A Potential Bug Fix to Prevent Congestion
A Bitcoin Core developer named Luke Dashjr has suggested that a bug fix on the Bitcoin network could address a vulnerability that allows new BTC ordinals and BRC-20 tokens to cause congestion. This statement comes as Bitcoin approaches the $45,000 mark and experiences a surge in unconfirmed transactions.
The Issue with Bitcoin Ordinals
Dashjr explains that inscriptions, which are used by creators of ordinals and BRC-20 tokens to embed data on satoshis, exploit a vulnerability in Bitcoin Core. These inscriptions bypass the limit set on extra data in transactions by disguising their data as program code.
The Fix and its Implications
Bitcoin Knots, a derivative of Bitcoin Core, has released an update that addresses this bug and prevents inscriptions from exceeding the data limit. Dashjr confirms that once this vulnerability is fixed, ordinals and BRC-20 tokens will no longer exist. However, he expresses concerns about a future release of Bitcoin Core that still contains the vulnerability.
Shenyu, co-founder of f2pool, emphasizes the difference between Bitcoin and Ethereum, stating that developers do not have complete decision-making authority in the former.
Ordinal Inscriptions as an Attack
Ocean, a decentralized mining protocol where Dashjr serves as CTO, announces that the Bitcoin Knots upgrade effectively addresses a longstanding vulnerability exploited by spammers. The update allows Ocean’s blocks to include more genuine transactions, suggesting that ordinal inscriptions are essentially a denial-of-service attack on the Bitcoin network.
Dashjr strongly opposes ordinal inscriptions and believes they cause substantial and irreversible damage to Bitcoin and its users. He considers them an ongoing attack on the network.
Increased Congestion on the Bitcoin Network
In recent days, the Bitcoin network has experienced heightened congestion due to inscriptions and BRC-20 token minting. According to mempool.space, there are over 275,000 unconfirmed transactions, and the average medium-priority transaction costs have risen to around $14.
Hot Take: Addressing a Vulnerability to Protect Bitcoin
A Bitcoin Core developer has identified a bug that allows new BTC ordinals and BRC-20 tokens to cause congestion on the blockchain. By addressing this vulnerability, the developer believes that these issues can be prevented. However, concerns remain about future releases of Bitcoin Core that still contain the vulnerability. This fix could protect Bitcoin from ongoing attacks and reduce network congestion caused by ordinal inscriptions. It remains to be seen how this bug fix will be implemented and its impact on the overall performance of the network.
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