It's raining BIPs, hallelujah... Recently merged: BIP53 BIP54 BIP172 BIP177 BIP321 BIP443 On the cusp: BIP77 Maybe a good time to remind that BIPs are author documents that represent the authors’ recommendation to the Bitcoin community.

Does someone want to explain to me how OP_RETURNs increase the blockchain growth, hardware requirements, or otherwise increase the cost of running a node? I keep seeing that concern, and that seems completely counter my expectations. I'd love to see a detailed explanation of how that follows.