Bitcoin Core Developer Slams Runes, Claims Protocol Exploits Bitcoin Design Flaws

Luke Dashjr, a prominent bitcoin core developer, recently expressed concerns about the Runes protocol, arguing that it exploits a fundamental design flaw within the bitcoin blockchain network. In a post on x (formerly twitter) on April 26, Dashjr drew a distinction between Ordinal Inscriptions and the Runes protocol, highlighting their different approaches to interacting with the network.

Dashjr explained that while Ordinals exploit vulnerabilities in bitcoin Core, Runes technically follow the “rules” but still constitute a 5-vector attack on the network. He stated:

“Ordinals are a 9-vector attack that exploits vulnerabilities in bitcoin Core, Runes are 'just' a 5-vector attack that technically follow the 'rules'.”

Ordinals, a novel form of nft-like digital assets, are inscribed in satoshis, the smallest units of bitcoin. Its introduction last year marked bitcoin's entry into the world of nfts, generating significant interest within the crypto community. Runes, on the other hand, are fungible tokens that were launched on the day bitcoin completed its fourth halving. Upon launch, Runes caused significant network congestion, leading to an increase in transaction fees.

Dashjr has openly criticized both Ordinals and Runes, arguing that they deviate from btc core principles and contribute to blockchain spam. In the past, he has referred to Ordinals as a bug and actively worked on initiatives to address them through bug fixes.

In an effort to combat what he perceives as the negative impact of Runes, Dashjr proposed methods to filter Runes transactions. The suggested:

“To filter Runes spam using bitcoin Knots or bitcoin Core, the only method at this time is to set datacarriersize=0 in your bitcoin.conf file (or the equivalent GUI option in Knots only).”

However, early indications suggest that miners are not following Dashjr's advice. Ocean Mining, a decentralized mining pool where Dashjr acts as CTO, recently mined its first post-halving block, with over 75% of its transactions originating from the Runes protocol.

Several miners have defended their decision to process Runes transactions, citing the lucrative income stream they provide as their main motivation.