Leonidas’ open-source DOG Mode client relaxes default Bitcoin relay limits without changing consensus rules, intensifying disputes over Ordinals, Runes, miner influence and how policy shapes transaction propagation.
Leonidas has launched DOG Mode, an alternative open-source Bitcoin client that directly challenges Bitcoin’s default relay policies while leaving consensus rules unchanged. The software raises the maximum individual transaction size allowed under its relay policy to 3.9 million weight units from Bitcoin Core’s default 400,000 weight units and lowers the dust threshold to one satoshi, changes that could make it easier to propagate large Ordinals inscriptions and small outputs used by some Bitcoin-native token protocols. The release has revived long-running debate over censorship resistance, miner control and block-space governance, because relay policy sits outside consensus but can still influence which valid transactions are widely seen by nodes and reach miners. Leonidas argues fee-paying users should compete for block space through fees rather than default software policies deciding transaction purposes in advance. The move also sharpens contrast with BIP 110, a proposal for temporary consensus restrictions on some data-heavy transactions that Luke Dashjr supports and Michael Saylor and Adam Back oppose; miner signaling was still far below the proposed 55% activation threshold in mid-July.