I’ve been following the ongoing debate between Bitcoin Core and Bitcoin Knots. At first glance it looks like a fight about “spam” but when you dig deeper, it’s really about two different ways of protecting decentralisation.

Coming from a cyber security background, I find this fascinating. In my world, trade-offs are everywhere. You tighten security in one area, you create pressure somewhere else. Bitcoin is no different. Core and Knots are both trying to defend the network, but they’re focused on different layers and that’s why they sometimes talk past each other.

I’ve been thinking about writing up my perspective on this, especially around the often-missed distinction between consensus rules (what the entire network must accept) and policy rules (what your individual node chooses to accept or relay).

Before I do, would anyone actually be interested in a deeper, non-biased dive on this? Or should I just shut up and stay out of the conflict as it’s too far gone?