tl;dr
Bitcoin's scaling debate intensifies as industry leaders address a "spam epidemic" flooding the network. Samson Mow proposes targeting mining hardware manufacturers to refuse sales or penalize companies supporting spam transactions, aiming to reduce the nuisance. He urges Block's Proto Mining to imp...
Bitcoin’s ongoing scaling dispute has taken an intriguing turn as industry leaders debate strategies to combat what many refer to as a “spam epidemic” flooding the network. Samson Mow, a longtime Bitcoin advocate and CEO of Jan3, has proposed a novel approach targeting mining hardware manufacturers. He suggests they either refuse sales or impose penalties on companies supporting spam-like transactions, aiming to curb this growing nuisance.
In an August 17 post on X, Mow expanded on Adam Beck’s earlier proposal to use social pressure on miners as a deterrent. He specifically called on Block’s Proto Mining division, known for producing highly efficient ASIC miners, to consider refusing sales or charging higher prices to firms such as Marathon Digital, which mines transactions embedding non-financial data. Mow argued that a 2% economic penalty on hardware sales would outweigh the approximate 0.5% profit gained from mining spam, thereby compelling public miners to cease these practices.
This hardware-focused strategy has attracted some support within the community. Bitcoin maximalist Matt Kratter endorsed Mow’s idea, emphasizing that Proto Rig should withhold hardware from those enabling Bitcoin spam. He even suggested that companies like Marathon should face tariffs analogous to buying from foreign adversaries, signaling a tough stance against network spammers.
Central to this controversy is the upcoming change to Bitcoin Core’s OP_RETURN opcode in the forthcoming Core 30 release. OP_RETURN enables small data pieces to be embedded within Bitcoin transactions but has been historically capped at 80 bytes to prevent block bloat from non-financial data. Led by Gregory Sanders, the Core development team decided to remove this cap, citing that miners already bypass the rule and that lifting restrictions would enable cleaner data storage while maintaining Bitcoin’s censorship-resistant design.
The Core team maintains that this change does not endorse non-financial use but accepts the reality that Bitcoin will support diverse use cases, some controversial within the community. However, critics like Luke Dashjr have voiced strong opposition, warning that eliminating the OP_RETURN cap could invite rampant spam, crowding out legitimate transactions and potentially diluting the network’s primary financial purpose.