Bitcoin wallet provider Samourai Wallet recently accused Ocean, a prominent BTC mining pool, of censoring specific Bitcoin transactions.
According to Samourai Wallet, Ocean was specifically censoring Whirlpool CoinJoin and BIP47 notification transactions. They took their claims to Twitter, asserting that this was a “regrettable action” and that it “far surpasses any hostile action we have seen before.”
Ocean’s founder, Luke Dashjr, quickly refuted the allegations, asserting that the perceived censorship is not a deliberate policy but, rather, a bug within Samourai Wallet’s software. He suggested that the responsibility lies with Samourai Wallet to rectify the issue on their end.
The technical disagreement revolves around a purported 46-byte limit imposed on the OP_RETURN function, restricting certain transactions.
The crypto community finds itself divided on this matter, with some advocating for adhering to technical specifications and others believing that the censorship may be unintentional. Brad Mills from Nostr Wallet weighed in, asserting, “There’s no policy to censor Whirlpool or privacy-preserving transactions.”
As accusations persist, Samourai Wallet remains steadfast in its claims, accusing Dashjr of deception and rallying the community to scrutinize the situation further. This controversy underscores the ongoing challenges in the cryptocurrency realm, highlighting the need for collaboration and technical resolution to ensure the smooth functioning of the Bitcoin network.
