Ordinals Leader Threatens Bitcoin Core Fork Over Censorship Ahead of v30 Update

Leonidas, a prominent leader in the Bitcoin Ordinals ecosystem, has threatened to fund and maintain an open-source fork of Bitcoin Core if upcoming policy changes in the v30 update censor or restrict Ordinals and Runes transactions. The v30 upgrade, scheduled for October 2025, plans to remove the 80-byte OP_RETURN limit, enabling larger on-chain data transactions, which critics label as spam, while supporters argue these transactions contribute significantly to Bitcoin's security via over $500 million in fees. This has intensified a debate between those advocating for Bitcoin as a purely financial network and others supporting its evolution to accommodate broader data use cases. Blockstream CEO Adam Back and other Bitcoin maximalists argue that these data-heavy transactions are wasteful and displace legitimate financial transactions, whereas Leonidas and supporters warn that tightening relay policies threatens Bitcoin's censorship resistance. The conflict has led to increased adoption of alternative node software like Bitcoin Knots, which opposes the v30 policy changes and now represents about 18% of the network's nodes. Leonidas claims support from miners controlling over 50% of Bitcoin's hash rate, suggesting the fork could be sustained by a substantial portion of the community to preserve open access and neutrality on the base layer.