Bitcoin Core developers released a joint statement on June 6, 2025, announcing the removal of the 80‑byte limit on transaction relay. This change permits larger OP_RETURN data payloads, reflecting developers’ belief that users and miners—rather than node operators—should determine what content gets relayed. They emphasize Bitcoin’s censorship-resistance: "Bitcoin can and will be used for use cases not everyone agrees on".

Proponents, like Casa’s Jameson Lopp and devs behind the statement, argue that the relay system primarily ensures efficient transaction propagation, DoS protection, and fee estimation. For them, the focus is on what miners accept, not restricting user-driven data entries. They maintain that if users and miners agree, node limits should not interfere.

However, opposition is vocal. Critics such as JAN3 CEO Samson Mow and developer Luke Dashjr view this change as encouraging spam activities that dilute Bitcoin’s core purpose as a peer-to-peer electronic cash system. Dashjr commented, “Predicting what will be mined is a centralizing goal… Helping spam propagate is harmful”. Others caution it may increase block-space bloat, raise fees, and favor miners able to handle larger data loads, potentially centralizing power.

Reddit threads echo these tensions, with community members defending both minimalism and extensibility. One Redditor noted: