Bitcoin & Lightning Guadalajara Statement in Support of BIP-110

Bitcoin & Lightning Guadalajara is a community of developers, businesses, educators, and noderunners whose primary mission is to promote Bitcoin as a permissionless, private, and secure payment system that enables people to transact without relying on third parties.

We support BIP-110 and run it on our own nodes because we believe Bitcoin is money, and its rules should prioritize that purpose by keeping it accessible, practical, and useful for everyone who chooses to build on it. Bitcoin's success depends on ordinary people, merchants, and businesses being able to operate their own nodes and accept payments without relying on trusted intermediaries.

For years, Bitcoin's culture and development direction recognized that arbitrary data storage on Bitcoin creates costs and burdens that are ultimately borne by noderunners and users. More recently, however, we have watched the dominant Bitcoin client move away from actively resisting these abuses. While many in the community raised concerns about rising costs, network congestion, merchant onboarding challenges, and the growing burden placed on noderunners, those concerns were largely dismissed rather than addressed.

We believe actions matter more than words. If Bitcoin is to remain the world's most decentralized and censorship-resistant monetary network, its incentives must prioritize payments and economic activity over data storage.

BIP-110 sends an important message: Bitcoin is money. We reject the notion that Bitcoin should evolve into a general-purpose data storage system. By restoring clear boundaries around Bitcoin's intended use, BIP-110 helps keep node operation accessible, strengthens decentralization, lowers barriers for merchants and businesses, and protects Bitcoin's long-term mission as a peer-to-peer electronic cash system.

Until the concerns of noderunners, merchants, and grassroots communities are taken seriously, we believe supporting and running BIP-110 is the most responsible path forward.

We encourage other Bitcoin communities, businesses, and builders to review and run BIP-110 on their nodes, discuss its merits, and make their voices heard.

Bitcoin & Lightning Guadalajara