
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