Bitcoin Core v30 Launches With Controversial

[SPIDERMAN008]

Bitcoin Core developers have released the major v30 update, introducing significant changes to node architecture, performance, and privacy.
The most contentious update is the increase of the OP_RETURN data limit from 80 to 100,000 bytes, allowing much larger amounts of non-financial data to be embedded in transactions.

New privacy and node features
Alongside the OP_RETURN increase, v30 adds the option for encrypted connections between nodes, aiming to enhance privacy across the Bitcoin network.With this release, versions 27.x and older have reached end-of-life and will no longer receive updates, according to the official announcement.

Community debate over data limits
The expanded OP_RETURN capacity has divided the community.

Supporters, such as Ark Labs’ Alex Bergeron and Satoshi Labs’ Pavol Rusnak, argue the change enables more powerful decentralized applications and reflects strong engineering decisions.
Bergeron commented via X that he intends “to use all of the additional OP_RETURN space and WILL use it to make Bitcoin more like Ethereum, except better.”Critics, however, warn the change could lead to blockchain bloat, higher node operation costs, and legal exposure. Noted cryptographer Nick Szabo advised:

“As a (hopefully) temporary measure, run Knots. I strongly recommend not upgrading to Core v30.”

Node operators seek alternatives
A significant share of node operators have switched to using the alternative Knots software to enforce stricter data size limits, with BitRef data showing over 5,100 Knots nodes, or 21.5% of the network.

Szabo has also raised concerns about the risk of hosting illegal data, stating that without safeguards, archival node operators could face criminal liability.

Echoes of the block size wars
This debate recalls the block size wars of 2017, which resulted in a contentious split and the creation of Bitcoin Cash.While the current update is not a protocol-level change, it reignites questions about Bitcoin’s core use case and the balance between innovation and network integrity.

https://bitbo.io/news/bitcoin-core-v30-op-return/

[PepeLapiu]

There you go, supporters of core 30 want to turn bitcoin into shitcoin ETH. Only better? Isn't bitcoin better than shitcoin ETH already?

We sent Vitalic away, told him we are not turning bitcoin into a jpeg cloud storage services and now we are supposed to compete and copy ETH?

[werghb4562]

We sent Vitalic away

That is a lie manufactured by buterin to justify creating a scamcoin with a gigantic premine.

[BattleDog]

Core v30 tweaked defaults, not consensus. You are not forced to relay or mine bigger OP_RETURN. If you want the old limits, put datacarrier=0 or datacarriersize=83 in bitcoin.conf and restart.

If bloat or liability worries you, prune, use blocksonly, and lock your own policy. Knots ships stricter presets, but stock Core can match them with a couple lines. OP_RETURN does not grow the UTXO set. Chain size only grows if miners get paid for that data. So you should pick your policy and carry on.

[PepeLapiu]

Core v30 tweaked defaults, not consensus.

While you are correct, that is not the full story. First core said they would remove the filters. When that caused controversy they said they would first mark the filter as deprecated and change the default setting. And completely remove the filter at a later time. And now, they are saying they are only changing the default setting and marking it as deprecated. And they assure us that marking it as deprecated is nothing to worry about.

I am a coder. They can't fool me. Given that they already said they would remove the filter, and they marked it as deprecated, it's obvious what they have in store.

You are not forced to relay or mine bigger OP_RETURN.

That is a pretty significant claim when you consider core is responsible to maintain 75% of the nodes code. But that 75% number is declining at an alluring speed. Core will be put in their place. They will either clean up their act and reconsider their stance on fighting spam, or they will be defunded are thrown into the dust bin.

If bloat or liability worries you, prune, use blocksonly, and lock your own policy.

What worries me is not bloat or liability. At least not right now.

What worries me is that core devs appear to have been compromised.

What worries me is that while core claim they are only changing the default settings, one of them - Shitcoiner Peter Todd, is effectively spinning a fork of core designed to be a private network of nodes geared towards spam miners (Mara and F2Pool) so that they may skip the rest of the nodes filters and propagate spam transactions to each other.

What worries me is that when the Slegwit update turned out to open the door to spam, core did nothing. Told us they can't stop it, and even if they could, they shouldn't. And when the Taproot update also turned out to open the door to more spam, core did nothing, told us they can't stop it, and even if they could, they shouldn't.

Now they are not even turning a blind eye to spam, they are effectively offering it a seat a the adult table by attempting to blow up the op_return limit.

What worries me is that core shitcoin devs are effectively attempting to turn our perfect money into a cloud repository of dick pics and child p**n.

Knots ships stricter presets, but stock Core can match them with a couple lines. OP_RETURN does not grow the UTXO set.

That is mighty big of them - our expert overlords - to allow us - ignorant non technical plebs - to have control over our own software, what we put in our own mempool, and what we want to relay to other nodes.