🎤 Murch speaks

Today on Supply Shock, Pete Rizzo sat down with Bitcoin Core contributor Murch to unpack what’s actually in Bitcoin Core v30.

The release is particularly interesting as it officially lifts the data limit on the OP_RETURN opcode, a move which has attracted spirited discussion within the Bitcoin space over the past few months.

Core’s release cadence is steady: big drops twice a year with heavy review processes and long-tail support for prior branches.

As Murch puts it, “Everything gets reviewed by three to five other contributors at least and they tend to review it three to five times.”

Aside from changes to the OP_RETURN data cap, Bitcoin v30 is expected to make spinning up a node much snappier, with reindexing around 15-18% faster, per Murch.

There’s also a refreshed mining comms interface that plays nicely with Stratum v2 and job negotiation, letting home miners source their own block templates while still pooling — one step toward prying template control from mega-pools.

About that OP_RETURN change: Raising the standard relay cap is not an anti-inscriptions move, Murch says. The aim is practical hygiene — push data into the “garbage bin” (OP_RETURN) instead of payment outputs that bloat the UTXO set. 

In Murch’s words: “I think it is not that related to inscriptions at all.” He expressed that Core won’t be the network’s referee. It’s more that tight policy invites lobbying and new attack surfaces.

Multiple implementations can be healthy, but consensus splits are real risks.

Full episode on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and X.

This newsletter was created with assistance from AI tooling.

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