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Saifedean Ammous Backs Plan to Block Spam on Bitcoin Network
Last Updated: May 19, 2025
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Key Takeaways
- Saifedean Ammous offered to fund a developer to help make Bitcoin spam harder and more expensive to add to the network;
- A proposal from @GrassFedBitcoin would let node operators block unwanted data like image inscriptions from clogging the blockchain;
- Adam Back warned spam filters may lead to ongoing battles, as attackers can keep changing tactics to bypass new defenses.
Saifedean Ammous, known for writing The Bitcoin Standard, has joined a discussion about how to deal with spam on the Bitcoin
In a May 18 post on X, Ammous said he would be willing to contribute some Bitcoin to support a developer working full-time on making spam more difficult and costly to add to the blockchain.
His comments came after X's thread, started by @GrassFedBitcoin. In the post, he asked for support on a suggested change to Bitcoin Core, pull request #28408, that would give node operators a way to block spam-like data, known as inscriptions.
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@GrassFedBitcoin argued that inscriptions add unnecessary data to the blockchain. He said Bitcoin was built to store financial transactions, not files like images, and that this kind of data makes the system less efficient.
He pointed to past decisions to raise limits on the OP_RETURN function, which allows data to be included in transactions, and said they were based on wrong assumptions.
However, Adam Back, the head of Blockstream, stated that any effort to block these files could turn into a constant battle. He added that people can always find new ways to hide unwanted data in transactions, which would require frequent updates to keep blocking them.
Ammous said fighting spam is a challenge, but still worth doing. He also noted that this effort should not be seen as censorship, which points out that Bitcoin nodes already reject invalid transactions.
Meanwhile, CIA Deputy Director Michael Ellis recently shared his thoughts on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. What did he say? Read the full story.
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