💨 Sandstorm

It’s been nearly a decade since the last sandstorm split the Bitcoin ecosystem into opposing camps.

This time around, it’s Bitcoin Core vs. Knots, two clients with alternate views on the roles of node operators and developers.

Pete Rizzo, the Bitcoin Historian, recently sat down with veteran Bitcoiner Peter Todd to unpack the debate.

Essentially, it all comes down to a difference of opinion over the power that developers wield in influencing user habits.

Bitcoin Core contributors are inclined to let certain transactions with extra data — such as Ordinals — propagate freely to meet user demand.

Knots, on the other hand, enables nodes to filter them out. If enough nodes run Knots, then non-financial transactions could be less interesting to write to the Bitcoin blockchain, as they might be more expensive and/or take longer to confirm.

Ahead of Bitcoin Core’s slated removal of an 80-byte cap on OP_RETURN data in October, the number of public-facing nodes running Knots has ballooned from under 400 at the start of the year to over 3,100 right now — around 14% of all nodes. It’s far from an equal divide, but it’s there.

Todd offered this analogy on Supply Shock:

“Let’s suppose you really hate The Expanse, the sci-fi show, so you’re gonna try to stop it. You spin up a whole lot of BitTorrent clients and you’re gonna really aggressively stream documentaries, David Attenborough, wall-to-wall, penguins. Adorable penguins.”

“Does that harm me in any way whatsoever? I like The Expanse, but I mean, I don’t mind your penguins, so I’ll run my BitTorrent node and it will continue to serve The Expanse, and I’ll continue to serve maybe some penguin documentaries. No matter how much you hate on me distributing information, you’ve accomplished essentially nothing.”

Todd reasoned that the rise of Bitcoin Knots is actually beneficial for Bitcoin Core, at least from a legal standpoint. 

“Remember I was sued by Craig Wright. Technically, I think three different lawsuits or something, it's hard to keep track, but in our legal defense, Bitcoin Knots existing was important,” Todd said. 

“And Bitcoin Knots being more of a thing makes for a better defense … The nature of Bitcoin is that if, say, 10% of the nodes just go offline tomorrow, for the most part, everything's fine.”

Catch the full episode of Supply Shock on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

— David

Give us the one thing more valuable than BTC: your opinion.

We’ve put together a quick form to help us get to know you and understand what matters most — what you want more of, less of, and whether our content is hitting or missing the mark.

And, if you complete the survey, you'll get entered for a chance to win some bitcoin merch to show off your love of BTC this summer.

• Rizzo also sat down with legendary developer Jeff Garzik for Supply Shock, their first conversation in five years. Be sure to check it out.

• A bitcoin miner running solo pool Solo CK successfully solved a block overnight, raking in 3.17 BTC ($345,500) for themselves, minus the 2% fee. That’s the 12th block for a Solo CK miner in the past year.

• Awakened: Two long-dormant addresses have each moved 10,000 BTC ($1.09 billion), their first transfers in 14 years, when bitcoins went for less than $1.