Bitcoin official website maintainer Cøbra: Knots may replace Core as the reference software for Bitcoin network nodes

Cøbra, the long-term maintainer of the Bitcoin official website Bitcoin.org, stated that Knots may replace Core as the reference software for running Bitcoin network nodes. Earlier this year, most senior developers of Bitcoin Core decided to make major modifications to OP_RETURN (a Bitcoin script tool widely used to store arbitrary data on the blockchain) in October 2025.

If nodes upgrade the software from the current Bitcoin Core 29 version to version 30, the new default settings in Core software will accept and forward a large amount of data unrelated to Bitcoin (BTC) transfers on the chain. In the view of Core developers, raising the data carrier limit of OP_RETURN can modernize the role of data storage in the memory pool and align with the consensus rules of the Bitcoin ledger.

On the other hand, in Knots (a fork of Core software with different opinions), nodes should by default filter out most arbitrary data to prevent this behavior from occupying precious block space in Bitcoin.