According to Patrick McCorry, the current Bitcoin OP_RETURN governance dispute has turned toxic despite not involving a consensus rule change, highlighting that the issue is about policy-level standardness rather than base consensus. Source: Patrick McCorry on X. In Bitcoin Core, OP_RETURN handling is governed by standardness policy and not consensus, allowing nodes and miners to independently choose relay and inclusion behavior, which can alter transaction propagation and block composition. Source: Bitcoin Core documentation. Relay and inclusion policies directly affect mempool backlog and fee rates that traders monitor when assessing BTC liquidity and intraday volatility, making mempool size, feerate bands, and miner inclusion patterns key signals around this debate. Source: Bitcoin Core documentation on mempool and fee estimation.

According to @BitMEXResearch, a Bitcoin Knots proponent said Knots lets users actually steer your node like driving a car, and BitMEX Research added that while the comparison is imperfect and the situation differs from 2017, it reminds them of Bitcoin Unlimited advocates’ analogies from that period, drawing attention to a governance narrative around node software choice that traders can monitor for BTC headline sensitivity. Source: BitMEX Research, Twitter, Aug 17, 2025. The post emphasizes analogy and context rather than any protocol change announcement, providing a qualitative signal on client-choice discourse relevant to BTC market monitoring. Source: BitMEX Research, Twitter, Aug 17, 2025.