After five years of absence on social media, the legendary cypherpunk Nick Szabo returns to the public arena. His intervention comes at a time when the Bitcoin Core developers are preparing to deploy a major update, version 30, which already divides the community. Between technical innovation and fear of drift, the battle of ideas is raging.
In brief
- •Nick Szabo, a prominent bitcoin figure, has spoken again on X after five years of silence to criticize the Bitcoin Core v30 update.
- •The new version removes the old wallet system and drastically increases the data limit via the OP_RETURN opcode, from 80 bytes to nearly 4 megabytes.
- •Purists fear blockchain inflation and legal risks, while maximalists defend the freedom to use block space.
An update that divides the Bitcoin community
The Bitcoin Core development team unveiled on Sunday the second release candidate of its major update v30.0rc2. Its deployment is scheduled for the end of October, although ongoing tests and internal debates could delay the deadline. At the center of tensions: the deep revision of the OP_RETURN opcode, a function that allows non-financial data to be inscribed in Bitcoin transactions.
The most controversial point concerns the massive increase in storage capacity. Previously limited to 80 bytes, OP_RETURN could now accept up to 4 megabytes of data per transaction output. This technical change disrupts the delicate balance between utility and network performance.
Bitcoin purists strongly oppose this evolution. For them, the network must remain an electronic payment system, period. They warn of the risk of a blockchain inflated with useless data, which every node would have to store indefinitely. In their eyes, this would increase infrastructure costs, open the door to massive spam, and allow permanent anchoring of malicious content.
On the other hand, maximalists brandish the banner of economic freedom. Their argument is simple: if a user pays the transaction fees, they should be able to use block space as they see fit. Market mechanisms, according to them, will naturally regulate abuses through the fee system.
Nick Szabo speaks out bluntly
Nick Szabo chose this crucial moment to break his nearly five-year silence. The bitcoin pioneer, who some still suspect to be the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto despite his repeated denials, has increased his interventions on X to express his concerns.
His analyses go far beyond the technical sphere: he highlights the risk of growing imbalance between miners, who receive the benefits of network fees, and node operators, who bear the costs without adequate protection.
Szabo points to a dangerous asymmetry: miners reap the benefits while node operators bear the costs without adequate protection. Increasing the OP_RETURN allowance, according to him, will only worsen this imbalance.
However, it is on the legal front that his intervention carries the most weight. Szabo warns: node operators could be held responsible for the involuntary storage of illicit content.
Certainly, lawyer Joe Carlasare recalls that a court decision has already excluded the responsibility of nodes in absence of knowledge or direct control over the data, but the question remains far from settled.
Pruning data embedded via OP_RETURN could, in theory, reduce legal risks. However, their standardized and directly readable format makes them much more visible than fragmented or concealed information, which require specialized software to be reconstructed.
This increased visibility, he concludes, could impress more “lawyers, judges, and jurors,” and thus, paradoxically, increase legal risks instead of reducing them.
The return of a visionary at a critical moment
Nick Szabo did not return by chance. The one who conceptualized “bit gold” in 1998, a direct precursor of bitcoin, joined Jan3 last January as their chief scientist.
The bitcoin infrastructure company led by Samson Mow now benefits from the expertise of a living legend. His intervention in this debate holds considerable weight with a community that deeply respects his intellectual legacy.
This controversy perfectly illustrates the ongoing tensions within the bitcoin ecosystem. On one side, technical innovation and the expansion of use cases. On the other, the preservation of the network’s integrity and decentralization.
The coming weeks promise to be decisive for the future of the Bitcoin protocol, as developers finalize their tests and the community continues to fiercely debate the direction to take.