BITCOIN SEASON 2: Filters Are Futile

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4.7 • 698 Ratings

🗓️ 6 September 2025

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We’re explaining why trying to filter Bitcoin is a fool’s errand. We dive into the “filter debate,” dissecting why some Bitcoin purists are demanding JPEG‑free blocks and why their efforts are futile, but harmful to the bitcoin network. Fee economics, block‑size limits, real‑world examples, and the clash between censorship resistance and arbitrary data. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com Notes: Block size capped ~4 MB (~250 GB/yr) $600 M+ spent on ordinal fees Knots rose from 5 % to 18 % 30/25 000 nodes filtered in early test 100 % filtered nodes still ineffective Fee market drives transaction inclusion Timestamps: 00:00 Start 02:54 Letter Analogy 05:40 Nations censoring transactions 07:16 Spam 16:16 JPEGS 18:03 Block size 19:12 Death to JPEGS 20:32 IBD (initial block download) 26:11 But we are filtering X transactions! 27:24 First principles 34:36 Oh Luke... so disappointing.. - 👋Bitcoin Season 2 is produced Blockspace Media, Bitcoin’s first B2B publication in Bitcoin. Follow us on Twitter and check out our newsletter for the best information in Bitcoin mining, Ordinals and tech! Enjoy the show? Check out our website and newsletter by clicking here. Questions or want to sponsor? hello@blockspace.media

Transcript

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0:00.0	there's a large group of Bitcoiners who have a different set of first principles.
0:03.8	And that one of those first principles appears to be that a monetary network like Bitcoin
0:08.0	should not have JPEGs on it.
0:09.7	When Bitcoin started having JPEGs on it, it violated one of their first principles.
0:13.4	So they had to work backwards to create a new line of rational thinking instead of reconsider
0:19.7	that their first principle was wrong. I'll just say
0:22.8	I'm not a neutral party
0:24.9	in this. I'm very opinionated
0:26.6	and I've been trying to cover it kind of
0:28.7	neutrally, but I broke, Colin.
0:31.0	I finally broke. A man let
0:32.8	loose. Yeah, you can only
0:34.6	say so many crazy things
0:37.0	or I too take the gloves off.
0:45.8	Okay, Colin, Satoshi himself has chimed in on the filter debate.
0:53.2	Adam Back is in the ring. There's shouting in the streets.
0:57.0	People are angry about it. People want JPEGs off of their nodes. They want them off of their
1:05.2	blockchain, not in my backyard. No inscriptions in my backyard. But it's an uphill battle.
1:11.9	It doesn't really do anything.
1:13.4	It's a Sisyphian struggle to try to make sure that things stay off of the blockchain
1:18.7	when in reality they won't.
1:20.3	So we'll be getting into this episode.
	...

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