Adam Back Strongly Opposes Regulation of Bitcoin Technology, Warns It Would Destroy Censorship Resistance

▲ Bitcoin (BTC)

Adam Back, CEO of Blockstream, has strongly opposed BIP 110, a technical regulatory proposal aimed at preventing data spam on the Bitcoin (BTC) network, igniting a major philosophical debate within the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

According to Cointelegraph on Feb. 16 (local time), Back made it clear that he opposes BIP 110, a proposal seeking to restrict arbitrary data insertion on Bitcoin, arguing that it could seriously undermine the network’s neutrality. Emphasizing that Bitcoin should remain an open protocol free from interference, Back warned that defining certain data as spam and blocking it is a dangerous attempt that could destroy Bitcoin’s core principle of censorship resistance.

At the center of the controversy, BIP 110 aims to technically filter out activities such as Ordinals and Inscriptions that record large amounts of data on the Bitcoin blockchain. While some developers criticize such data for congesting the network and driving transaction fees sharply higher, Back maintains that any transaction with a paid fee should be processed legitimately regardless of its perceived value.

Back also pointed out that Bitcoin’s security model must ultimately rely on fee revenue in the long term, noting that data-embedding transactions provide income to miners and thus contribute positively to strengthening network security. He argued that fee competition governed by market forces should naturally determine the value of data, and that developers arbitrarily deciding which data is useful runs counter to the spirit of Bitcoin.

Market experts suggest that Back’s remarks could represent a critical turning point in defining Bitcoin’s future identity. The debate over whether Bitcoin should remain solely a store of value as money or expand into an open data platform accommodating all types of data is expected to intensify further in light of the BIP 110 proposal. Back’s opposition is interpreted as prioritizing Bitcoin’s philosophical principles over technical considerations.

Ultimately, growing sentiment within the Bitcoin community holds that developing scalability solutions is more urgent than implementing technical restrictions for sustainable ecosystem growth. Back reaffirmed that advancing Layer 2 technologies to reduce the burden on the main chain is the correct path forward, and he remains unwilling to compromise on data censorship through artificial protocol modifications. Cryptocurrency market participants are closely watching whether this debate will be reflected in an actual protocol update.

Disclaimer: This article is for investment reference only, and we are not responsible for any investment losses incurred based on it. The content should be interpreted for informational purposes only.