So instead of extracting the consensus out of Core so we can have permissionless clients, we have to all switch to a new client, and presumably even abandon any alternative implementation because it might not be filtering hard enough... That is quite the ask!
Discussion
I'm not too much into this, just checked a quick ChatGPT summary of the debate.
⚔️ The Ordinals Debate in Bitcoin
What Ordinals are
A protocol that numbers individual sats and lets people inscribe arbitrary data (images, text, tokens) into Bitcoin blocks via SegWit/Taproot.
Enables Bitcoin-native NFTs, meme coins, and permanent data storage.
The Supporters’ View
Innovation & new use cases: Bitcoin isn’t just money, it can be a foundation for art, collectibles, and tokenization.
Miner revenue boost: High Ordinals activity drives up transaction fees, which helps secure Bitcoin as block subsidies shrink.
Permissionless ethos: Bitcoin is supposed to be neutral — anyone should be free to use it without gatekeeping.
The Critics’ View (e.g. Luke Dashjr / Bitcoin Knots)
Spam & bloat: Inscriptions fill blocks with non-financial data, raising fees for ordinary payments.
Against Bitcoin’s purpose: The base layer should prioritize financial transactions, not NFTs or memes.
Centralization risks: Larger blocks → bigger storage/processing requirements → fewer people can run nodes.
Policy response: Bitcoin Knots enforces stricter relay rules (e.g. 42-byte OP_RETURN) and filters some inscription transactions.
The Broader Tension
Bitcoin Core v30 (coming 2025) will loosen limits, making inscriptions easier.
Bitcoin Knots is rising in popularity (~18% of nodes) as a counterweight, keeping “anti-spam” defaults.
This creates a philosophical and technical split:
Bitcoin as neutral, general-purpose ledger (pro-Ordinals).
Bitcoin as lean, monetary-only system (anti-Ordinals).
âś… In one line:
The Ordinals debate is really about what Bitcoin should be:
A neutral, permissionless base layer for all kinds of data and innovation, or
A strictly monetary network optimized only for peer-to-peer cash and settlement.
---
That being said I'm on the side of Luke, because I think Ordinals/etc are not good for Bitcoin because of the reasons above.
Is there anything missing?
My humble advice: I think it's better if you do your own research than asking ChatGPT.
đź«‚
It's just Luke trying a power grab.
🤷