The debate over Ordinals and Runes transactions has escalated within the Bitcoin community, with leading Ordinals developer Leonidas warning that his team could fork Bitcoin Core if censorship efforts move forward.
Open Letter Against Transaction Censorship
In an open letter posted on X, Leonidas, host of The Ordinal Show, said that any move to restrict or censor Ordinals, Runes, or other non-financial transactions would be met with “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,” Leonidas stated, adding that thousands of users would run such a fork to preserve Bitcoin’s censorship resistance.
His comments come in response to a growing push by some Bitcoin developers and community leaders to prioritize peer-to-peer financial transactions over large data inscriptions, such as images, videos, and documents. Critics, including Blockstream CEO Adam Back, argue that Ordinals-style data storage clogs blockspace and amounts to “spam.”
Rising Popularity of Bitcoin Knots
The controversy coincides with the rapid growth of Bitcoin Knots, an alternative to Bitcoin Core. Knots has surged from just 67 nodes in March 2024 to over 4,380 nodes in 2025, making up more than 18% of the network.
The rise comes ahead of Bitcoin Core’s v30 release (Oct. 30, 2025), which will remove the 80-byte OP_RETURN limit, allowing more media files to be stored directly on-chain. Leonidas and other Ordinals advocates fear that developers could reverse this change under pressure from anti-Ordinals groups.
Transaction Fees Strengthen the Case for Ordinals
Supporters of Ordinals argue that these inscriptions provide a vital fee market for miners, especially as block subsidies continue to halve every four years. According to Leonidas, Ordinals and Runes transactions have generated over $500 million in fees, bolstering Bitcoin’s long-term security.
He also claimed to have spoken with miners representing over 50% of Bitcoin’s hash rate, who reportedly support processing any transaction type, provided the fees are competitive.
Challenges of Ordinals Revenue
Despite the fee contribution, Ordinals activity remains inconsistent.
- On Dec. 16, 2023, miners earned a record $9.99 million in fees from Ordinals.
- By Aug. 31, 2025, that figure had plunged to just $3,060 per day, highlighting the volatile and seasonal nature of Ordinals demand.
So far in 2025, no single day has seen Ordinals fee revenue surpass $1 million, raising questions about whether they can reliably support miners in the future.
The looming clash over Ordinals underscores a deeper philosophical divide within the Bitcoin community: Should Bitcoin remain strictly a peer-to-peer payment system, or evolve into a broader data and application layer?
If Bitcoin Core developers roll back the OP_RETURN expansion, Leonidas and his supporters appear ready to launch a Bitcoin fork, setting the stage for a potential chain split that could reshape Bitcoin’s direction.
Disclaimer
This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Cryptocurrency trading involves risk and may result in financial loss.