ChainTech Africa

May 18, 2025 — Saifedean Ammous, author of the influential book The Bitcoin Standard, has thrown his support behind a bold new initiative aimed at preserving Bitcoin’s scalability and economic integrity: funding a developer who is working on mechanisms to make spam attacks on the Bitcoin network significantly more expensive.

As the Bitcoin network continues to experience rising congestion from a wave of inscription-based protocols, Ordinals, and other low-value transactions, Ammous and a growing number of Bitcoin purists argue that action is needed to ensure the network prioritizes high-value, economically meaningful activity.

The Problem: Spam and Blockspace Abuse

Over the past year, Bitcoin has been repeatedly hit by what many consider “transactional spam” — floods of minuscule, low-fee transactions that bloat blocks and slow confirmation times. While some defend this activity as a legitimate use of Bitcoin’s open protocol, critics say it threatens the long-term sustainability of the network by pricing out everyday users and clogging up valuable block space.

Developers and core contributors have debated the best path forward, with some advocating for free market solutions and others calling for technical measures that disincentivize frivolous network usage.

Ammous: “Preserve Bitcoin’s Purpose”

Ammous, known for his economic maximalist view of Bitcoin, argues that spam transactions dilute the value proposition of Bitcoin as sound money. In a recent post on X (formerly Twitter), he wrote:

“Bitcoin is not a playground for digital graffiti. It is the foundation for a global monetary system. The integrity of that system requires prioritizing valuable, permissionless economic activity — not subsidizing nonsense.”

To that end, he has announced financial support for a developer working on fee-market-focused improvements to Bitcoin’s transaction validation logic. While details are still emerging, the initiative aims to increase the effective cost of spamming the network without altering Bitcoin’s core consensus or permissionless nature.

Technical Approach: Targeting Spam Without Centralization

The developer, whose identity remains anonymous for now due to ongoing coordination with open-source maintainers, is reportedly working on a solution that introduces fee-based filters or dynamic prioritization algorithms. These would allow nodes and miners to deprioritize spam-like activity — such as dust outputs or recurring inscriptions — unless the sender pays a significantly higher fee.

Importantly, the approach does not involve blacklists or manual censorship, which would violate Bitcoin’s principles of neutrality and decentralization. Instead, it relies on economic disincentives and optional software configurations that could be adopted voluntarily by node operators and miners.

Community Reaction

Reactions within the Bitcoin community have been mixed. Supporters praise the initiative as a necessary step toward scaling responsibly, while critics warn of a slippery slope toward centralized decision-making and anti-competitive behavior.

“I get the concern with spam,” said independent developer Jameson Lopp. “But the beauty of Bitcoin is that it’s open to all use cases. If we start dictating ‘valuable’ from ‘non-valuable’ activity, we’re walking a dangerous line.”

However, many agree that the current status quo — with blocks routinely filled with low-priority inscriptions — is not sustainable. With Bitcoin’s next halving expected to reduce miner rewards even further, ensuring a healthy, high-fee transaction market is becoming more urgent.

The Bigger Picture

Ammous’ involvement signals a potential shift among Bitcoin’s intellectual and economic elite toward proactive network optimization. As the conversation around Bitcoin’s scalability and utility continues to evolve, so too does the willingness of key figures to fund development that aligns with their vision of what Bitcoin should be.

Whether this initiative will lead to meaningful adoption or provoke backlash remains to be seen. But one thing is certain: the debate over what constitutes legitimate use of Bitcoin is far from over — and Ammous is putting his money where his philosophy is.