According to @adam3us, Bitcoin’s OP_RETURN is not an endorsement of storing data on the blockchain and this point is reflected in Bitcoin Core release notes, addressing claims about protocol “intent.” source: Adam Back on X (Oct 19, 2025). OP_RETURN is a provably unspendable output meant for small metadata and is relayed under node standardness policy rather than designed for bulk data storage, which limits its role in non-transactional data use cases. source: Bitcoin Core policy documentation; Bitcoin Wiki OP_RETURN. Most Ordinals inscriptions embed data in Taproot witness, not OP_RETURN, so this clarification targets intent arguments but not the main mechanism behind inscription-driven blockspace demand. source: Ordinals protocol documentation; Bitcoin Optech Newsletter. For trading, monitor BTC average fees, mempool congestion, and miner fee share because relay policy and social norms around non-payment data influence blockspace competition and transaction costs. source: Bitcoin Core policy documentation on standard transactions; mempool.space fee market dashboard.