The renowned Bitcoin Core developer Luke Dashjr recently disclosed a serious flaw in the programme that he dubbed "Inscription," which is part of the Bitcoin Core. The blockchain's defence against spam may have a weakness, as this discovery has sparked concerns in the cryptocurrency community.
Breaking down the issue
According to Dashjr, Dashjr, Bitcoin Core users have been able to set limits on extra data in transactions using the -datacarriersize setting since 2013. The clever Inscription method, on the other hand, has found a way around this limitation by concealing its data as program code.
This deft manoeuvre effectively circumvents the intended constraints, resulting in what Dashjr refers to as "spamming the blockchain." While Bitcoin Knots v25.1 addressed this issue, Bitcoin Core remains vulnerable in its upcoming v26 release. The community is hoping for a fix before the anticipated release of v27 next year.
Community speaks out
The cryptocurrency community is buzzing with different concerns and questions. One important question concerns the economic incentives for miners involved in inscription transactions. Dashjr emphasises Bitcoin's assumption that the majority of miners are honest. He also mentions that spam-filtered blocks frequently have higher fees for unknown reasons.
Further questions look into the implications of addressing this vulnerability. A key point of contention is whether fixing the bug will result in the abolition of ordinals and brc-20 tokens. Dashjr confirms that resolving this issue would put an end to these practices.
Another community member calls for further clarification on how regular Bitcoin holders are directly impacted by this vulnerability. Dashjr explains that although blockchain efficiency and integrity are the main technical concerns, security and value may also be indirectly impacted.
Now what?
The topic of actionable steps users can take to address this issue is also discussed. Dashjr suggests that in order to prevent the relaying of Inscription data, users of Bitcoin Knots set the datacarriersize to zero. In order to handle inscriptions correctly, he adds a warning not to activate the "Bitcoin Core policy" mode.
With the release of Bitcoin Core v26 rapidly approaching, everyone is awaiting the resolution that could determine the direction of Bitcoin transactions in the future.