Bitcoin oversaturated: Towards a crucial fix that would put a stop to the Ordinals'!

The Bitcoin network is facing unprecedented congestion these days, caused by a massive influx of transactions related to BRC20 tokens. About 300,000 transactions are waiting to be confirmed, saturating miners’ memory and driving fees to record levels.

A controversial patch threatens the future of BRC20

The growing popularity of BRC20 tokens has plunged the Bitcoin network into a critical situation. Mempool reports more than 280,000 pending transactions, with memory pool usage exceeding 300 MB to reach 1.57 GB. Meanwhile, average transaction fees have climbed by about $14.

Developers point to the exploitation of a flaw in the Bitcoin Core code, which allows ordinal inscriptions and BRC20 tokens embedded in satoshis to bypass the limits normally imposed on the size of additional data.

Renowned developer Luke Dashjr has confirmed in a December 6 article that the patch applied to Bitcoin Knots, an alternative version of Bitcoin Core, aims to stop this bypass. He expresses hope that this flaw will be resolved in version 27 of Bitcoin Core next year.

However, controversy persists as to the extent of this change, highlighting that the end of this vulnerability would also mean the end of ordinals and BRC20 tokens.

A controversial change

However, such a change does not have unanimous support. Shenyu, co-founder of f2pool, one of the largest Bitcoin mining pools, reminded that developers do not have all the power over a decentralized network like Bitcoin. Moreover, many users and investors are excited about the possibilities offered by BRC20 tokens.

Despite these reservations, Luke Dashjr maintains his criticisms. He believes that the damage caused to Bitcoin users is already huge and irreversible. Indeed, the explosion of transaction fees has a very concrete impact on those wishing to transfer funds. Additionally, by saturating network capacity, BRC20 tokens hinder the adoption of Bitcoin as a payment method.

« Nobody ever authorized ordinals. It’s been an attack on Bitcoin from the start », he stated.

In short, the controversy around BRC20 tokens illustrates the difficulty of reconciling innovation and security on a decentralized network like Bitcoin. If the problem persists, it could lead to a fork in the protocol between those who defend the removal of tokens and those who wish to preserve these new features. Whatever the outcome, this episode will mark a turning point in the tumultuous history of Bitcoin.