Thread

PSA: β€œInscriptions” are exploiting a vulnerability in #Bitcoin Core to spam the blockchain. Bitcoin Core has, since 2013, allowed users to set a limit on the size of extra data in transactions they relay or mine (`-datacarriersize`). By obfuscating their data as program code, Inscriptions bypass this limit. This bug was recently fixed in Bitcoin Knots v25.1. It took longer than usual due to my workflow being severely disrupted at the end of last year (v24 was skipped entirely). Bitcoin Core is still vulnerable in the upcoming v26 release. I can only hope it will finally get fixed before v27 next year.

Replies (33)

Program code is data. You cannot control how people interpret it. Isn't the fundamental issue here, the witness discount? Apart from that i can't see anything else worthy of discussion. If people are prepared to pay for data encoded in txs, they will always be able to - even in the most disruptive way - see 'Stamps'. I can't see any ethical basis to tell them they can't, nor any technical way to prevent it.
↩ replying to npub18rpu...tfzc
The bitcoin blockchain is not a payment system. It’s a base layer which secures the basic rules. It’s great in doing this. It’s not good for day to day payments. Not to forget that when luke forces his ideology maybe we are becoming a security budget problem in the future when side chains are ready to use and lightning support grows even more. Inscription is not a vulnerability or a bug. It’s a valid transaction and as long as transactions are valid people can do whatever they want with bitcoin.
Decentralisation in Bitcoin's codebase comes from the ability of anyone to release their own reference client, that enforces the consensus rules, as they see fit. Users are divided, at this time, over the legitimacy of 'inscription' transactions. All Bitcoin Knots is doing, is giving users a simple way to vote with their feet. This is the free market, in action. If you do not agree with the consensus implementation, don't run the code. This applies equally to all Bitcoin reference clients. Be it Core, Knots, or otherwise...