The upcoming version 30 (v30) of Bitcoin Core may potentially cause significant disruptions across BTC exchanges and mining pools if it proceeds with its plans to increase data limits.
This warning comes from Bitcoin Mechanic, a prominent supporter of restricting arbitrary data storage on the Bitcoin blockchain.
Throughout this year, developers have been engaged in heated debates regarding the standard amount of non-Bitcoin transaction-related data that should be accepted by most nodes into their pending transaction queues.
For more than ten years, nearly all operators of Bitcoin nodes have maintained a cap on their mempool’s OP_RETURN datacarrier at below 90 bytes.
Bitcoin Mechanic leads a coalition of Knots node operators who are opposing Core’s initiative to expand OP_RETURN’s datacarrier limit to an astonishing 100,000 bytes. He argues that such an increase could lead to catastrophic shutdowns for hosted nodes and cloud infrastructures connected to the Bitcoin network.
The Risk of Malware Propagation via Hosted Nodes Running Bitcoin Core v30
Mechanic specifically warns that malicious entities might exploit the new default size in Bitcoin Core v30—set at 100,000 bytes—to insert large blocks of harmful code into the memory chips of cloud-hosted nodes.
If this undesirable code is stored and transmitted—even momentarily—automated malware detection systems could disable hundreds or even thousands of nodes supporting BTC exchanges and mining operations.
Cloud service providers like Amazon, Azure, Google Cloud, and Digital Ocean routinely implement malware detection across many servers they operate.
If his predictions come true and exchanges along with mining pools go offline as he anticipates, Mechanic believes developers will scramble to devise temporary solutions. However, these quick fixes may complicate future resolutions even further.
Read more: Three sneaky changes in Bitcoin Core v30 are confusing node operators
Centrally managed mining pools might feel compelled to develop customized data filters. Mechanic envisions third-party software designed specifically to prevent malware or viruses from infiltrating memepools as necessary precautions against potential threats like CSAM (Child Sexual Abuse Material).
<pHe contends that all these issues could have been avoided had OP_RETURN’s datacarriersize remained unchanged from its original state.
Mechanic promotes a forked version called Knots which would not alter the default mempool size for OP_RETURN datacarriers at all.
Peter Todd Disputes Claims Made by Bitcoin Mechanic
Peter Todd has accused Mechanic of fabricating concerns about future vulnerabilities related to this issue. “No rational cloud provider would automatically shut down servers,” Todd asserted.
A very small number of core developers share Mechanic’s views; instead they remain committed to releasing v30 as scheduled next month.