Bitcoin Ordinals Creator Threatens to Fork Bitcoin Core

Key Insights:

• Bitcoin Ordinals creator Leonidas has threatened to fund a hard fork of Bitcoin Core.
• Leonidas warned that censoring Ordinals or Runes would set a dangerous precedent and prompt decisive action.
• He said the DOG Army was prepared to fund an open-source fork of Bitcoin Core.

Bitcoin Ordinals developer Leonidas has warned that he will fund an open-source fork of Bitcoin Core if developers move to censor Bitcoin Runes, Ordinals, or any other non-financial transactions on the network.

In an open letter to the community, the Ordinals creator and host of The Ordinal Show weighed in on the growing divide within Bitcoin. The debate centers on whether node validators should prioritize peer-to-peer transactions while filtering out large data uploads, such as images, videos, or documents, which critics label as spam.

According to Leonidas, tightening policy rules or censoring Ordinals and Runes transactions would set a “dangerous precedent” and prompt “decisive action.”

He said the DOG Army was prepared to fund an open-source fork of Bitcoin Core, where most policy rules would be removed, ensuring that thousands would run it to demonstrate that Bitcoin was meant to be censorship-resistant.

His open letter follows remarks from Blockstream CEO Adam Back, who argued that such transactions are spam and have no place in the timechain.

Bitcoin Core’s Alternative, Bitcoin Knots

Bitcoin Knots, an alternative to Bitcoin Core, has surged in popularity, growing from 67 nodes in March 2024 to over 4,380 today, and currently makes up more than 18% of the network.

Their growing adoption comes ahead of Bitcoin Core’s v30 release on Oct. 30, which will remove the 80-byte OP_RETURN limit and support the storage of much larger media files.

Leonidas wrote the letter out of concern that the update could be overturned. Back’s position is shared by Satoshi Action Fund CEO Dennis Porter and Ocean Mining creator Luke Dashjr.

The Bitcoin Ordinals creator emphasized that the Ordinals and Runes ecosystems have already accrued over $500 million in transaction fees, thereby strengthening Bitcoin’s security. Moreover, he noted this support is vital as mining rewards continue to halve every four years.

He said he had spoken with miners controlling over half of Bitcoin’s hash rate, who confirmed they would accept any transaction as long as the fees were competitive.

Meanwhile, relying on Ordinals fees has been difficult, as activity shows clear seasonal patterns. According to insights from Dune Analytics, Bitcoin miners earned only $3,060 from Ordinals on August 31, far below the daily record of $9.99 million on December 16, 2023.

The highest daily total has yet to surpass $1 million this year, indicating that Ordinals are using less blockspace than in the past.

Bitcoin Searches Drop

In other Bitcoin news, U.S. Google searches for Bitcoin have fallen to an 11-month low as gold hits record highs, sparking speculation about a possible capital shift into Bitcoin. Google Trends shows search interest is now at levels last seen in October 2024, despite strong ETF inflows earlier this year.

A performance gap is also notable, with gold up 38% since the start of 2025, while Bitcoin has gained 18%. This divergence could be an indication of a shift in investor psychology toward safety over speculation amid rising macroeconomic uncertainty.