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A pseudonymous developer credits Bitcoin Knots maintainer Luke Dashjr for a softfork proposal that could split the Bitcoin blockchain, claiming Bitcoin Core exposes users to legal risks.

Full story👇

https://www.therage.co/running-bitcoin-is-illegal-dashjr-chainsplit-proposal-hits-bip-repository/

L0la L33tz 2mo ago 💬 72

Since a fair amount of people on the Internet seem to have below average reading comprehension, here's the gist of Luke's softfork, in the author's own words.

First, to all the apologists claiming that Dashjr has nothing to do with this softfork, he’s literally credited as the original author of the proposal in the BIP, and has publicly stated that he assigned the BIP number.

Second, the softfork proposal is literally *intended* to cause a chain split by the author’s own description with the retroactive activation, describing it as “an important part of its purpose: to keep the illegal content storage out of Bitcoin.”

Third, while the softfork is described as temporary, both the author and Dashjr prodigee Bitcoin Mechanic state that if the fork is activated, there is likely consensus to prolong the fork, which would necessitate ***any other update to Bitcoin to be a hardfork*** because ***the proposal removes most softfork update hooks***.

Lastly, the author uses the notion of legal threats to node operators to coerce activation, stating that “this BIP specifically targets forms of spam that are so legally toxic that having even a single instance in the chain represents a significant legal liability for users who run nodes”.

This notion has been publicly endorsed by Dashjr, who claims that “a counter-fork to reject BIP 444 would mean explicitly protecting and enforcing the distribution of child p**n.”

Note that none of this is even getting into the coin confiscation risks which we touch on in the article, the incentives for a 51% attack, or the fact that arbitrary data can *still* be stored on Bitcoin even with the softfork, which other people have raised in response.

Anyone who writes that ***”there is no time for careful deployment”*** when wanting to push an upgrade to software that secures a Trillion Dollar asset cannot honestly be taken seriously.

Any Knots apologist responding to this post will be called a liar.

Fork your mother if you want to fork.

nostr:nevent1qvzqqqqqqypzq46rsulmv4uqvm83zs9f6v0rdra44wztlz45jpljlfgdp6k4t37qqythwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnswf5k6ctv9ehx2ap0qqsv7f5w693xlyvm9qar5qx5ah64xye8w8md042gpf6df2j46c6llkq5r4va2

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Discussion

Keith Meola 2mo ago

"there is no time for careful deployment" is straight cringe

paulo 2mo ago

And antithetical to Bitcoin

Ben's BTC stories 2mo ago

Nonsense.

I proposed the change. And I am not Luke.

L0la L33tz 2mo ago

Liar

Ben's BTC stories 2mo ago

Easy for you to say.

Zaikaboy 2mo ago

Let them fork off, I want the air drop

ThatWhichisNotSeen 2mo ago

this is what we call living long enough to see yourself become the villain

ཀռօֆ🝤ʀǟɖǟʍɨᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 2mo ago

Or maybe English is not everyone's first language. You know you can actually start a sentence without switching that gaslighter of yours On. 🤣

Zaikaboy 2mo ago

English is my first language though!!! Keep up Z 😜

Knowmad 2mo ago

Sad to see TheRage glowing so hard these days... No more of my sats heading that way anymore.

L0la L33tz 2mo ago

Really sorry to hear

Knowmad 2mo ago

I just can't yet comprehend how anyone can read both sides of this story and draw the conclusion that v30 is better for bitcoin than Knots 🤷🏻‍♂️ it smells of fake news, disinformation and ulterior motives. If I hear a legitimate argument to change my mind I will consider it because I'm not delusional in thinking I'm always right. But I haven't heard an argument yet which didn't turn out to be straight up disinformation or diversion.

ihsotas 2mo ago

Because people who aren’t retarded understand that you can’t stop spam all you can do is hope that it gets put in the prunable part of the chain.

Using this csam scare tactic to force shot through at a massively accelerated timeline is a red flag and if you don’t see it as a red flag you aren’t a bitcoiner you are a scared child who doesn’t belong in this world.

Kevin Alfred Strom 2mo ago

What is a "prodigee"?

L0la L33tz 2mo ago

A prodigee is when i misspell protege

Gwydion 2mo ago

Lame Luke, pretty lame.

nicnym 2mo ago

You believe this drivel?

Striker 2mo ago

Bankrolled by the Ethereum Foundation, I believe

L0la L33tz 2mo ago

Actually exclusively quoting the BIP amigo

Do lmk if you find any inaccuracies, theres an email for corrections in the article 😘

Ethereum is a scam

Your a pleb retard

Your

**You're**

Etherium is a scam

I can read. Can you or are you retarded. Go read the proposal.

Davito丰⚡ 2mo ago

if you really believe this BS, you should check it out with a doctor.

Janis 2mo ago 💬 1

Not a Knots apologist, though I’ll sound like one with this question. I genuinely don’t understand how the 100kb data storage on-chain is not a legitimate worry.

Like, given enough time someone will push CSAM on-chain. If for no other reason than to see the world burn, or because they’ve opened a huge short on Hyperliquid.

And that would likely lead to a “floor discovery phase”.

What am I not getting?

protozoan numbness 2mo ago 💬 1

No one is really arguing that the 100kb is a good idea. But CSAM can already be put on chain regardless. This fork would give someone (Luke) the power to roll back bitcoin.

The entire CSAM argument is retarded.

Danny, the cyber guy 2mo ago

I am. If you want to put that stuff on chain, at least put it in an unspendable output, so you don't poison the UTXO set

umni 2mo ago 💬 1

Organized religions are a major threat to bitcoin.

There's a perfect storm coming, with interests of failing nation states aligning with big religion. The existence of both depends on the individuals domination.

consuming agency, infantilizing the population into submission.

Both want two control the flow of information, it's no coincidence the growth in online censorship is being pushed at the same time religion is gaining popularity.

We are being encircled. Bitcoin is the ultimate defense for freedom of speech, because of this it is the ultimate target.

There maybe very few agents of these collectivist forces that understand, but the emergent behavior of the State/Religion, is taking this deadly serious.

Religions will often fight from their righteous, moral high ground. A position most are unaccustomed and uneasy to dealing with.

The cage is being built and most "bitcorners" are helping!

p 2mo ago

**** This just in.. pedoland under 'pedo software' "crisis" ****

The U.S. is the only UN member state that has not yet ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

As of July 2025, child marriage is legal in 34 states.

L0la L33tz 2mo ago

No worries, and it's a good question.

First, at least according to The Guardian iirc, there's already CSAM on chain, and forking it at a blockheight in the future won't remove that. So if the argument is that anyone storing this data on their computer will be liable in a court of law, then that ship has already sailed or the chain needs to be rolled back to ~2017.

Second, embedding CSAM on-chain was already possible before the op-return increase, which was reasoned to be included to disincentivize other forms of data storage that are more harmful to the network, such as by bloating the UTXO set.

Third and most importantly, this proposed legal theory simply does not hold up in the face of anyone familiar with the law. Bitcoin nodes (and bitoin miners) are at least by US regulators largely understood to be facilitating communication, and communication providers are not liable for the content they relay or host.

Interestingly, holding communications providers liable for the content they host was a large part of the original cryptowars. If that theory had pertained, the internet would simply not exist as nobody would be willing to build services with such a risk attached, as Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, etc would routinely lose Billions to hosting CSAM.

Hope that helps.

NokSuKao 2mo ago

There is a difference using workarounds or loopholes to force arbitrary data into the blockchain or to make it possible per default as core v30 is doing. This isn’t the right signal. Run Knots or do not update to v30 is what I would suggest.

L0la L33tz 2mo ago

Liar

ihsotas 2mo ago

No one cares about your virtue signal.

NokSuKao 2mo ago

The opposition is always part of a conspiracy theory or in this case virtue signaling. This view the commitment to debate is what it needs to bring society a step forward.

ihsotas 2mo ago

you cannot stop spam pubkeys…and those show up in the utxo and cannot be pruned you are incentivizing centralization as ram requirements push minimal hardware setups off the network. The purpose of the op_return is to prevent utxo bloat.

I would rather upgrade my hard drive to handle some stupid monkey jpeg(or run a pruned node) than upgrade my whole machine because you wanted purity. You would rather virtue signal.

Do you see it now? The ram requirements are already making node hardware options more expensive.

NokSuKao 2mo ago

I looked that up. From my understanding Bitcoin Core sets the Ram used for the UTXO set to 512MB as a default. The rest is stored on the for example SSD and fetched when needed. If this is the case you argument does not hold up.

nout 2mo ago

My node can delete op_return data that I don't care about. That's the cool thing.

MrTea 2mo ago

The third point is written as if fact but it’s not. Applying certainty in the face of uncertainty isn’t wise. The country is littered with case law where lawyers would’ve been certain that constitutional law would side with them. Forging an unnecessary risk that adds no value and nobody wants or needs is not smart risk management. I do realize that this last line could be applied to both sides of the argument. The rational thing is for core to roll back the op_return limit to something that users actually care about. Real users. Not devs tinkertoying around with crap nobody cares about and is unlikely to ever gain any adoption

L0la L33tz 2mo ago

Liar, blocked

MrTea 2mo ago

🤣 are you going to talk to the manager while you’re at it?

⚡Lightning Goats⚡ 2mo ago

"Anyone who writes that ***”there is no time for careful deployment”*** when wanting to push an upgrade to software that secures a Trillion Dollar asset cannot honestly be taken seriously. "

Indeed 444 is an attack on the network.

NokSuKao 2mo ago

- forcing controversial content into v30

- censoring debates

- changing documentation to obfuscate bugs

If you be honest let’s say core has its issues too.

S!ayer 2mo ago 💬 1

Shitcoin antics

kyle-moore 2mo ago

Cant wait to dump the shitcoin fork for free bitcoin

nicnym 2mo ago

Yet more bullshit from The Rag

dbdee246... 2mo ago

Like the last time, when she told you about Luke's plans to cause a fork, that suppose to be bullshit then? Get a grip

nicnym 2mo ago

Both stories are bullshit simp

dbdee246... 2mo ago

you commenting under a post about a fucking fork, are you a full retard? 😄

nicnym 2mo ago

She’s not going to sleep with you bro

Tommy "The Purchase" 2mo ago

My question would be: If the author tries to scare people into foregoing "careful deployment" and presumably also careful review - what else is he trying to smuggle in for others to overlook?

KD 🦘 2mo ago

What gets me is there is some known issue with time coding or something like that which will apparently require a fork, but it’s so far down the track it isn’t being addressed.. Why can’t we get all the heads together and sort out a resolution to known upcoming issues, whilst eradicating CSAM, possible quantum proofing, and get it all done now?.. It will be near impossible to make agreed changes as adoption grows. Today’s Bitcoiners need to get it nailed down now, as MONEY, so we can focus on maintenance and layer 2s

Danny, the cyber guy 2mo ago

> What gets me is there is some known issue with time coding or something like that which will apparently require a fork, but it’s so far down the track it isn’t being addressed.. Why can’t we get all the heads together and sort out a resolution to known upcoming issues, whilst eradicating CSAM, possible quantum proofing, and get it all done now?..

that's not how development works. you can't turn on a switch and solve all your problems. especially not in a decentralized network

> It will be near impossible to make agreed changes as adoption grows. Today’s Bitcoiners need to get it nailed down now, as MONEY, so we can focus on maintenance and layer 2s

making changes has always been hard, since 2010. learn your history

KD 🦘 2mo ago

Cheers mate. You added nothing there really. Another throw your hands up in the air guy

>making changes has always been hard, since 2010. learn your history

I said near impossible. I’m aware it’s already hard enough. That’s my point

Danny, the cyber guy 2mo ago

Ok then, fine (mempool will not display a lot of those in a way you can parse, if you're interested you can verify using your own node).

This is an entire block almost completely dedicated to images. Using P2FK. No op return was needed.

https://mempool.space/block/00000000000000048832c5b83c4fa63f0d40f973f71f43d1334673ca7d450f19

This is a 2013 transaction. datacarriersize did not prevent it.

https://mempool.space/tx/d29c9c0e8e4d2a9790922af73f0b8d51f0bd4bb19940d9cf910ead8fbe85bc9b

This is from 2017, using yet another method

https://mempool.space/tx/033d185d1a04c4bd6de9bb23985f8c15aa46234206ad29101c31f4b33f1a0e49

Ok but surely there isn't one from earlier, right? Damn is that an entire program written on chain?

https://mempool.space/tx/6c53cd987119ef797d5adccd76241247988a0a5ef783572a9972e7371c5fb0cc

Warren buffet needs to be immortalized on chain of course

https://mempool.space/tx/0fc0c50e410b62ee3a316135711116db6b4e728841c976f29ab85e2a41e0dcc3

This is a tx from june, no op_return. Costed 134 sats (less than op_return would have today by the way)

https://mempool.space/tx/fab4dfd9a0c1c37a75c80b90c321ae0b7afd8d1eb350550ee2825f37d05dedf8

This is a tx from april of this year, note, only a small op_return (which could have been avoided).

https://mempool.space/tx/20f6c172f310818176ffaf4e1b17e94eb105f77cf8849224255716c025b53ca8

Oh and regarding legality... This is illegal in the US (no, it's not CSAM), but the change for that was used to publish the wikileaks data

https://mempool.space/tx/08654f9dc9d673b3527b48ad06ab1b199ad47b61fd54033af30c2ee975c588bd

https://mempool.space/tx/5c593b7b71063a01f4128c98e36fb407b00a87454e67b39ad5f8820ebc1b2ad5

Ok but surely there's no way people have been putting stuff on chain before then right? (nobody knows what this data is, it's probably some encrypted discussion people were having back in 2011)

https://mempool.space/tx/4b6414f8695864e6b9cf8b2b0a80fe212f78ebabbb2c056f733c2d16973cad87

(and all other txs involving 18qr2srETSvQq4kP7yBYRqQ4LzmjhtRmcD, 1MaZAHzEFfinRJ2dwK6YtNDfvWMBkiAxDr, 1AgwESN7RKNZtaqzbqu6kPg3RS6C2qCgHi, 1AZUPm5PC5QguquNsBg7HhWUYz5dfm2nU9, and 1J1aR7ayNp9sma8QVyyWGF87PzDU1vp5BD)

Let's have a tribute to len sassaman

https://mempool.space/tx/930a2114cdaa86e1fac46d15c74e81c09eee1d4150ff9d48e76cb0697d8e1d72

Naturally you can use coinbase descriptors too, so let's put prayers on chain!

https://mempool.space/tx/cbbaa0a64924fe1d6ace3352f23242aa0028d4e0ff6ae8ed615244d66079cfb1

https://mempool.space/tx/741ae70ba479389ae1f60e75b779c9746f3968e1e4cd68afab1bfe9b55996c9a

Maybe we should look at the first jpeg, since apparently that's new, right?

https://mempool.space/tx/ceb1a7fb57ef8b75ac59b56dd859d5cb3ab5c31168aa55eb3819cd5ddbd3d806

Ok but surely you can't have an mp3 of spok telling you to live long and prosper, right?

https://mempool.space/tx/1bc87dbff1ff5831287f62ac7cf95579794e4386688479bab66174963f9a4a0c

And of course, how could we forget, the first non-monetary transaction?

https://mempool.space/tx/4a5e1e4baab89f3a32518a88c31bc87f618f76673e2cc77ab2127b7afdeda33b

Danny, the cyber guy 2mo ago

https://github.com/cirosantilli/bitcoin-inscription-indexer

this is an indexer software that finds all of this stuff, allows you to generate your own data dump to verify

KD 🦘 2mo ago

I appreciate the effort put into your response ✊🏻

Arbitrary is different to illegal. I see you recognise that. How the data is viewable on chain is important, right? Is it easily extracted/viewed? Or does it require special tools to decrypt/compile?

Just because something has been done in the past doesn’t mean we have to accept it moving forward. I’m no coding nerd, but sentiment out there is that there are changes possible that can, as a minimum, restrict CP. Can’t imagine there are any arguments against that being persued.

And whilst you’re there, discuss winding back those other changes that the community has since determined detrimental to the MONEY use case.

Danny, the cyber guy 2mo ago

>Arbitrary is different to illegal. I see you recognise that. How the data is viewable on chain is important, right? Is it easily extracted/viewed? Or does it require special tools to decrypt/compile?

why is that relevant? let's take the CP argument. do you really think that an argument would make sense in law where someone says "no your honor, you see, the data is actually rot13'd, there's no raw CP"... like come on haha

> Just because something has been done in the past doesn’t mean we have to accept it moving forward.

it actually kind of does. actually removing the ways to achieve this would make bitcoin literally unusable. Even if bitcoin got limited to only a simple database where you can send and receive money to addresses, you could still encode that data in the address.

This may look like an npub, but it's actually a rickroll: npub1dejhvetjypnk7mnwvysxw6tkv5s8jmm4yp6hqtpqdejhvetjypns3hyxs3, filter this please.

> sentiment out there is that there are changes possible that can, as a minimum, restrict CP. Can’t imagine there are any arguments against that being persued.

of course, nobody wants CP, not knots and not core. But how do you restrict it without also limiting REAL spending transactions?

> And whilst you’re there, discuss winding back those other changes that the community has since determined detrimental to the MONEY use case.

datacarriersize doesn't impact money use cases, in any way. if anything it HELPS WITH MONEY, because your node can go by with less data actually stored in its UTXO set. putting data into OP_RETURN instead of UTXOs literally makes YOUR NODE FASTER.

Danny, the cyber guy 2mo ago

damn I missed an opportunity! pretend the npub was npub1yqsxsar5wpen5te009hh2ar49e3x2tmy29mngaee2an4sc63yqsqmgmsk0 much funnier!

KD 🦘 2mo ago

Seems you have the knowledge and skillset to contribute to a solution. Instead, just hearing you accept an unsatisfactory situation.

p 2mo ago

**** This just in.. pedoland under 'pedo software' "crisis" ****

The U.S. is the only UN member state that has not yet ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

As of July 2025, child marriage is legal in 34 states.

Branca 2mo ago

It's curious how they attack the only solution to a problem coretard create.

Danny, the cyber guy 2mo ago 💬 1

What problem exactly? I keep hearing this brought up by people who are very new to the ecosystem.

Please explain what the "problem" is?

Because it cannot be the default datacarriersize increase. I can't believe that.

If you're been around in the bitcoin space for even just a few years you will know that there are other ways to store ANY arbitrary data on chain, regardless of the default size of your OP_RETURN.

You are being played by a conman

Branca 2mo ago

I assume, given your ignorance on the matter, that you don't run a node. I will go further, I guess your bitcoin stash is 0.

BitcoinIsFuture 2mo ago

Like inscriptions? They are filtered out in Bitcoin Knots.

Why do you think they are scare of policy filters?

Policy filters kept OP_RETURN clean. It allowed data only less than 83 Bytes. Visible?

The compromised Core devs did not fix inscriptions spam intentionally.

nostr:nevent1qqsp8xcjfzwnj8huaymzr0s033h94gp8ha43vef55nsdspg3f2nnw2gppemhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mp0qy08wumn8ghj7mn0wd68yttsw43zuam9d3kx7unyv4ezumn9wshsz8thwden5te0dehhxarj9e3xjarrda5kuetj9eek7cmfv9kz7e4vc5c

9/11 ☢ Receipts 2mo ago

note17d40nn2pelv7pvhzemnxdlqft4mn0jf4qhsj0a2f9p2d8ujxdv5sxfxjsg

Proof of Woodwork 2mo ago

You are the Greta of the bitcoin community, so much rage!

hzrd149 2mo ago

Thanks for the great write up. Also reading some of the repies in this thread makes me very glad I've been ignoring all this :)

Davito丰⚡ 2mo ago 💬 1

you're a bad actor.

kyle-moore 2mo ago

Your a retard actor

Duvel 2mo ago 💬 1

When discussing the Bitcoin blockchain and its implementation, the terms legal, government or compliance are to be ignored completely, in my opinion. It was created to operate outside government control. Seems an attack to me.

kyle-moore 2mo ago

Agreed

Matt 2mo ago

I haven't followed this issue deeply enough to comment on most of this, but the last point in this note is evergreen. Catastrophizing is a red flag. Not necessarily because one is wrong, but because the approach is itself a grave danger. Often, the knee jerk response has more potential dangers than the problem one is attempting to solve.

nostr:nevent1qqszucexspjcp82pfx9gcylwf6mys75yazmvh6aqvq2ftvgd0nqufjszyrv2dm8scwtw428hnfzf0l5mwlwfwa3ng50nefwxxn3qsev3zej8kqcyqqqqqqgmhu5gx

LiberLion 2mo ago

I have a hypothesis about this whole debate 👇

nostr:nevent1qvzqqqqqqypzquzyzcynd8thaf2nmqz7axh43v57fsuatvyt89t8gxpectela67vqy88wumn8ghj7mn0wvhxcmmv9uq3wamnwvaz7tmjv4kxz7fwdehhxarj9e3xzmny9uqzphydzx4a7d4vnhlxascjfhmkhr09nk8fr73updg9clyv0kwf5wfna2rn3h

BTC-Satan 2mo ago

Core V30 is the hard fork .

The Bulgarian Pork Whistle 1mo ago

Keep ✍️ the good fight ⚔️