Bitcoin Ordinals advocate Leonidas has proposed a new open-source Bitcoin client named Bitcoin $DOG Mode, aiming to bypass policy restrictions enforced by Bitcoin Core and Bitcoin Knots that affect Ordinals and Runes transactions. The client would raise the maximum individual transaction size to 3.9 million weight units (WU) from the current 400,000 WU, and lower the dust threshold to 1 satoshi, down from 294–546 satoshis. This would allow much larger inscriptions and easier creation of very small outputs, potentially enabling transactions that fill an entire block.
Leonidas argues that these limits are not consensus rules but policy choices by the dominant clients, and hopes that widespread adoption of the alternative client could pressure Bitcoin Core to reconsider. The proposal comes months after Leonidas shut down Ord.io, one of the first Ordinals explorers that served over 1 million users, citing funding and sustainability issues. The team also halted the associated consumer app Zap.
Ordinals and Runes have faced criticism for consuming block space, but supporters view them as Bitcoin-native tokens. Activity has cooled since the peak demand in 2023–2024, though Runes initially generated $135 million in fees post-halving. The new client could reignite interest if adopted by miners and nodes.
