Poisoning Bitcoin blocks

Jiaolian has discussed the topic of Bitcoin Core maintainers relaxing the data size limit for OP_RETURN in the next version several times.

Now, with the release of the Core v30.0rc1 candidate, someone has successfully demonstrated how to inject poisonous data into Bitcoin blocks via the OP_RETURN instruction of a BTC transfer transaction, once again warning the community.

Yes, it's a real "poison"—a computer virus.

DOS, Windows, Mac... You can verify this yourself: Open any Bitcoin block explorer, such as mempool.space. Enter the transaction number 85f1bf57386ff71f9e7cde9f6fc347065fa34e95389712fdc2b2fcb205273d8f. Search for this transaction at block height 913937. Click on it. This transaction doesn't contain any other content, just a demonstration of malware code carried in an OP_RETURN. Developer Peter Todd quoted @GrassFedBitcoin’s comment: “Here’s what’s going to happen: 1. 100KB of OP_RETURN data becomes standard 2. Someone inevitably broadcasts something that triggers malware detection 3. All Bitcoin cloud infrastructure is forced offline 4. Major outage - exchanges/mining pools go offline 5. Unable to remove problematic data through a hard fork, panic led to temporary workarounds.

6. Nearly completely centralized template mining pools were persuaded to run custom filters to screen future data (why not simply refuse to forward such data by maintaining the original data carrier size limit?)

7. The already difficult task of decentralizing mining has been further exacerbated

8. Running a node has become a high-risk activity, requiring additional software to maintain a clean memory pool

9. We have become a data storage network that only accepts approved data, rather than a monetary network that originally rejected any data.”

Perhaps the only thing to wait and see now is whether someone will take advantage of the low network fees to arbitrarily poison Bitcoin blocks, testing whether there is a chance of triggering a large-scale backlash from antivirus software, thereby causing large-scale node offline and network paralysis. Perhaps we should accept and even encourage various attempts at improvement, but we must still consider the costs in advance. Any data written to a block will persist as long as the block exists. Storing large amounts of junk or even harmful data will take up the storage space of every full node, and trial and error are irreversible, as historical data cannot be deleted. Isn't this price too high? Humans have a penchant for exploring the limits. They won't give up until they reach the Yellow River. They won't turn back until they hit the wall. If it weren't for gravity holding us firmly to the ground, everyone would ascend to heaven. Only the constraints of the laws of cosmic physics and the power of materialism can restrain humanity from overstepping its bounds. It's not that we don't want to, but we simply can't. Perhaps this is the biggest difference between physical constraints like PoW (Proof of Work) and other consensus mechanisms that rely on artificial rules!