Bitcoin-dev mailing list debates heatedly over the UTXO set explosion caused by Ordinals and Stamps

Wu said that recently, the Bitcoin-dev mailing list has been engaged in heated debates over the UTXO explosion caused by Ordinals and Stamps. Developers proposed the “The Cat” draft, which aims to set specific non-monetary UTXOs below 1000 satoshis as permanently unspendable through a soft fork, potentially reducing the UTXO set size by 30%-50%. Another proposal, “Lynx,” advocates automatically invalidating dust UTXOs that have remained untouched for four years during the halving cycle, implementing automated cleanup with a more neutral logic. Currently, discussions between supporters and opponents have reached a deadlock. Legendary developer Greg Maxwell criticized this as “confiscation of property and theft,” undermining the foundational trust of Bitcoin. He even proposed a new rule: banning any discussion on the mailing list involving “confiscation of Bitcoin,” with violators silenced for one year, arguing that such “invalid discussions” seriously damage the project’s reputation.