Bitcoin Spam is Bad. So is BIP-110 | Giacomo Zucco

Mar 13, 2026

Giacomo Zucco, Bitcoin educator and organizer behind Plan B and CypherTank, joins to spar over on-chain spam, ordinals, and why BIP-110 is the wrong fix. He discusses mempool filtering versus consensus changes. They dive into Core v30, Knots, the politics around forks, and why Layer 2s are the preferred path forward.

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ANECDOTE

How Plan B Grew Into A Global Bitcoin Hub

Giacomo recounts taking over PlanB programs: summer school, academy, hub, and a VC fund in Lugano.
He describes growing Plan B from a few people to events with thousands and bootstrapping CypherTank funding $850k for six projects.

INSIGHT

Spam Is Real But Hard To Fully Stop

Spam is defined as bulk unsolicited communication and remains a real, persistent problem for Bitcoin nodes.
Giacomo ran liberal relays and miner tests and found mempool filtering helps signal socially but cannot fully prevent propagation or fee-estimation impacts.

INSIGHT

Mempool Filters Over Consensus Changes

Mempool filters are a practical, local mitigation but are not a substitute for consensus-level changes.
Giacomo argues consensus changes are costly and rare, so filters and signaling are preferable for incremental mitigation.

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Giacomo Zucco joins Walker America to discuss Bitcoin spam, ordinals, inscriptions, Bitcoin Core, Core v30 / OP_RETURN, Knots, and why he thinks the BIP-110 soft fork will fail—and why that’s a problem. They break down the technical and political fight over spam filtering, consensus changes, and the future of Bitcoin nodes. Zucco argues that while spam is real, BIP-110 is the wrong solution—and its failure could damage the movement trying to fight it.

Key Topics:

• Plan B Lugano + the rise of Cypher Tank

• Is Bitcoin Core compromised?

• Bitcoin spam vs censorship: where’s the line?

• Core v30 vs Knots: what’s really happening?

• Why Giacomo thinks BIP-110 will fail

• Would BIP-110 actually fix Bitcoin spam?

• Ordinals and inscriptions

• Should Bitcoin change consensus rules to fight spam?

• Why Giacomo believes Layer 2s—not forks—solve the problem

• What happens to Bitcoin if BIP-110 fails?

FOLLOW GIACOMO:

X: https://x.com/giacomozucco

Nostr: https://primal.net/giacomozucco

PlanB: https://planb.network/

Cypher Tank: https://cyphertank.org/

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