A developer behind the Ordinals protocol has threatened to fund a fork of Bitcoin Core if censorship is implemented, potentially leading to an entirely new version of the blockchain. This threat stems from escalating debates within the Bitcoin community regarding the network’s structure and priorities. 🎤 Some believe these non-financial transactions, such as images, videos, or documents, should be restricted, while others advocate for their inclusion. Leonidas, host of The Ordinal Show, stated in a public X post that restricting Ordinals and Runes would trigger a decisive action from his community. He even threatened to fund an open-source fork of Bitcoin Core if such censorship attempts were made. This development comes after notable figures within the Bitcoin community voiced their opinions on these non-financial transactions. 🎙️ Adam Back, CEO of Blockstream, has expressed that these large data transactions should be seen as spam and are out of place in Bitcoin’s timechain. However, the situation is far from clear-cut. The rise of Bitcoin Knots, an alternative to Bitcoin Core, highlights this divergence. Over 18% of Bitcoin network nodes now run on it, compared to only 67 at the start of 2024. This surge in popularity coincides with Bitcoin Core’s v30 release, which will remove a limit on media storage on-chain, potentially leading to more Ordinals activity. The letter by Leonidas follows concerns that this new release may lead to censorship. He asserted that over $500 million in transaction fees have been generated by the Ordinals and Runes ecosystems, contributing to Bitcoin’s security. This is a significant concern as Bitcoin mining block subsidies are set to halve every four years. 💰 He assured miners that they would continue accepting transactions if fees remained competitive. However, the unpredictable nature of Ordinal activity has proven challenging, with Bitcoin miner revenue from these activities fluctuating widely. 📈 The highest recorded daily income was only $3,060 on August 31st, a fraction of the peak of $9.99 million in December 2023. This suggests that Ordinals’ impact on the network is not as significant as previously thought. 🔎 The potential for Bitcoin fork development highlights the ongoing debate about the future direction of the Bitcoin ecosystem.