A new Bitcoin improvement proposal, BIP-444, has sparked one of the most intense governance debates in the Bitcoin ecosystem since the block size wars.
The proposal, posted on friday nightaims to temporarily restrict the inclusion of arbitrary data in Bitcoin transactions through a one-year soft fork, responding to concerns that the blockchain may host illegal content under changes introduced in the recent Bitcoin Core v30 update.
Why is BIP-444 so controversial?
The controversy dates back to v30’s effective removal of data size limits on OP_RETURN outputs, a part of the Bitcoin script used to attach ancillary data to transactions.
While users have long embedded messages and small metadata on-chain, the new interpretation allows for much larger data payloads, as long as the sender pays transaction fees.
Critics say this opens the door to a catastrophic scenario: permanently stored illegal files, such as child sexual abuse material (CSAM), that could expose node operators to criminal liability simply for participating in the network.
The BIP 444 proposal is incredibly bad
A bad actor who wants to carry out a double-spend attack could put CSAM on the chain to cause a reorganization and succeed with their attack.
Therefore, the proposal provides an economic incentive for on-chain CSAM. pic.twitter.com/7XZ6uocjMR
— BitMEX Research (@BitMEXResearch) October 26, 2025
BIP-444 argues that this poses a “direct existential threat” to Bitcoin’s decentralization model.
If node operators choose between violating laws or shutting down infrastructure, the proposal warns, validation could be consolidated into a small set of legally protected institutional nodes, undermining Bitcoin’s basic trust assumptions.
To avoid this, BIP-444 proposes several temporary technical measures, specifically:
- Limit OP_RETURN data to 83 bytes
- Limit most script output to 34 bytes
- Restrict data sending size to 256 bytes
- Override unused or undefined script versions
- Limit size of primary root control block
- Disable OP_IF within Tapscript, effectively breaking Ordinal style inscriptions
The last point is particularly explosive: Ordinal inscriptions, which store NFT-like digital artifacts directly on-chain, have driven significant use of block space and miner fee revenue over the past two years.
The soft fork would temporarily close the Ordinals market, a move that supporters see as a necessary security classification, while detractors see it as protocol-level censorship.
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Supporters versus critics: Is BIP-444 crisis theater and emergency politics?
Supporters, including longtime developer Luke Dashjr, frame the move as an urgent “emergency response” rather than a philosophical change, arguing that the chain is already at risk due to large data transactions mined earlier this month.
No. BIP 444 is already underway without technical objections.https://t.co/sF7HUiGgRm
– Luke Dashjr (@LukeDashjr) October 26, 2025
Critics respond that the “emergency” narrative is overblown and point out that Bitcoin has It has long been theoretically capable of storing harmful data. and that there is no widely accepted legal precedent linking node operation to possession liability.
Opponents, including figures in the Ordinals community and infrastructure providers, argue that the proposal sets a dangerous precedent, blurring the line between network integrity protections and content surveillance.
Some warn that if miners and users split over activation, the network could face a chain split reminiscent of the Bitcoin/Bitcoin Cash schism of 2017.
To further complicate matters, the proposal was written by a pseudonymous contributor with no public development history, raising questions about coordination, intent, and legitimacy.
BIP-444 has yet to be formally submitted to the Bitcoin Development Mailing List, the next required step before any serious path toward consensus.
What happens next will test Bitcoin’s ability to adapt under pressure and its ability to agree on what the network fundamentally is: a neutral settlement layer or a system that should mitigate real-world legal exposure.
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The post BIP-444: Soft Fork Proposal Aimed at Restricting Arbitrary Data Sparks Fierce Debate in the Bitcoin Community appeared first on 99Bitcoins.
