Bitcoin Network Bug Exploited by Ordinals and BRC-20 Tokens Fixed in Bitcoin Knots Update
Summary:
Bitcoin Core developer, Luke Dashjr, has raised concerns about a flaw in the Bitcoin network that allows inscriptions used by creators of Bitcoin Ordinals and BRC-20 tokens to bypass a limit on extra data in transactions, thus congesting the network. The issue has been fixed in the latest update of Bitcoin Knots, and Dashjr hopes the Bitcoin Core will follow suit in their next release. The update enables more real transactions and reduces potential Denial-of-Service attacks on the network from Ordinals inscriptions.
A Bitcoin Core developer points out that a flaw in the Bitcoin network could prevent the continued creation of Bitcoin Ordinals and BRC-20 tokens which may be causing network traffic by misusing a particular weakness. On December 6, Luke Dashjr, a developer from X (formerly known as Twitter), stated in a post that inscriptions, a method used by creators of Ordinals and BRC-20 to input data on satoshis, take advantage of a vulnerability in the Bitcoin Core to inundate the blockchain with unwanted data. Dashjr clarified that since 2013, Bitcoin Core has allowed users to impose limits on the amount of additional data in transactions, but these inscriptions sidestep this limit by disguising their data as program code.
Dashjr stated that a flaw that enabled such inscriptions to bypass this limit was recently corrected in the latest release of Bitcoin Knots, an offshoot of Bitcoin Core featuring features that are either less proven or completely untested and sometimes maintained separately from the central code. Regarding a query by another X user about the possibility of Ordinals and BRC-20 tokens ceasing to exist if the vulnerability got fixed, Dashjr responded affirmatively while also noting that current inscriptions would persist. He warned that the known vulnerability would remain in the upcoming v26 release of Bitcoin Core, expressing his hopes of it being resolved before the release of v27 the following year.
On Dec. 6, the decentralized mining protocol Ocean, where Dashjr holds the position of CTO, announced on X the upgrade to Bitcoin Knots, stating it addressed the persistent vulnerability exploited by contemporary spammers. Ocean noted that subsequent to this upgrade, its blocks would now contain a greater number of genuine transactions, and implied that inscriptions from Ordinals might be seen as a DoS attack against the Bitcoin network. Dashjr has been vocal about his objections towards Ordinals inscriptions and holds that their effects on Bitcoin and its users are significantly detrimental and can't be undone.
Ordinals, a protocol launched in January 2023 by Casey Rodarmor, lets users embed data and nonfungible tokens onto satoshis, which is the smallest Bitcoin (BTC) unit. In recent times, the Bitcoin network has experienced increased congestion due to these inscriptions and the minting of BRC-20 tokens. Mempool.space indicates that there are over 275,000 unsettled transactions, and the average cost for a medium-priority transaction has risen to about $14 from approximately $1.50.
Published At
12/6/2023 9:39:57 AM
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