Saylor, Adam Back Oppose BIP-110 Proposal to Curb Bitcoin Ordinals

Strategy Chairman Michael Saylor and Blockstream Chief Executive Officer Adam Back reiterated their opposition to a proposal to restrict Bitcoin Ordinals. While both have criticized Ordinals activity, they argue that a fork to limit it could undermine the reliability of the Bitcoin network.

Cointelegraph reported on July 12 that Saylor wrote on X that "there are 110 things more dangerous than spam on Bitcoin" and that BIP-110 could invalidate ordinary transactions as well.

Back also attacked BIP-110, calling it "an attempt to police other people." He argued that Bitcoin's decentralization means no one can impose their views on others, and said the proposal conflicts with Bitcoin's ethos as permissionless, censorship-resistant money.

BIP-110 is a proposal to limit non-monetary data on the Bitcoin network, including Ordinals inscriptions. Ordinals let users record images, text and other data on the Bitcoin blockchain. Supporters say that broadens Bitcoin's use cases, while critics have warned of network congestion and blockchain bloat.

Still, the odds of BIP-110 being activated remain low. In the most recent block period, only 1% of blocks supported the proposal. BIP-110 would need backing from more than 55% of Bitcoin nodes validating blocks over a set period to take effect.

Ordinals activity has already dropped sharply. Over the past month, fewer than 10,000 Ordinals inscriptions were recorded each day on the Bitcoin blockchain, down from more than 400,000 a day at the peak in August 2023.

Supporters of BIP-110, including Luke Dashjr, say blockchain bloat caused by Ordinals could pose a serious threat to the network. They also argue that because BIP-110 is a one-year temporary restriction, it would not permanently invalidate standard fee-paying transactions.