With Bitcoin core’s latest update, they have removed the data limit to filter spam. They claim that spam still gets through the filter so they removed it. I think that’s what people are upset about. Removing the choice.

A burglar can get into a home with locked doors. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t lock your doors. Just my opinion.

Reply to this note

Please Login to reply.

Discussion

Interesting. I wonder if there is some reason for the change we aren't hearing about. Is it just a small group of people that male these decisions?

Yea, the developers at Bitcoin core made the choice. People voiced their opposition, but were shut out of the conversation. I always say, follow the incentives. I’m sure someone has some financial motivation to do this. It really just impacts transactions in the mempool. So, if a node without the filter finds the block, all those spammy transactions will be part of the permanent blockchain.

I thought miners find blocks? Its funny that I am a miner and still don't understand so much about bitcoin.

As I understand it, the miner is always connected to a pool, which is hosted by a node. When a miner solves the block, the block that the node has in memory is the one posted to the blockchain. Each node can have different transactions in the block currently being worked on based on filters.

Very close. Miners must be connected to a node in some way; either the miner's own node or via a pool that runs a node, or via a pool that gets block templates from another pool that runs a node.

The reason for this is because each node has a mempool, which is just a list of transactions that are waiting to be included in a block. From this pool of waiting transactions a block template is constructed that includes the transactions the mining pool or the individual miner using their own node would like to include in the block, if they find a valid hash that will allow them to broadcast their block for inclusion on the chain to all nodes in the network.

Technically, solo-mining is when you as a miner use your own node's mempool to create the block templates for your ASICs to hash. If you are getting your block templates from a mining pool, even a "solo" pool, you aren't really solo-mining. Rather, you are lottery-mining.

Even if you aren't a miner, your node's mempool settings can have an effect on the transactions that get mined, because your node helps to relay transactions to other nodes on the network, including the nodes that mining pools are using for creating transactions. If enough nodes on the network aren't relaying transactions with arbitrary data in them, it will be less likely that those transactions will make it into the mempools used for block construction by mining pools or individual miners who construct their own blocks. The more difficult this is for those who want to put non-monetary transactions onto the chain, the more they will have to pay in fees to incentivise miners to include their transactions, which disincentivises such transactions.

Given the current state of the mempools, an argument could be made that such transactions have already been disincentivised, for now.

Thanks for the breakdown.

I’ve only been in bitcoin for about six months. I have a limited understanding still.

You must be a fast learner. I have been holding some bitcoin for like 8 years. Lol

Well, I mine with a bitaxe. That took me down the mining/node rabbit hole.

Awesome. Can you mine with a pool or is it always solo with a bitaxe?

You can mine with a pool. The payout isn’t worthwhile. I solo mine. It’s basically a lottery ticket. And, I’m doing my part to secure the network.

I love that. It's cool to see say many people running them.