CoinDesk Podcast Network - BITCOIN SEASON 2: Filters Are Futile

We’re explaining why trying to filter Bitcoin is a fool’s errand.


We dive into the “filter debate,” dissecting why some Bitcoin purists are demanding JPEG‑free blocks and why their efforts are futile, but harmful to the bitcoin network. Fee economics, block‑size limits, real‑world examples, and the clash between censorship resistance and arbitrary data.

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Notes:

    Block size capped ~4 MB (~250 GB/yr)

    $600 M+ spent on ordinal fees

    Knots rose from 5 % to 18 %

    30/25 000 nodes filtered in early test

    100 % filtered nodes still ineffective

    Fee market drives transaction inclusion

Timestamps:

00:00 Start

02:54 Letter Analogy

05:40 Nations censoring transactions

07:16 Spam

16:16 JPEGS

18:03 Block size

19:12 Death to JPEGS

20:32 IBD (initial block download)

26:11 But we are filtering X transactions!

27:24 First principles

34:36 Oh Luke... so disappointing..

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👋Bitcoin Season 2 is produced Blockspace Media, Bitcoin’s first B2B publication in Bitcoin. Follow us on Twitter and check out our newsletter for the best information in Bitcoin mining, Ordinals and tech!

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