Author: Oluwapelumi Adejumo, CryptoSlate; Translated by: Deng Tong, Golden Finance

Bitcoin Core developer Luke Dashjr has criticized the Runes protocol, arguing that it exploits fundamental design flaws in the blockchain network.

In an April 26 post on X (formerly known as Twitter), Dashjr described the differences between Ordinal Inscriptions and the Runes protocol in how they interact with the network. He clarified that while Ordinals exploited a vulnerability within the blockchain, the Runes protocol operates within the framework of a design flaw in the network.

He further explained:

“Ordinals are a 9-vector attack that exploits a vulnerability in Bitcoin Core, Runes are “just” a 5-vector attack that actually technically follows the “rules”.

Ordinals are a novel form of digital asset, similar to NFTs, etched on Satoshis, the smallest unit of Bitcoin. Their emergence last year marked Bitcoin’s entry into the NFT space, sparking significant interest from the crypto community.

On the other hand, Runes are alternative tokens that were launched on the day Bitcoin completed its fourth halving. After the launch, these tokens severely clogged the network, causing a surge in transaction fees.

Notably, Dashjr has long been critical of both asset types, claiming that they deviate from BTC’s core principles and facilitate blockchain spam. Last year, he flagged Ordinals as a bug and took the lead in taking steps to address these issues through bug fixes.

Filter Rune Transactions

In light of his objections, Dashjr proposed a way to filter rune transactions.

He said:

“To filter rune spam using Bitcoin Knots or Bitcoin Core, currently the only way is to set datacarriersize=0 in your bitcoin.conf file (or just the equivalent GUI option in Knots).”

However, early signs suggest miners are not heeding his advice. Ocean Mining, a decentralized mining pool where Dashjr serves as CTO, recently mined its first post-halving block, with more than 75% of transactions coming from the Runes protocol.

In their defense, some miners are willing to process rune transactions because of the lucrative income they bring.