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If you're out of the loop like me, this is a summary of the Bitcoin Core vs Bitcoin Knots debate. Please feel free to add to it to make sure it's right or not. ---- ## Introduction The current debate in Bitcoin is often framed as **Bitcoin Core vs. Bitcoin Knots**, but that’s not the real issue. At its core, the controversy is about **Ordinals vs. monetary-only Bitcoin**: - Should Bitcoin remain a **neutral, general-purpose ledger** where people can inscribe art, tokens, and other data? - Or should Bitcoin be kept **lean and focused strictly on monetary transactions**, preserving block space for payments and settlements? ⚔️ 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). ✅ 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. --- Is this correct? Which side of the conversation are you on? #asknostr