Economist and The Bitcoin Standard author Saifedean Ammous has entered the fray over inscription spam on the Bitcoin network, proposing financial support for developers working to limit non-monetary blockchain use.
His comments come as the Bitcoin community debates the growing strain of embedded data like JPEGs on the network’s efficiency. Meanwhile, Bitcoin is seeing renewed price optimism, with analysts such as Scott Melker forecasting a potential run to $250,000 by year-end.
Saifedean Ammous Supports Fight Against Bitcoin Spam Inscriptions as Developer Tensions Escalate
A heated debate has reignited in the Bitcoin development community over the persistent rise of spam inscriptions on the network — with prominent economist and Bitcoin advocate Saifedean Ammous now offering to contribute financially to efforts aimed at curbing the controversial practice.
The dispute centers on a proposal that would enable node operators to more easily filter non-financial inscriptions, often used to embed JPEGs and other arbitrary data, which critics argue bloat the Bitcoin blockchain and distort its purpose as a monetary protocol.
The conversation began when pseudonymous developer GrassFedBitcoin called attention to pull request #28408 in Bitcoin Core’s GitHub repository. The pull request, if merged, would allow node operators to reject certain inscription formats by default, giving users more granular control over what their node relays.
GrassFedBitcoin didn’t mince words in his assessment of the problem: “No one running a node wants to relay inscriptions,” he wrote on X.
He criticized the historical decisions that increased Bitcoin’s OP_RETURN limits, which are now being exploited to store arbitrary files such as NFTs, and argued that the feature was abused under “false assumptions” that it would not lead to significant blockchain bloat.
For inscription critics like GrassFedBitcoin, the trend undermines Bitcoin’s primary value proposition — a global, decentralized settlement layer optimized for sound money, not digital artwork.
Ammous: “It’s Worth Trying to Bankrupt the Spammers”
Enter Saifedean Ammous, a vocal advocate for Bitcoin minimalism and the author of the widely cited book The Bitcoin Standard. Ammous publicly endorsed the initiative, declaring that he would “throw in a few sats” to fund a full-time developer whose job is to make inscription-based spam “more difficult and expensive.”
Saifedean Ammous shares his take (Source: X)
Drawing a parallel to email spam, Ammous stated, “It’s not easy, but it’s worth trying to help bankrupt the spammers faster.”
Crucially, he refuted the notion that inscription filtering amounts to censorship. “Fighting spam is not censorship,” he emphasized, noting that full node operators already choose to reject invalid or non-standard transactions as a matter of policy.
His controversial stance even went so far as to advocate hiring external developers to overwhelm spam-producing systems and “deprecate” the work of those enabling or building around non-monetary use cases for Bitcoin.
Not all thought leaders are aligned on the path forward. Adam Back, CEO of Bitcoin infrastructure company Blockstream, offered a stark rebuttal. Back warned that any attempt to filter inscriptions will result in a perpetual “arms race,” as spam developers find ever-more creative ways to embed their data within valid Bitcoin transactions.
His concerns reflect a core tension in Bitcoin's architecture: the desire for permissionless innovation versus the imperative to preserve the network’s long-term efficiency and integrity.
Community Sentiment: Unwilling QA Engineers?
The escalating rhetoric sparked a wave of community reactions. One participant in the discussion likened the developers behind inscription tools to “unwilling QA engineers” — essentially helping Bitcoin Core harden its software by discovering new attack vectors.
Another user quipped that developers working on spam inscription projects should be treated as bug reporters, with every trick they employ being swiftly “unstandardized.”
The implication is clear: rather than engaging in a moral or philosophical debate over whether JPEGs belong on Bitcoin, some believe the answer lies in relentless code hardening, neutralizing spam through technical superiority rather than ideological consensus.
The urgency of the debate is underscored by hard data. According to a Feb. 4 report from Mempool Research, widespread adoption of inscriptions could drive Bitcoin’s average block size as high as 4 megabytes per block, which is more than double the current average of 1.5 MB.
In practical terms, this increased load could lead to longer confirmation times and higher fees, especially during peak network activity.
This block size inflation also revives concerns from the “block size wars” of the past decade, when the community famously split over whether to increase Bitcoin’s block size to accommodate more data, resulting in the creation of Bitcoin Cash (BCH).
Inscriptions, Ordinals, and Bitcoin’s Future
The broader issue ties directly into the Bitcoin Ordinals phenomenon, a practice popularized in 2023 that allows users to inscribe data directly onto individual satoshis. While many celebrate Ordinals for enabling NFT-like capabilities on Bitcoin, others see them as a parasitic use case that undermines scalability and clutters the blockchain with non-essential data.
Ammous and his supporters argue that allowing Bitcoin’s blockspace to be consumed by inscriptions threatens its role as the world’s most robust and secure monetary protocol. In their view, every byte used for non-financial data increases the cost of running a full node and puts undue pressure on users who want to use Bitcoin purely for economic exchange.
For now, pull request #28408 remains unmerged, and the future of inscription filtering hangs in the balance. But with prominent voices like Ammous escalating the pressure and likening the problem to an existential threat akin to email spam, the issue seems unlikely to fade quietly.
Bitcoin to $250K in 2025? Analyst Scott Melker Says It’s ‘Totally Possible’ as Institutional Momentum Grows
In related news, Bitcoin may be poised for a parabolic move toward $250,000 by the end of 2025, according to prominent crypto analyst Scott Melker, who believes a rare confluence of macro and market dynamics could trigger the next explosive rally.
Known for hosting The Wolf of All Streets podcast, Melker offered the bold prediction in a recent interview, pointing to Bitcoin’s maturing volatility profile and deepening institutional adoption as catalysts.
“$250K this year? Totally possible,” Melker asserted, suggesting that while such a surge might seem extreme to outsiders, it’s well within the bounds of historical crypto price behavior.
With Bitcoin currently trading above $100K, that would imply a more-than-double price increase within the next seven months. But Melker argues the conditions for such a move are increasingly falling into place.
Bitcoin price chart (Source: CoinMarketCap)
One of Melker’s key observations is that Bitcoin’s historic volatility, long viewed as a double-edged sword, is quietly fading.
“It used to be about three times as volatile as the S&P. Now it’s less than two times,” he explained.
This reduction in volatility, he said, is not accidental. It's the result of deeper integration with traditional finance. From pension funds to major asset managers, long-term institutional holders are entering the Bitcoin market in greater numbers, leading to more stable price action and long-term accumulation.
Melker emphasized that this is not merely anecdotal. The launch and success of Bitcoin spot ETFs, alongside broader Wall Street participation, are actively reshaping Bitcoin’s behavior as a financial asset.
“The more institutional money, the more Wall Street money, the more long-term holders get involved, the less volatility there’s going to be,” he said.
2025 Off to a Strong Start for Crypto Markets
So far, 2025 has validated Melker’s bullish tone. Bitcoin has climbed beyond $103,000, and Ethereum has rebounded above $2,600. The market-wide strength is not limited to the majors either, altcoins have started to gain traction, driven by rising trading volume and risk appetite.
One of the biggest milestones of the year came when Coinbase was added to the S&P 500, not just as a constituent but among the top 50 companies by market cap. Melker flagged this development as a game-changer, reinforcing how deeply embedded crypto firms have become in global financial systems.
He also highlighted recent public listings from companies like Galaxy Digital and eToro, signaling renewed confidence in regulatory clarity and policy tailwinds.
Melker’s optimism is further bolstered by recent regulatory easing in the United States. The SEC’s decision to drop several lawsuits against major crypto firms, along with favorable executive orders aimed at fostering blockchain innovation, have helped restore investor confidence.
This shift, he argues, is a major departure from the regulatory headwinds that plagued previous market cycles, and it sets the stage for more sustainable capital inflows into the space.
While Bitcoin remains the flagship asset, Melker noted that Ethereum and smaller-cap altcoins have started to outperform, which is a sign that “new money” may be entering the market.
The ETH/BTC ratio has ticked upward, and tokens across decentralized finance (DeFi), artificial intelligence (AI), and layer-2 scaling solutions have begun posting double-digit percentage gains — typical of early-stage bull markets.
This altcoin resurgence, Melker suggested, reflects a broader market confidence that Bitcoin’s rise is not isolated but part of a wider crypto ecosystem rally.
$250K Still a Long Shot — But Not Unprecedented
Despite the bullish case, Melker tempered his forecast with a dose of realism, saying that most experts are forecasting highs between $120K and $150K.
However, he was quick to point out that crypto markets are no stranger to explosive surges.
“From the 2020 lows to the last bull market, Bitcoin went from $3,000 to $69,000. A 2.5x from here wouldn’t be a big deal.”
Other analysts agree that a six-figure Bitcoin is within reach. On May 16, the analytics account Apsk32 shared projections that Bitcoin has a “decent chance” of hitting $250K or more in 2025, especially as macroeconomic instability pushes investors toward "digital gold" hedging strategies.
Even Presto’s head of research Peter Chung has doubled down on his $210K prediction, while Standard Chartered and Intellectia AI analysts have echoed similar sentiments, citing rising ETF inflows and a global appetite for alternative stores of value.
A Perfect Storm for Bitcoin?
With diminishing volatility, deepening institutional interest, favorable regulatory shifts, and growing altcoin momentum, the pieces appear to be aligning for a massive move upward in crypto markets. Melker’s $250,000 prediction might not be consensus, but it’s gaining traction among a growing list of analysts.
