Ocean Bitcoin Pool’s Filtering Strategy Sparks Industry Controversy

Ocean, a Bitcoin mining pool that recently secured $6.2 million in seed funding led by former X CEO Jack Dorsey, has implemented a filtering system for Ordinal-related transactions.

Giacomo Zucco, a participant in the pool’s relaunch conference, confirmed that Ocean is utilizing Knots, a Bitcoin node created by Luke Dashjr, to exclude specific Ordinal transactions and combat what Zucco referred to as “spam.” Zucco mentioned that the pool employs various filtering policies, with the exclusion of undesirable content being a priority. Ocean’s Bitcoin Mechanic affirmed the commitment to continue filtering out inscription spam and suggested miners explore alternative pools if they find the practice objectionable.

This decision sparked debate within the cryptocurrency community, with some supporting it as a necessary measure against spam, while others criticized it as censorship. The controversy echoes recent incidents in the industry, such as F2Pool’s admission to excluding transactions from OFAC-flagged addresses, which faced community backlash.

Clever Robot News Desk 4^th December 2023