According to Luke Dashjr, a #Bitcoin Core developer, fixing the vulnerability in the Bitcoin network will indeed put an end to the appearance of new Ordinals and BRC-20 tokens that have been causing network congestion.
In a message dated December 6th, Dashjr explained that the labels used by the creators of Ordinals and #BRC-20 tokens to embed data in satoshis were exploiting a vulnerability in Bitcoin Core to spam the blockchain.
The Bitcoin Core code has allowed users to set limits on the size of additional data in transactions since 2013. However, by obfuscating their data as program code, the labels were able to bypass this limitation.
PSA: “Inscriptions” are exploiting a vulnerability in #Bitcoin Core to spam the blockchain. Bitcoin Core has, since 2013, allowed users to set a limit on the size of extra data in transactions they relay or mine (`-datacarriersize`). By obfuscating their data as program code,…
— Luke Dashjr (@LukeDashjr) December 6, 2023
The vulnerability that allowed the labels to bypass this limitation has recently been fixed in the latest update of Bitcoin Knots. Bitcoin Knots is a derivative of Bitcoin Core that includes less tested or unverified features, sometimes maintained outside the main codebase.
When asked if #Ordinals and BRC-20 tokens would cease to exist once the vulnerability is fixed, Dashjr confirmed that existing labels would still remain. He stated that "Bitcoin Core is still vulnerable in the upcoming v26 release" and expressed hope that it would finally be fixed in version 27 next year.
On December 6th, Ocean, a decentralized protocol where Dashjr serves as the technical director, announced that the Bitcoin Knots update addresses this long-standing vulnerability exploited by modern spammers.
As a result of the update, #Ocean stated that its blocks will now include more legitimate transactions, while the implied Ordinals labels are considered a denial-of-service attack on the Bitcoin network.
We are happy to announce testing of Bitcoin Knots v25.1 has completed successfully, and is now deployed to production. Among other improvements, this upgrade fixes this long-standing vulnerability exploited by modern spammers. As a result, our blocks will now include many more… https://t.co/II3y0B6Pu4
— OCEAN (@ocean_mining) December 6, 2023
Dashjr strongly opposes the use of Ordinals labels and claims that the damage they inflict on the Bitcoin network and its users, including future users, is significant and irreversible.
"No one ever intended for ordinals to exist. It was an attack on Bitcoin from the very beginning"Dashjr stated.
The Ordinals protocol was launched in January 2023 by Casey Rodarmor and allows users to embed data and non-fungible tokens (#NFTs) into satoshis, the smallest denomination of BTC.
