If you’re new to Bitcoin or the only sats you hold are in an ETF or a centralized exchange, you’d be forgiven for not knowing about Core vs Knots and the entire OP_RETURN saga. But if you’ve weathered a few cycles, HODLed like a champ, and are still scratching your head, it’s time you opened your eyes: the 2025 ‘spam wars’ bear all the hallmarks of the block size wars almost a decade before it, and it’s getting ugly fast.

Like the block size wars, the spam wars involve a fundamental ideological clash over the core principles of Bitcoin, particularly scaling versus decentralization, and whether to prioritize network capacity and ease of use over a simpler, permissionless protocol.

Supporters of Bitcoin Core, the long-standing reference implementation, and Bitcoin Knots, an increasingly popular alternative maintained by developer and CTO at Ocean Mining, Luke Dashjr, are at loggerheads, and the gloves are coming off.

Core vs Knots, what’s happening?

At the center of the controversy is Bitcoin Core’s planned removal of the 80-byte limit on OP_RETURN data in its upcoming v30 release, scheduled for October 2025.

This technical change, intended to boost flexibility and unlock new use cases for embedding data on Bitcoin’s blockchain, is fiercely opposed by Knots backers, who argue it transforms the main network into a dumping ground for non-financial transactions and spam.

Core developers, like Peter Todd and Jameson Lopp, claim the change supports broader innovation, like digital art and document verification. They support everyone’s right to use the Bitcoin blockchain as they feel and not have governance or morals thrust upon them. Lopp posted:

“I truly detest politics. Thus I have little patience for those who try to impose traditional governance models onto Bitcoin. If you don’t like anarchy, you’re free to leave.”

Knots supporters like Samson Mow and Luke Dashjr warn that the upgrade risks bloating the blockchain, undermining Bitcoin’s neutrality, and weakening its monetary purpose. Dashjr warned:

“What do you think will happen now that Core is opening the floodgates to spam, and essentially endorsing it? (No matter what they say, that’s how spammers will take it.) Any chance we have of making Bitcoin a success will go out the window – unless the community takes a clear stand and rejects the change.”

Network philosophy and neutrality

The Core vs Knots dispute highlights deeper ideological rifts about Bitcoin’s function. Should Bitcoin remain a strictly monetary settlement layer, or can it evolve to serve more experimental on-chain data needs, so long as fees are paid?

Core’s apparent policy shift is seen by some as relinquishing its gatekeeping role, allowing any use case if the user pays. Knots supporters, however, emphasize control with features like anti-spam protection and argue that the removal of data caps could centralize power and threaten scalability.

Miners and relay service operators play a pivotal role, determining which transaction types end up in blocks and how the network responds to diverging software preferences. Node operators, too, have increasingly migrated to Knots: its share of the network doubled over six weeks in May-June 2025, and has now reached ~17% of all Bitcoin nodes, a sign of growing protest and possible fragmentation ahead of Core’s v30 launch.

Where is it heading?

While there is no hard fork yet, mounting tensions and the possibility of blocks or transactions being rejected by different software clients evoke memories of the 2017 SegWit split.

The Core vs Knots scenario also raises another fundamental issue surrounding the true decentralization of the Bitcoin network: how many of Bitcoin’s supporters run their own node? Dashjr posted:

“Bitcoin’s greatest threat to survival is that far too few people are using a full node. For Bitcoin to work, at least 85% of economic activity needs to do so.”

With technical, political, and philosophical stakes at play, October’s Core v30 release may define the next era of Bitcoin development and decentralized consensus, determining whether diversity in software serves Bitcoin’s resilience or sparks an outright chain split.

Mentioned in this article

Key takeaways:

• Bitcoin needs a weekly close above $114,000 to avoid a deeper correction and reaffirm bullish strength.

• Failure to hold $112,000 and a bear flag breakdown could trigger drop to $103,700.

Bitcoin (BTC) may avoid an “ugly” correction to lower levels if BTC/USD ends the week above $114,000, according to traders and analysts.

Why Bitcoin price must reclaim $114,000

Bitcoin price is heading for its third consecutive week of losses, 11% below its Aug. 14 all-time high of $124,500, per data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView. 

Bitcoin dropped below the crucial level of $114,000, a level that has supported the price over the previous six weeks, as shown in the chart below. 

Related: Bitcoin megaphone pattern targets $260K as BTC price screams ‘oversold’

BTC price must flip this level into support to confirm the strength of the uptrend, according to trader and YouTuber Sam Price.

“Bitcoin bulls are defending $109K support nicely,” Price said in an X post on Thursday, adding:

“A weekly close above $114K would be big.”

The long wick below $109,000 signalled “solid buy pressure,“ suggesting that bulls are aggressively defending this support level.

Analyst Rekt Capital said that it was important for Bitcoin to reclaim $114,000 as support to avoid a prolonged correction period.

“Turning $114K into new resistance would prolong the pullback period,” the analyst said in a Thursday X post, adding:

 “This has been a cycle of downside deviation, so all it comes down to is Bitcoin Weekly Closing above $114K for bullish bias.”

Bitcoin bears want to pull price down to $103,000

As Cointelegraph reported, Bitcoin’s price outlook hinged on holding above $112,000. 

Similar sentiments were shared by MN Capital founder Michael van de Poppe, who spotted Bitcoin trading at $112,800 on Thursday and said that the support at $112,000 was “crucial” for BTC price. 

“If Bitcoin can’t hold above $112K, we’ll probably face a very ugly correction across the board.”

Bitcoin had dipped below this support as of Friday, validating a bear flag on the four-hour chart, as shown.

A bear flag suggests a continuation of the bearish momentum, with sellers taking control.

Note that the price was rejected from the upper boundary of the flag, which is around $114,000, and has dropped below the lower boundary, which coincides with $112,000.

The measured move target from the pattern suggests a potential decline toward $103,700, representing a 6% drop from the current level.

The relative strength index remains below the mid-line, confirming the bearish momentum.

Liquidation data shows bid clusters all the way down to $104,000, suggesting that BTC price is likely to sink deeper to grab liquidity around this level. 

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

]]> https://earlybirdsinvest.com/bitcoin-traders-btc-must-close-week-above-114k-to-avoid-ugly-correction/feed/ 0 55711 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/googles-ugly-pixel-9a-design-is-exactly-what-you-wanted/ https://earlybirdsinvest.com/googles-ugly-pixel-9a-design-is-exactly-what-you-wanted/#respond Tue, 15 Apr 2025 16:49:27 +0000 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/googles-ugly-pixel-9a-design-is-exactly-what-you-wanted/

Google Pixel devices are one of the few smartphones that you can readily identify from far away. The camera housing, whether a full bar on older Pixels or the newer oval shape, is immediately recognizable. That’s why when Google ditched the iconic camera bar on the most recent Pixel 9a, it made waves. Some people love the move, but many more seem to hate it.

The company originally gave Android Central a few reasons it decided to make the Pixel 9a nearly flat at the camera bar’s expense. Improved thermal performance, a larger batter capacity, and the need to give the Pixel 9a its own personality were at the top of the list.

Now, Google has more to say on the change in a blog post.

“We wanted to have a physical interpretation that would match the personality of the device,” said Soniya Jobanputra, a Pixel product manager.

Contrary to what you might think after seeing the Pixel 9a online or in photos, the camera bump isn’t flush — it’s referred to as a “dome” by the company. The design is said to mimic a water droplet, like the Pixel Watch 3 design. However, industrial designer Yomi Matsuoka notes that “if you put a case on it, there’s no bump at all.”

It turns out that the Pixel 9a wasn’t guaranteed to ditch the camera bar, or the more recent camera oval. It tested a few of them in experiments that “focused on [the camera bump’s] overall form and appearance as well as certain shapes’ ability to withstand drops and impact.” Eventually, the company settled on the Pixel 9a camera bump design we have today.

The reception to the Pixel 9a’s design is odd

People aren’t thrilled with the Pixel 9a’s design, according to multiple social media posts. One user described their take on the phone, saying it “kinda looks like a colored brick with a weird camera shape.” As someone with a Pixel 9a review unit, I’m qualified to say that take isn’t exactly wrong. What’s unusual about the public reception to the Pixel 9a’s design is that Google seemingly gave customers exactly what they asked for.

The idea of removing the camera bump in favor of adding more battery has been around seemingly since the dawn of smartphones. More specifically, since phones universally accepted the idea of non-removal batteries and large camera bumps protruding from their rear casing. If you don’t believe me, one Redditor pondered whether phones should just get thicker instead of sporting camera bumps six years ago on the Google Pixel subreddit.

More battery instead of camera bump? from r/pixel_phones

This specific thread isn’t an outlier, either. Multiple times per year, the concept of making phones thicker to incorporate more features and longer battery life trends on social media.

This time, Google actually listened. It made the Pixel 9a thicker, added more battery life, and swapped out camera sensors. The phone measures 8.9mm, has a giant 5,100mAh battery, and has an almost-flat design. On paper, the Pixel 9a — with multi-day battery life and a utilitarian design — should’ve impressed enthusiasts who have been clamoring for this kind of thing for the better part of a decade.

The takeaway here isn’t that the Pixel 9a design is perfect, because it’s absolutely not perfect. It’s boring and lacks the character that made Pixel phones popular in the first place. However, the design satisfies a long list of requests by smartphone buyers made for years, and that proves consumers don’t always know that they want.