Censorship Concerns: Ordinals Leader Leonidas Threatens to Fork Bitcoin Core
The Bitcoin community is in turmoil following an open letter published by Leonidas, the leader of the Ordinals ecosystem. In this inflammatory letter, Leonidas threatened to fund an open-source fork of Bitcoin Core if developers attempt to censor Ordinals and Runes transactions.
This escalation of tensions comes as the controversial Bitcoin Core v30 upgrade looms on the horizon, bringing with it potentially explosive changes.
A Technical Battle Over Data Limits for Bitcoin
Leonidas warned that any attempt to tighten policy rules would be met with intervention from the “$DOG army,” which would develop a Bitcoin Core fork without these restrictions while maintaining consensus requirements. He claims to have the support of more than 20 Bitcoin startups and miners controlling over 50% of the hash rate.
Since 2023, the Ordinals ecosystem has contributed more than $500 million in transaction fees. Although daily revenue has plummeted from $9.99 million in December 2023 to just $3,000 in August 2025. This activity has led Blockstream to characterize Ordinals inscriptions as useless “JPEG waste,” displacing legitimate monetary transactions and driving up costs for new users.
A Fundamental Philosophical Conflict Between Core and Ordinals
At the heart of this debate lies a fundamental disagreement about Bitcoin’s primary function. Leonidas advocates for preserving censorship resistance and open access as core principles. Arguing that policy-based filtering establishes dangerous precedents comparable to state censorship of transactions.
Adam Back, Blockstream CEO, counters that the current system allows spam to displace essential economic activity central to Bitcoin’s value proposition. He estimates that the spam industry generates approximately 1% of excess fees. About 0.1% of miners’ profits after network adjustments.
Mining pools face significant pressure, with spam contributing $250 million annually in fees while potentially damaging Bitcoin’s reputation and driving away legitimate users.
A Technical Upgrade Intensifying Tensions
The Bitcoin Core v30 update represents the most significant policy change since the block size wars. It eliminates nearly decade-old anti-spam obstacles and allows data loads approaching full block capacity limits.
This technical evolution, which aims to promote censorship resistance and enable layer 2 innovations, also raises concerns about network participation accessibility and decentralization.
The threat of a well-funded fork backed by established industry players adds credibility to Leonidas’s ultimatum. As the October 2025 implementation date approaches, the Ordinals ecosystem appears prepared to maintain alternative infrastructure if Bitcoin Core persists with its perceived censorship mechanisms. This fascinating saga about Bitcoin’s future deserves close attention.
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