Bitcoin Core development facing node storm? Satoshi Nakamoto's avatar Peter Todd reveals L2 route controversy

Recently, at the "Permissionless 4" Crypto Assets conference held in Brooklyn, New York, Supply Shock host had a discussion with Bitcoin historian Pete Rizzo and legendary developer Peter Todd, who was humorously referred to as Satoshi Nakamoto's screen double by HBO, regarding the significant directional changes in the Bitcoin ecosystem.

The recent node storm was caused by the differing views of developers and miners regarding Bitcoin transaction policies and censorship standards. Although Bitcoin Knots is a fork of Bitcoin Core, it has gradually gained favor among some users, indicating that there is dissatisfaction among certain users and the community with the Core team, particularly regarding the differing voices and opinions on whether to allow censorship standards for inscriptions (Ordinals) and other transactions. The author believes that Bitcoin L2 applications will be the next important development in BTCFI Bitcoin finance, and will continue to closely monitor various news. Below is a summary of the reports.

Legendary developer Peter Todd is designed as the real Satoshi Nakamoto by HBO.

Peter Todd is one of the most influential early developers of Bitcoin. He founded and led several important projects such as OpenTimestamps and Libra Relay. He contributed technically while maintaining a radical challenging stance, making him highly controversial within the Bitcoin community. He was even once mistakenly thought by some to be Satoshi Nakamoto due to an implication in an HBO Bitcoin documentary.

Bitcoin Node Storm: Bitcoin Core Faces Unprecedented Challenges

In the interview, Todd candidly stated that Bitcoin is currently in the most turbulent phase since the SegWit controversy. He observed that an increasing number of users are starting to migrate from Bitcoin Core to Knots or other node operations, which has almost never occurred in the past six years.

The so-called "node split" is not caused by a hard fork, but rather stems from differences in the philosophies of developers regarding transaction policies and review standards, particularly focusing on whether to accept transactions for non-traditional uses such as Ordinals.

What is Bitcoin Core?

Bitcoin Core is an open-source software that interacts with the Bitcoin network. Originally released by Bitcoin's anonymous founder Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009, it was later renamed from Bitcoin to Bitcoin Core to distinguish the software from the Bitcoin network and the crypto assets themselves. Bitcoin Core is crucial for maintaining the decentralized nature of Bitcoin, allowing users to run nodes that help verify and propagate transactions across the entire network.

What is Bitcoin Knots? How does it differ from Bitcoin Core?

Bitcoin Knots is a fork of Bitcoin Core maintained by Bitcoin developer Luke Dashjr. Bitcoin Knots retains the original functionality of Bitcoin Core while adding more customization options and diverse validation policies, being less constrained by the consensus decisions of Core's mainstream developers. Knots provides higher transparency, allowing node operators to choose whether to support certain types of transactions, thus gaining favor among users concerned about network censorship and scalability. Although its current market share is still low, it is seen as a form of protest against the Core decision-making structure.

Bitcoin miners have differing views on L2 transactions.

Todd stated that some developers and miners tend to filter out transaction data that is "non-pure financial usage," which goes against the spirit of Bitcoin's "permissionless" nature. Bitcoin should accept all valid transactions, regardless of personal opinions. He also mentioned that he previously launched the Libra Relay node version, aimed at challenging internet censorship, which he sees as a form of "performance art" to demonstrate that decentralized systems cannot be effectively censored.

Some developers and miners advocate for the removal of restrictions, which is actually due to a financial application called Citrea that is attempting to create new ways to conduct Bitcoin transactions across different types of L2, not too different from the Lightning Network, sending lightning transactions that do not enter the Bitcoin blockchain itself. It is a protocol that runs on the Bitcoin blockchain, and Citrea is somewhat similar to such protocols, allowing transactions to take place on it. Transfers or some kind of smart contracts can be conducted in this manner, but ultimately they do not appear on the Bitcoin blockchain. The operational method involves what is known as 'zero-knowledge proof', which is the entity operating this transaction system.

From Satoshi Nakamoto dice to Ordinals ( inscriptions )

When discussing past cases, Todd mentioned the controversy surrounding Satoshi Nakamoto's dice from early years, a trading form that involved betting through a random mechanism, which was excluded by some mining pools. He believes that although this type of transaction is unique in form, it is fundamentally legal and should be treated equally. It is worth noting that the way Ordinals ( inscriptions work is fully in accordance with the standard transactions and principles of Bitcoin Core, which has a very specific meaning: "consensus achieved" is what constitutes a valid transaction.

The social signals of nodes and the reshaping of power structures

At the end of the interview, we discussed the inspiration of UASF (full name User Activated Soft Fork) on the balance of power within the community. Todd pointed out that merely running nodes cannot influence the future of Bitcoin, but the economic intentions and social signals it conveys are the sources of influence.

Currently, Bitcoin Knots accounts for about 12% of the total network nodes, yet it has already put substantial pressure on the Bitcoin Core team, reflecting the community's strong desire for transparency in the development process and participation mechanisms.

Beyond technology, the real risk is disagreement.

As the application scenarios of Bitcoin L2 become increasingly diverse, how to balance consensus and technology will be a significant challenge for the developer community in the future. Peter Todd reminds the public that the greatest threat to Bitcoin has never been the technology itself, but rather people's opinions on what it should become in the future.

The recent version of Bitcoin Knots node has sparked controversy due to its default filtering of certain transaction types, leading to a split in opinions within the developer community, and relevant discussions are still ongoing.

Is the Bitcoin core development facing a node storm? Satoshi Nakamoto's avatar Peter Todd reveals the L2 route controversy, first appearing in Chain News ABMedia.