Mining equipment prohibition urged by Samson Mow as Bitcoin Core 30 triggers discourse on spamming within the community
In the ever-evolving world of cryptocurrency, the debate surrounding Bitcoin Core's upcoming changes to OP_RETURN has sparked a fresh wave of discussion. This debate revolves around potential increases in spam transactions and the alteration of the network's main purpose.
Historically, the 80-byte cap on OP_RETURN outputs was imposed to prevent non-financial data from flooding blocks. However, developers have pointed out that miners were already bypassing this limit.
Samson Mow, CEO of Jan3, has proposed a radical solution to combat this perceived "spam epidemic". He suggests imposing a potential 2% economic penalty on companies mining spam transactions. This penalty, Mow believes, would outweigh the minor profit boost of around 0.5% and compel public mining firms to stop.
Mow's idea has garnered some support. Bitcoin maxi Matt Kratter has endorsed it by stating that mining hardware manufacturers, such as Block's Proto Mining division, should consider refusing sales or imposing penalties on companies mining transactions with non-financial data.
However, as of mid-2025, no recent authoritative sources confirm that such a proposal has been adopted or widely debated. The available information does not indicate a coordinated industry movement or consensus on penalizing spam transactions via mining hardware manufacturers or other protocol-level interventions.
The Bitcoin scaling debate today remains an ongoing dispute, centred around Bitcoin's role as either a decentralized store of value or a medium for various transactional purposes. The historic split in 2017 following the introduction of Segregated Witness (SegWit) and the creation of Bitcoin Cash (BCH) exemplifies this dispute between proponents of larger blocks aiming to scale on-chain capacity and proponents favouring smaller blocks to preserve decentralization.
Meanwhile, the Bitcoin Core development team has decided to eliminate the 80-byte cap on OP_RETURN outputs in Core 30. This move is argued by developers, led by Gregory Sanders, to promote cleaner data storage, maintain network neutrality, and reflect existing practices by private mining pools.
Critics like Luke Dashjr have described the move as "utter insanity," warning that it would lead to an increase in spam on Bitcoin. However, developers maintain that the removal of the OP_RETURN limit is not endorsing non-financial data usage, but accepting that as a censorship-resistant system, Bitcoin can and will be used for use cases not everyone agrees on.
The removal of the OP_RETURN limit is expected to promote the use of non-financial data on Bitcoin transactions. Whether this will lead to a surge in spam transactions or a new era of decentralized data storage remains to be seen. As always, the Bitcoin community will continue to debate these issues, reflecting the passion and diversity that drives the world's first decentralized digital currency.
- The proposal by Samson Mow to impose a 2% economic penalty on miners who engage in spam transactions has received support from some key figures in the cryptocurrency industry, such as Bitcoin maxi Matt Kratter.
- The ongoing debate in the Bitcoin industry revolves around the role of Bitcoin – whether it should primarily function as a decentralized store of value or serve various transactional purposes.
- In response to the debate, the Bitcoin Core development team has decided to remove the 80-byte cap on OP_RETURN outputs in Core 30, a move that has been met with criticism, particularly from those who worry it may lead to an increase in spam transactions.
- As the Bitcoin scaling debate continues, it underscores the passion and diversity within the community, with a focus on maintaining network neutrality, data storage practices, and the use of Bitcoin for various purposes, not just finance.
