One-Year Bitcoin Data Guardrails and the Politics of BIP 444 Activation
The November 02, 2025 episode of the Bitcoin Mechanic podcast features Mechanic outlining a temporary Bitcoin consensus change to curb arbitrary data on-chain.
Bitcoin governance
Zero-Knowledge Scaling and Bitcoin’s Governance Crossroads
The June 10, 2025 episode of the Isabel Foxen Duke Podcast features Eli Ben-Sasson explaining how ZK-STARKs offer massive scalability, remove trusted setup, and provide post-quantum security for future settlement layers.
Citrea Founders: Bitcoin Rollups, OP_RETURN Policy, and the Battle for L1 Block Space
The July 03, 2025 episode of the Isabel Foxen Duke podcast features Citrea co-founders Orkun and Ekrem explaining how they are building a Bitcoin rollup that keeps transaction data on L1.
Bitcoin Governance Risks in Content-Restrictive Soft Forks
The November 14, 2025 episode of What Bitcoin Did features Rob Hamilton explaining how the proposed “BIP444” user-activated soft fork attempts to restrict inscriptions by modifying Bitcoin’s consensus rules.
Arbitrary Data, Node Power, and Bitcoin Governance
The November 06, 2025 episode of Bitcoin Rails features Matt Hill explaining how relay policy can curb arbitrary data without destabilizing consensus. Exchanges and large businesses - the “economic nodes” - anchor fork outcomes while miners follow the chain with real transaction flow.
BIP-444 & OP_RETURN: Policy, Consensus, Legal Risk
The November 06, 2025 episode of The CBP (Canadian Bitcoiners) features Praveen Perera and HodlDee debating Core v30’s OP_RETURN policy and the BIP-444 response.
BIP-444, Neutral Blockspace, and Bitcoin Fork Risk
The November 06, 2025 episode of Supply Shock features a panel assessing BIP-444’s attempt to restrict certain data patterns through a time-limited Bitcoin soft fork.