After five years of absence on social networks, the legendary cypherpunk Nick Szabo returns to the public arena. His intervention falls at a time when Bitcoin Core developers are preparing to deploy a major update, version 30, which already divides the community. Between technical innovation and fear of a drift, the battle of ideas is raging.
In short
- Nick Szabo, an emblematic figure of Bitcoin, speaks on X after five years of silence to criticize the Bitcoin Core V30 update.
- The new version deletes the old portfolio system and drastically increases the data limit via the OPCODE OP_TREN, from 80 bytes to nearly 4 mega -typles.
- The purists fear an inflation of the blockchain and the legal risks, while the maximalists defend the freedom of use of the block space.
An update that divides the Bitcoin community
The Bitcoin Core development team unveiled the second candidate version of its major update V30.0RC2 on Sunday. Its deployment is scheduled for the end of October, even if the current tests and internal debates could postpone the deadline. At the center of the tensions: the in -depth revision of the OPCODE OP_TRETURN, a function which allows to register non -financial data in Bitcoin transactions.
The most controversial point concerns the massive increase in storage capacities. Until now limited to 80 bytes, OP_Return could now accept up to 4 data megaoctes per transaction output. This technical change upsets the delicate balance between utility and network performance.
Bitcoin purists firmly oppose this evolution. For them, the network must remain an electronic payment system, the final point. They alert the risk of a swollen blockchain of unnecessary data, which each node should store indefinitely. In their eyes, this would increase the infrastructure costs, would open the way to massive spam and allow the anchoring of malicious content permanently.
Opposite, the maximalists brandish the standard of economic freedom. Their argument is simple: if a user pays the transaction costs, he should be able to use the block space as he seems. The market mechanisms, according to them, will be enough to naturally regulate abuses via the cost system.
Nick Szabo sets foot in the dish
Nick Szabo chose this crucial moment to break his silence almost five years. The Bitcoin pioneer, which some still suspect of being the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto despite his repeated denials, has multiplied the interventions on X to expose his concerns.
His analyzes go far beyond the technical sphere: he highlights the risk of an increasing imbalance between minors, who receive the benefits of network fees, and node operators, who bear the costs without adequate protection.
Szabo points to a dangerous asymmetry : Minors collect the profits while node operators bear costs without adequate protection. Increasing the op_return franchise, according to him, will only worse this imbalance.
It is however in the legal field that his intervention has the most weight. Szabo warns: node operators could be held responsible for the involuntary storage of illicit content.
“” It is an open legal question almost everywhere. He insists. Admittedly, lawyer Joe Carlasare recalls that a court decision has already dismissed the responsibility of the nodes in the absence of knowledge or direct control over the data, but the question remains far from being decided.
The pruning of integrated data via OP_PRETurn could, in theory, reduce legal risks. However, their standardized and directly readable format makes them much more visible than fragmented or hidden information, which requires specialized software to be rebuilt.
This increased visibility, he concludes, could impress more “lawyers, judges and jurors”, and therefore, paradoxically, increase legal risks instead of reducing them.
The return of a visionary at the critical moment
Nick Szabo did not come back by chance. Whoever conceptualized the “bit Gold” in 1998, a direct precursor of Bitcoin, joined Jan3 last January as scientific director.
The Bitcoin infrastructure company led by Samson Mow now benefits from the expertise of a living legend. His intervention in this debate brings a considerable weight to a community which deeply respects its intellectual heritage.
This controversy perfectly illustrates the permanent tensions within the Bitcoin ecosystem. On the one hand, technical innovation and expansion of use cases. On the other, the preservation of the integrity and decentralization of the network.
The next few weeks promise to be decisive for the future of the Bitcoin protocol, while the developers finalize their tests and the community continues to fiercely debate the management to take.
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