According to @BitMEXResearch, its new report on The Growth of Bitcoin Merge Mining examines the prevalence of multiple OP_RETURN outputs inside BTC coinbase transactions and frames the debate over whether such data should be considered spam or legitimate merge‑mining metadata (BitMEX Research). According to the Bitcoin Developer Guide, coinbase transactions are constructed by miners, bypass mempool relay policies, and may include arbitrary data, while OP_RETURN outputs are provably unspendable and still count toward block weight (Bitcoin Developer Guide). According to BIP141, Bitcoin’s block weight is capped at 4,000,000 weight units, so additional coinbase data reduces available capacity for fee‑paying transactions and can tighten the BTC fee market during congestion (BIP141). According to Bitcoin Core policy documentation, standardness rules govern relay but not consensus validity, meaning miners can include non‑standard elements in the coinbase without violating consensus rules (Bitcoin Core policy). According to the Bitcoin Wiki’s merged mining overview, merge mining lets miners earn auxiliary‑chain rewards at little additional cost, which can influence the trade‑off between including coinbase data commitments and prioritizing fee‑paying transactions—an incentive dynamic traders should monitor when assessing near‑term BTC on‑chain fee pressure (Bitcoin Wiki: Merged Mining).

According to BitMEX Research, when Bitcoin nodes materially disagree on transaction relay rules, the less stringent and incentive-compatible relay policy tends to prevail across the network. Source: BitMEX Research on X, Sep 18, 2025, x.com/BitMEXResearch/status/1968746527414780015 For traders, the practical takeaway is that transaction propagation and inclusion likelihoods will align with policies that relay a broader set of transactions when such policies match miner incentives, shaping which transactions reach miners during policy disputes. Source: BitMEX Research on X, Sep 18, 2025, x.com/BitMEXResearch/status/1968746527414780015; Bitcoin Core release notes and policy documentation on transaction relay and mempool behavior, bitcoincore.org/en/releases/ and github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin

According to BitMEX Research, node operation should be unattended and robust, with full nodes automatically following the correct chain and mining nodes prioritizing the most profitable blocks for higher mining profitability; source: BitMEX Research on X, Aug 17, 2025. According to BitMEX Research, the post rejects the driving a car analogy for node management and emphasizes automation over manual intervention in consensus following and block template selection; source: BitMEX Research on X, Aug 17, 2025. According to BitMEX Research, the focus on reliability and profitability in node behavior highlights correct chain tracking and profit-driven mining choices that are directly relevant to trading decisions about network performance and miner incentives; source: BitMEX Research on X, Aug 17, 2025.

According to BitMEX Research, the recent controversy over OP_Return limits highlights the growing issue of out-of-band payments to Bitcoin miners, as detailed in their 2023 article (BitMEX Research, 2023). The research emphasizes the necessity for Bitcoin Core to address out-of-band fees to remain competitive and ensure on-chain miner incentives are not undermined. Traders should monitor potential protocol changes and miner behavior, as shifts in fee mechanisms could impact transaction costs and block composition, affecting Bitcoin market dynamics and short-term trade strategies (BitMEX Research, 2025).