Please send hate from both sides of the aisle 😘
Note: I would only advocate for this if it came with the 400kb limit for witness data- as Knots has it
Discussion
Nah bro, I don’t need to store your arbitrary json on my node
Cool, that’s your right 🫡
Are you running Knots and limiting the witness data?
Running knots on 2 nodes. Didn’t make any config changes
Good man, I respect your opinion then.
FWIW while the data might be arbitrary in respect to Bitcoin’s core function, I think that tying together two freedom protocols in a useful way would be beneficial for both.
Storing arbitrary data is more cost-effective and useful in other locations other than the Bitcoin Blockchain.
(the note was stored in nine locations, worldwide, without permission)
Bitcoin provides a trustless time stamp accurate within 1hr which is not provided by relays
Nostr is free and doesn’t require proof of work
Exactly, not saying it should be any different. But I should be able to pay *voluntarily* to have certain events immutable and timestamped without trusting anyone. Right now, anyone can publish any timestamp (even future) and any relay can do whatever they want in terms of dumping events. If your nsec was compromised for example, you’d want to publish an immutable timestamped event that says “this nsec is pwned”… only one example that I would GLADLY pay for and is not securely & trustlessly possible (without NIP03: which relies on a 3rd party and no client implements).
Machine gods seem to like it:
Scenario: Increase OP_RETURN limit to 4 KB, reduce Witness Data to 400 KB/block.
Impact Analysis
1. Average Block Size
• Current: ~1.2–2.5 MB typically, ~4 MB theoretical max.
• Proposed: Likely ~500 KB–1 MB practically.
• Result: Smaller blocks overall.
2. Bitcoin Nodes
• Storage/IO: Reduced overhead, smaller blocks.
• Validation: Easier validation, less witness data.
• Bandwidth: Lower bandwidth requirement.
• Result: Lighter node requirements.
3. Decentralization
• Reduced reliance on third-party aggregation services (like OpenTimestamps).
• Easier to run nodes on lower-spec hardware.
• More flexible direct anchoring for protocols like Nostr.
• Result: Enhanced decentralization.
4. Economic & Incentive Effects
• Short-term: Reduced miner fees (fewer inscriptions).
• Long-term: Sustainable, protocol-level demand from cross-protocol anchoring (e.g., Nostr timestamps).
• Result: Sustainable miner incentives long-term.
Summary Table
Factor Effect
Avg. Block Size: Reduced significantly
Node overhead: Reduced (storage, bandwidth)
Decentralization: Improved slightly
Miner incentives: Short-term reduction, long-term sustainable
Arbitrary Data Usage: Flexible OP_RETURN, less witness spam
⸻
Conclusion:
Increasing OP_RETURN to 4 KB and limiting witness data to 400 KB/block leads to:
• Smaller blocks, lighter nodes
• Improved decentralization
• Sustainable long-term miner incentives
• Better direct integration with decentralized protocols like Nostr (reducing dependency on third-party timestamp services)
This could be a powerful political compromise.
nevent1qqsfwr7kkew54wvcm4x08t6s7lh6fqazmsgfx5965uw79xycltqqj0gpremhxue69uhkvet9v3ejumn0wd68ytnzv9hxgtmvv9hxwtm9dcea2ddf