A Bitcoin Ordinals developer has threatened to fund the development of an open-source fork of Bitcoin Core if developers attempt to censor Ordinals, Runes and other non-financial transactions on the network.
The open letter on X from Leonidas, host of The Ordinal Show, on Saturday comes amid a war between members of the Bitcoin community as to whether Bitcoin node validators should prioritize peer-to-peer financial transactions and censor — or at least ignore — large data transactions, such as pictures, videos or documents, which critics claim to be spam.
Leonidas warned of a “dangerous precedent” and said that any tightening of policy rules or censorship of Ordinals and Runes transactions would trigger “decisive action.”
“If necessary, the DOG Army will fund the development and maintenance of an open source fork of Bitcoin Core that strips out nearly all policy rules, and that thousands of people will run to make it abundantly clear that Bitcoin is and must always remain censorship resistant.”
His comments followed remarks from Blockstream CEO Adam Back, who is one of many Bitcoiners who believe these transactions are spam and should have “no place in the timechain.”
Bitcoin Core vs Bitcoin Knots
Bitcoin Knots, an alternative to Bitcoin Core, has been growing in popularity over the past year. It went from 67 nodes in March 2024 to over 4,380 today, representing more than 18% of the network.
The rise has come ahead of Bitcoin Core’s v30 release, scheduled for Oct. 30, which will remove the 80-byte limit on the OP_RETURN function, allowing for significantly more media filed to be stored onchain.
The letter from Leonidas came from fears that they may overturn the update.
Related: Bitcoin network mining difficulty climbs to new all-time high
Those siding with Back include Ocean Mining creator Luke Dashjr and Satoshi Action Fund CEO Dennis Porter.
Bitcoin fees from Ordinals, Runes could keep miners around
Leonidas argued that the Ordinals and Runes ecosystems have contributed over $500 million in transaction fees to strengthen Bitcoin’s security — something which has become an increasing concern as the Bitcoin mining block subsidy continues to halve every four or so years.
He added that he’s spoken with Bitcoin miners representing over 50% of Bitcoin’s hash rate and said that they would continue to accept any transaction provided the fees are competitive.
Ordinals activity has been unpredictable
Relying on fees from Ordinals transactions has proven to be tough, however, with activity showing clear seasonality.
On Aug. 31, Bitcoin miners made just $3,060 from Ordinals — a tiny fraction of the daily record $9.99 million it raked in on Dec. 16, 2023, Dune Analytics data shows.
Even in 2025, the strongest daily total hasn’t even topped $1 million, suggesting Ordinals aren’t taking up as much blockspace as they used to.
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