Bitcoin Devs Clash Over Corporate Push to Remove OP_RETURN Limit

A recent proposal to remove the data limit for OP_RETURN transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain has sparked controversy among developers. According to Samson Mow, a corporate initiative led to the submission of a code change request that would lift restrictions on the amount of data users can store in OP_RETURN fields, which are special transaction outputs designed to carry data.

The debate began after the pull request (PR 32359) appeared on GitHub, authored by long-time Bitcoin developer Peter Todd. Discussions on the Bitcoin-Dev Mailing List and GitHub revealed mixed opinions from developers. Chaincode Labs’ employee Antoine Poinsot and Todd described technical and cultural reasons for eliminating the limit, arguing that current restrictions were no longer effective against non-financial data storage.

Despite initial support, Mow alleged that the request was not organic but rather commissioned. In a response cited from StackerNews, Todd clarified, “For the record, this pull-req wasn’t my idea. I was asked to open it by an active Core dev because entities like Citrea are using unprunable outputs instead of OP_RETURN, due to the size limits.” Mow then suggested, referencing a social media post, that someone at Chaincode may have paid Todd to submit the change.

Poinsot denied personally paying Todd and expressed surprise at the accusation on social media. He then countered with, “Did Chaincode pay Peter to open this PR? That sounds pretty surprising to me.” In a follow-up post, Poinsot publicly called Mow a “desperate attention grabber” for spreading the claim.

The current disagreement brings back memories of the early OP_RETURN debates from 2010, when Satoshi Nakamoto imposed restrictions to keep the Bitcoin blockchain efficient and focused on financial transactions. At that time, Nakamoto suggested projects needing to store large data should use separate blockchains linked to Bitcoin’s proof-of-work instead of embedding excess data into the main chain.

Last week, several developers from Chaincode and Brink proposed a change to increase OP_RETURN’s data limit from about 80 bytes to hundreds of thousands of bytes. Proponents argued it was a simple update reflecting current realities, while opponents, including independent and Knots node operators, voiced concern that looser restrictions would encourage misuse of Bitcoin’s network for non-financial storage. Some critics labeled the proposal as the first step in a broader trend that could undermine Bitcoin’s core purpose as a monetary network. Others referred to it as an act of “sabotage” by parties interested in turning Bitcoin into a general-purpose database rather than a system for financial transactions.

Technical details about whether the proposed change will be adopted remain unclear. Blockstream engineer Greg Sanders stated via social media that Bitcoin Core considered including PR 32359 in its next update, but no final decision has been announced. The GitHub page for the proposal is currently locked, and developer votes are divided. Meanwhile, the number of Bitcoin nodes signaling opposition has reached a yearly high, according to Clark Moody’s dashboard.

Ongoing debate continues across social media, with critics arguing that Bitcoin Core is prioritizing corporate interests. Hashtags such as #FixTheFilters highlight the community’s active discussion, while issues of censorship on GitHub remain a concern for many developers.

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