Nick Szabo, a Bitcoin pioneer, has come back to social media after nearly five years to comment on a contentious debate regarding the upcoming Bitcoin Core v30 update.
The update, expected in October, has sparked a discussion in the Bitcoin community over how the network should handle non-financial data.
The release brings in a new wallet layout and streamlines commands for users. Its most controversial aspect is the OP_RETURN opcode that supports the embedding of arbitrary data within transactions. Previously, the OP_RETURN data was limited to 80 bytes, but now it could approach almost 4 megabytes per transaction output.
This has put the community on guard against blockchain bloat and abuse. Purists argue that Bitcoin should only be used for financial transactions, while maximalists contend that users should be free to use block space as long as they pay the fees.
Szabo highlights legal risks
On X, Nick Szabo highlighted potential legal risks associated with the update on Sunday. He noted that while transaction fees act as a “spam filter” for miners, they do little to protect full node operators from possible legal liability.
He asked, “What then happens when full node operators become informed about illegal content on the blockchain? They then have knowledge, and this particular precedent doesn’t protect them.”
Szabo explained that OP_RETURN data is “prunable,” meaning it can be removed more easily than other methods of hiding data. He said, “This suggests that allowing more data on OP_RETURN conceivably may reduce legal risks.” However, he also cautioned that illegal content stored in a standard format could attract more attention from courts and regulators.
Community reactions
Szabo also engaged with other Bitcoin developers and community members on X about the responsibility for embedded data.
One user suggested, “the fairest and most consistent responsibility with the decentralized nature of Bitcoin is for the legal responsibility for the data embedded in an OP_RETURN to fall on the signer of the transaction. ” Szabo affirmed that this would be a good foundation for a statute or regulation.
The discussion comes amid broader conversations in the Bitcoin community. In the past, Szabo has emphatically denied being Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin. But his views continue to carry weight in the crypto community, particularly as discussions around network rules and upgrades escalate.