Bitcoin Core contributor Luke Dashir is reportedly considering a Bitcoin hard fork in the near future.
The controversial developer is a loud opponent of increasing the size of OP_RETURN, arguing that there is no place for non-monetary data on the leading blockchain. Hence, there is no need for optimization.
He maintains the Bitcoin Knots client, which is an alternative implementation of Bitcoin nodes.
Initially, Knots came up with filters that specifically block transactions with non-monetary data.
However, all nodes are required to store data within the same blocks, and the filters implemented by Knots can apply only to unconfirmed transactions.
Dashir has now acknowledged that merely policing the memoool is not sufficient.
According to the report, he has proposed setting up a committee that would retroactively alter data on the leading blockchain. However, this would require launching a Bitcoin hard fork.
Major concerns
The hard fork would inevitably raise such major concerns as censorship, given that it could potentially lead to all “unfavorable” data being removed. Furthermore, node operators could potentially face criminal liability if they refuse to comply with the committee’s requests.
The report claims that the messages were verified, but Dashjr is denying the allegations.
Blockstream CEO Adam Back claims that the allegations are “far worse” than he could have imagined.
According to BitMEX Research, this appears to be an “attack” on the cryptocurrency’s key censorship resistance characteristics.
History of Bitcoin forks
When it comes to blockchains, hard forks are used for implementing major protocol changes.
Since its launch, the Bitcoin network has seen multiple hard forks, including Bitcoin XT, Bitcoin Classic, Bitcoin Cash (the most successful one by far), and Bitcoin Gold.