Bitcoins
The initiative calls for removing arbitrary limits on OP_Return outputs—special Bitcoin transactions used to carry data. It also suggests scrapping the configuration settings -datacarrier and -datacarriersize, which currently restricts how much data users can include.
Though these rules are meant to protect the Bitcoin network from spam, Todd argues they’re mostly symbolic at this point.
Protocols Bypass Bitcoin Core’s Data Limits with Workarounds
Despite Bitcoin Core’s current restrictions, protocols and users have long found ways to get around them. For instance, Marathon Digital’s Slipstream allows clients to submit transactions directly to miners, bypassing public mempools and ignoring these limits entirely. Slipstream has already processed transactions with data sizes far beyond the standard limits.
Similarly, Libre Relay, a fork of Bitcoin Core, removes these enforcement rules completely. This allows projects to push more data without constraint, simply by using alternative infrastructure. Even more, some protocols sidestep OP_Return altogether—storing data in unspendable outputs or scriptsigs instead.
Bitcoin Core developers are about to merge a change that turns Bitcoin into a worthless altcoin, and no one seems to care to do anything about it.
I’ve voiced objections, lost sleep over this, and despite clear community rejection of the PR it’s moving.https://t.co/dMcQ4g8RjV
— Jason Hughes (@wk057) April 29, 2025
In Todd’s view, it makes more sense to acknowledge this reality and let Bitcoin Core catch up to the way the network already works. The new proposal keeps the form of datacarrier outputs standardized: a single OP_Return followed by zero or more data pushes.
Data on Bitcoin Is Booming
The push to expand OP_Return capacity comes amid a growing wave of Bitcoin-native data applications. The rise of Ordinals, which inscribe digital assets onto individual satoshis, and BRC-20 tokens, which use OP_Return to store token data, has sparked a surge in on-chain activity. Here is a comparison between BRC-20 tokens and Runestone, an ordinal:
An Overall Comparison of Runestone vs. BRC-20
Regardless, I’m still super bullish on both as they increase use cases and eventually bring more developers and users into the Bitcoin ecosystem. pic.twitter.com/4WYdAksb02
— Kattt ???? (@kattt_ordinals) September 27, 2023
According to Glassnode, Bitcoin saw a record number of non-financial transactions in Q1 2024—many of them using OP_Return-like mechanisms.
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Arden Pekar Read More