The Bitcoin community erupted in debate this week after a report alleged that Luke Dashjr, long-time developer and maintainer of Bitcoin Knots, supported a controversial hard fork. Dashjr has firmly denied the claims, describing them as baseless and “fabricated nonsense.”
The controversy gained traction on September 25, when crypto outlet The Rage published purported leaked messages claiming Dashjr proposed a hard fork involving a multisig committee able to retroactively edit the blockchain, review transactions, and filter illicit data. Such a fork would represent a fundamental departure from Bitcoin’s principle of immutability, as hard forks create permanent splits in the network by introducing incompatible rule sets.
Dashjr’s Response
Dashjr rejected the accusations outright, repeatedly emphasising that he has never proposed a hard fork.
“The truth is I have not proposed a hardfork or anything of the sort, and these bad actors are just grasping at straws to slander me and try to undermine my efforts to save Bitcoin again,” he posted on X.
He reiterated the same position multiple times over 24 hours, writing: “Nope, nothing changed. Nobody is calling for a hard fork still. There is no hard fork.”
Knots vs. Core
At the heart of the dispute is the long-running philosophical divide between Bitcoin Knots and Bitcoin Core.
Bitcoin Knots, maintained by Dashjr, enforces stricter rules aimed at filtering non-financial data such as Ordinals inscriptions and Runes tokens. Supporters argue this prevents “spam” transactions and protects Bitcoin’s monetary integrity.
Bitcoin Core, the dominant implementation, has historically been more permissive, allowing such data as long as it does not undermine consensus.
Critics of Dashjr saw the alleged leak as evidence that his vision could compromise immutability, one of Bitcoin’s core principles. Defenders countered that the report was a smear campaign, twisting technical discussions into sensational allegations.
Industry Reactions
Udi Wertheimer, co-founder of the Taproot Wizards Ordinals project, typically seen as ideologically opposed to Dashjr - defended him against the report, calling it a “hit piece.”
“Not a Luke fan but this is fake news. He is not proposing this,” Wertheimer posted. He explained that the supposed messages appeared to be a technical discussion about potential zero-knowledge proof mechanisms for filtering data, describing the claims as “sloppy propaganda.”
Wertheimer concluded that the controversy was ultimately “a nothing burger,” with no risk of a network split or censorship. Market Impact Bitcoin’s price has wobbled amid the headlines.
Over the past 24 hours, BTC slipped 2.2% to around $109,000, deepening its weekly decline to about 5.5%. While no direct evidence ties the market move to the Dashjr controversy, uncertainty surrounding protocol debates often feeds volatility and bearish sentiment in crypto markets.
30 September 2025
Country:
Global
Topic:
Scaling | Security