Adam Back Opposes Censorship of “Inscriptions” and BIP-110 Proposal

In December 2025, a new proposal known as BIP-110 was introduced with the aim of addressing spam transactions—referred to as “inscriptions”—within the Bitcoin network. However, it quickly drew significant criticism from key figures in the crypto community. Notably, Adam Back, CEO of Blockstream, strongly opposed this initiative.
Back expressed his concerns during discussions on social media platform X. He argued that decentralized systems by nature resist censorship and that implementing BIP-110 would not only be reckless but could also harm regular users by disrupting multiple functionalities.

The Controversy Surrounding BIP-110

BIP-110 suggests applying specific limits to transaction data sizes for one year as a way to combat rising transaction fees caused by what are perceived as “garbage transactions.” Specifically, it proposes restricting the size of transaction outputs to 34 bytes and OP_RETURN fields to 83 bytes while capping inscriptions at 256 bytes.
While proponents believe these measures will eliminate unnecessary transactions and reduce processing times and fees, critics like Back consider them a dangerous precedent for altering blockchain protocols without broad consensus. He warns against introducing changes that may amount to governance overhauls within Bitcoin’s decentralized structure.

Bitcoin Core Developers’ Stance

The team behind Bitcoin Core—which ensures the network’s functionality—has largely opposed non-financial transactions such as inscriptions. In May 2023, they even suggested banning tokens based on the BRC-20 standard altogether. Critics argue these tokens lead to fee increases and divert from Bitcoin’s intended use case.
Among those in favor of such restrictions is Luke Dashjr, one of BIP-110’s authors. He believes that an abundance of non-financial tokens strains network resources.

Supporters of Inscriptions Highlight Innovation

Despite criticisms, some industry experts see value in inscriptions for fostering innovation within the Bitcoin ecosystem. Franklin Templeton analysts have noted that these types of transactions spur new developments across the network.
Ultimately, while BIP-110 aims at improving efficiency by targeting spam transactions via technical limitations—it also raises fundamental questions about how changes should be made within decentralized networks like Bitcoin without undermining their core principles or alienating everyday users accustomed to existing functionalities.