Ordinals Developer Launches Bitcoin Client as Alternative to BIP-110

Leonidas, co-founder of the Runestone project, has unveiled a new Bitcoin client called DOG Mode, which serves as an alternative to the controversial BIP-110 proposal. Unlike BIP-110, which requires a majority miner consensus, DOG Mode only needs the support of a single miner to function.

Leonidas expressed enthusiasm for the launch, stating, "Bitcoin Core and Bitcoin Knots have spent years enforcing rules that Bitcoin itself does not have." He emphasized that valid transactions can still be blocked despite consensus.

The DOG Mode client introduces significant modifications, including:

• Increasing the maximum transaction weight from 400,000 to 3.9 million weight units (WU), which is nearly the full capacity of a Bitcoin block (4 million WU).
• Reducing the "dust limit," or minimum output size, from a range of 294-546 satoshis to just 1 satoshi.

These changes aim to facilitate the sending of Ordinals inscriptions and Runes, which are Bitcoin's versions of NFTs and fungible tokens. However, these technologies have faced criticism within the community, with some labeling them as "spam."

Leonidas stated, "The DOG army no longer waits for permission—it's time to remove excessive restrictions."

The increased transaction capacity will enable the transfer of larger files and collections, which are currently deemed "non-standard" by Bitcoin Core and often require direct miner channels for processing. Additionally, the new dust limit is expected to free up approximately $25 million in excess satoshis.

Unlike BIP-110, which necessitates 55% hash rate support for implementation, DOG Mode focuses on the relay policy of individual nodes, eliminating the need for a miner support threshold. Recent estimates indicated that support for BIP-110 had fallen below 1% as of July 13. Notably, Blockstream CEO Adam Back previously criticized BIP-110, calling it detrimental to Bitcoin's reputation.