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The Thermopylae of Bitcoin: Core vs Knots

In 480 BC, a narrow mountain pass called Thermopylae became the battleground where a small coalition of Greeks, led by 300 Spartans, made their stand against the Persian empire. Outnumbered but not outwilled, they held the line not to win, but to signal.

That battle wasn’t about immediate victory. It was about principle, resistance, and the long game.

Fast forward to Bitcoin.

Today, a different kind of stand is being made, not with spears, but with code.

A small but principled group of node operators, developers, and builders have chosen not to follow Bitcoin Core’s recent direction. They’ve aligned with Knots, with Ocean, with sovereignty.

They aren’t the majority.

But neither were the Spartans.

Bitcoin Core has increasingly chosen convenience over consent, centralization over signal filtering, and developer paternalism over node autonomy.

Knots and its allies represent a defiant minority saying:

“This far, no further.”

The node war is not about hash rate.

It’s not about flashy upgrades or VC narratives.

It’s about who governs Bitcoin. The miners, the developers, or the nodes.

Knots says: the users do.

Like Thermopylae, this stand may not immediately turn the tide.

But it sets a precedent.

It reminds the world that there are still those who will hold the line.

Not for power, but for principle.

In time, the message will spread.

Because the Spartans did fall, but their stand became a legend.

And it rallied a force that would eventually drive tyranny back into the sea.

Bitcoin doesn’t need leaders. It needs defenders.

And right now, those defenders are running Knots.

Hold the line with me.

Krystina Hilll 7mo ago

upgrades code.

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