Yes if spammers can use op_return instead of direct submission to miners, it helps to prevent mining centralisation from getting worse. However, the only pool I could find that publicly offers this service is Mara with slipstream. Doesn’t it seem a bit premature to remove op_return limits with the intent of reducing mining centralisation by making a service that a pool with only 5% of the hash rate offers, obsolete? I understand that other pools may implement this service later down the line, but that means this change does not reduce mining centralisation from its current levels, it only helps to prevent it getting worse. We can agree mining centralisation is a problem today, so wouldn’t it make more sense to support solutions that actually reduce mining centralisation like Ocean and DATUM instead of pushing contentious changes that only help prevent this issue from getting worse?
Removing op_return does give spammers a less technically harmful alternative solution for uploading spam, but are many spammers actually going to use it if the op_return solution is 4x more expensive? I hear the “fees are the filter” argument a lot , but this contradicts the point that with the removal of op_return spammers can spam in a less harmful way because wouldn’t they choose the cheaper alternative (witness data)? We both agree that inscriptions are bad for bitcoin and so isn’t the most logical choice to provide a solution to this bug, such as the one knots has already implemented (inscriptions filtering at the mempool level) and the one core refused to implement in 2023.
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Perhaps mara is not dominate because the service they offer is not in demand currently. I think core would argue against things that create the game theory conditions for more centralizations. Core has been discussing these changes for years.
Datum won’t fix this specific issue.
Everything is a technical difficult thing until it isn’t. Software makes all types of spam easier over time.
Filtering inscriptions at the mempool level isn’t a bug fix. It’s just more filters and is fraught with cat and mouse games, arms race, and major issues false positives. I would rather we deal with spam vs have non spam transactions getting censored my overzealous filtering.