Adam Back Joins the Debate on Bitcoin's Future

Adam Back, the CEO of Blockstream and a renowned Bitcoin pioneer, has entered the heated discussion over what he terms "JPEG spam" on the Bitcoin blockchain. In a recent thread on X (formerly Twitter), Back argued that this trend undermines Bitcoin's fundamental purpose as a decentralized monetary system.

The Rise of Image Inscriptions

More than 105 million images have been inscribed on Bitcoin, marking a 20% increase since May. These inscriptions, facilitated by the Taproot upgrade and the Ordinals protocol, have generated fees totaling approximately 7,000 BTC (worth around $700 million at $100,000 per BTC).

Bitcoin's Core Mission at Stake

Back emphasizes that Bitcoin should be viewed as "owned by humanity," with developers acting as stewards who require user consensus for significant changes. He draws parallels to the block-size wars of 2015–2017, where economic pressure from users prevented miners from altering the protocol.

Proponents of Ordinals and similar innovations argue that as long as users pay for block space, it's a valid use of the permissionless network. They claim it strengthens miner incentives, especially as block rewards halve every four years.

However, Back counters that the profit for miners from JPEG inscriptions is minimal—estimated at just 0.1% of mining profits. He warns that this is outweighed by potential reputational damage, higher transaction costs for regular users, and reduced accessibility for Bitcoin's peer-to-peer money function.

A Divided Community

This issue has split the Bitcoin community. Supporters see inscriptions as legitimate economic activity, while critics like Back view them as wasteful and detrimental to Bitcoin's value proposition.

Back suggests possible solutions, such as outreach to miners to discourage processing these transactions and wallet-level changes to redirect fees. He cautions about centralization risks but believes small economic nudges could make mining JPEGs unprofitable.