Bitcoin Core Has Been Compromised | Matthew Kratter | BIS #203

— Matthew Krader's background: Academic (PhD in English literature from UC Berkeley under philosopher René Girard), then macro trader at Peter Thiel's Clarium Capital, now runs Bitcoin University daily video channel with nearly 150,000 subscribers.

— Bitcoin spam problem and OP_RETURN: Uncapped OP_RETURN data carrier size (raised from 80 bytes to 100,000 bytes by Bitcoin Core) enables massive blockchain bloat. Non-monetary transactions now consume ~40–45% of block space, competing with actual monetary use and harming Bitcoin's core function as money.

— Mining pool centralization crisis: Five to six mining pools control ~90% of hash rate (Foundry ~30%). This enables spam to reach blocks easily and gives regulators potential censorship levers. Decentralized mining via hash rental and Datum Gateway is proposed solution.

— BIP-110 (temporary soft fork): Closes spam vectors (inscriptions, BRC-20s, large OP_RETURNs) and expires automatically ~one year after activation (~September 2025). Acts as "pause button" and cultural signal that spam is unwelcome, returning to pre-2023 rules.

— Bitcoin Core capture and culture decay: Gloria Zhao and others recruited into Bitcoin Core lack organic Bitcoiner philosophy; hostile stance toward spam despite community opposition. Bitcoin culture—upstream from consensus—is being corrupted by fiat-influenced VCs and spam companies.

— Plebs' grassroots response: Bitcoin Knots adoption grew from ~1% to 20–25% of network. Plebs mining with rented hash ($35/petahash/day, earning back 95¢ per dollar spent) and building own block templates via Datum Gateway + Ocean Mining is decentralizing mining and reclaiming sovereignty.

— Run a node and mine with it: Use bitcoinuniversity.com/mining tutorial. Rent hash rate at ~$35/petahash/day, build your own block templates via Datum Gateway, and pool mine through Ocean. This costs ~$10/day net and recentralizes mining power.

— Signal for BIP-110: Vote for the temporary soft fork to enforce cultural standards against spam. It's reversible, closes attack surfaces spammers exploit, and buys time to fix mining centralization. Check your node software (Bitcoin Knots preferred over Core) and enable signaling.

— Understand that culture precedes consensus: Bitcoin's rules (consensus) flow from Bitcoiner culture. Woke capture of Bitcoin Core, permissiveness on bloat, and alignment with spam VCs reflect upstream cultural rot. Restoring anti-spam culture and adversarial mindset toward authority is the real lever.