Bitcoin Community Divided Over BIP-444 Proposal

Bitcoin Community Divided Over Controversial BIP-444 Proposal

The Bitcoin community is facing its most heated debate of 2025, centered around the Bitcoin Improvement Proposal 444 (BIP-444). The proposal has sparked deep division over how much data should be allowed on the Bitcoin blockchain — an issue tied directly to the principles of freedom, security, and decentralization that define the world’s largest cryptocurrency network.

The Origins: Bitcoin Core v30 Update Sparks Controversy

The controversy began after the release of Bitcoin Core v30 earlier this month, which significantly expanded the data limit users can write to the blockchain using the OP_RETURN command, as long as they pay the corresponding transaction fee. This update made Bitcoin more flexible, enabling innovative use cases such as on-chain NFTs and non-financial data storage. However, experts quickly raised concerns that allowing unlimited data could result in the blockchain storing illegal or harmful content, such as explicit images or abusive materials — potentially exposing node operators to serious legal risks.

BIP-444 Aims to “Close the Valve” on On-Chain Data

In response to those risks, a group of developers introduced BIP-444, a proposal designed to restrict arbitrary data uploads to the blockchain. The draft suggests tightening the data limits for Bitcoin transactions and disabling certain technical features that have been used to embed images, NFTs, and Ordinals inscriptions. If approved, JPEG files, memecoins, and other non-financial data would effectively disappear from the Bitcoin blockchain. Although BIP-444 is intended as a temporary soft fork lasting roughly one year, its goal is to give developers time to research a more sustainable solution for on-chain storage. Still, many experts fear that once such a change takes effect, rolling it back would be extremely difficult.

A Mysterious Author and Support from Bitcoin Veterans

The author of BIP-444, known only as “Dathon Ohm”, is a completely new figure in the Bitcoin ecosystem. He appeared on GitHub and X (formerly Twitter) just days before publishing the proposal and has no prior record of contributing to Bitcoin’s codebase. This anonymity has fueled speculation about his true identity and motives. Despite that, the proposal quickly gained attention from Luke Dashjr, a veteran Bitcoin developer and long-time critic of Ordinals. Dashjr publicly expressed support for BIP-444, calling it a “simple, safe, and temporary fix” to protect the network — though he denied being the actual author behind the pseudonym.

Opposition: “Bitcoin Should Never Be Censored”

Critics of BIP-444 argue that restricting data on the blockchain amounts to censorship, a move fundamentally opposed to Bitcoin’s ethos of freedom and neutrality. Leonidas, a prominent figure in the Ordinals community, warned that if the Bitcoin network accepts the blocking of NFT or image transactions today, government censorship of financial transactions could follow tomorrow. He also claimed that more than half of Bitcoin’s total mining power currently accepts all valid transactions, regardless of their content, as long as the fees are paid — upholding Bitcoin’s commitment to permissionless access.

BIP-444 and the Question of Freedom on the Blockchain

Jameson Lopp, co-founder of the crypto security firm Casa, highlighted that BIP-444 remains ambiguous on what constitutes “illegal content.” Because laws vary widely between countries, determining whether a node is “storing” prohibited data is legally complex. Lopp argued that operating a Bitcoin node is a voluntary act — and those who disagree with the network’s consensus rules are free to leave. To him, that autonomy is the essence of Bitcoin’s decentralized and censorship-resistant nature, a principle that has defined the network for over a decade.

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