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@ Skyler Byrden #FixTheFilters
2025-05-29 01:27:23
Anyone familiar with the NRA Cincinnati Coup of 1977? There are many parallels to what’s happening to Bitcoin Core. The NRA and Bitcoin have both been hijacked, but Bitcoin differs in a few key ways:
Parallels:
1. Control by a Small Group: The NRA’s leadership and Bitcoin Core developers are accused of steering their respective entities away from original missions—gun safety for the NRA, peer-to-peer cash for Bitcoin—toward corporate/political or non-monetary interests.
2. Centralized Decision-Making: Both face criticism for consolidating power, with the NRA’s leadership sidelining members and Bitcoin Core’s developers pushing changes like removing the OP_RETURN limit (PR #32359) without broad consensus.
3. Mission Drift: The NRA shifted to political lobbying; Bitcoin Core’s refusal to filter inscriptions and relaxed OP_RETURN limits are seen as favoring NFTs and sidechains over monetary use.
4. Suppression of Dissent: NRA reformists and Bitcoin critics (e.g., Luke Dashjr, Mechanic) claim their voices are silenced, with allegations of GitHub censorship in Bitcoin’s case.
5. External Influence: Both are accused of serving external agendas—corporations for the NRA, blockchain projects or VCs for Bitcoin Core.
Differences:
1. Structure: The NRA is a centralized organization; Bitcoin is a decentralized protocol, with Core’s influence limited to development but impactful due to software dominance.
Conclusion:
Both cases involve organizational capture and mission drift, but Bitcoin’s decentralized nature allows more resistance than the NRA’s rigid structure. Bitcoin users can resist via forks (e.g., Bitcoin Knots) or older software versions.
The OP_RETURN limit removal and inscription tolerance of Bitcoin Core devs are pushing users to switch to Bitcoin Knots. If that trend continues Core devs will effectively destroy the outsized influence they’re attempting to abuse.
Perhaps we should take a page from the NRA playbook and start tracking Bitcoin Core devs with Gradecards. Ultimately node runners need to be able to hold them accountable or nodes become irrelevant.