Bitcoin mining pool Ocean denies allegations of censoring specific Bitcoin transactions, refuting claims made by Samourai Wallet. The wallet provider accused Ocean of censoring Whirlpool CoinJoin transactions and BIP47 notification transactions as of December 6. Despite these accusations, Ocean’s top executive, Luke Dashjr, denied the claims and urged Samourai Wallet to address a bug in their software.
On December 7, Samourai Wallet asserted that a new policy implemented by Ocean’s mining pool censored certain Bitcoin transactions. The wallet provider also leveled accusations against Jack Dorsey, co-founder of X (formerly Twitter) and Block, who is an investor in Ocean, accusing him of engaging in “hostile action.”
Bitcoin Core Developer Luke Dashjr Accused Of Past Transaction Censorship By Samourai Wallet
In the ongoing dispute, Samourai Wallet additionally accused Luke Dashjr, a Bitcoin Core developer and founder of Ocean, of past instances of censoring transactions and implementing blacklists. The wallet provider suggested that Dashjr had a longstanding intent to carry out such actions.
The latest accusation against Dashjr involves the imposition of a 46-byte limit on the OP_RETURN function instead of the 80 bytes specified in Bitcoin Core version 0.12. Samourai Wallet alleges that this decision by Ocean results in the exclusion of privacy-enhancing transactions, advising miners to consider redirecting their hash power to another mining pool.
Dashjr rejected the claims made by Samourai Wallet against Ocean, asserting:
This is a bug in your software, not an intentional policy on our end.
Furthermore, he expressed uncertainty regarding the concerns raised by the wallet provider, posing the question, “What is this data even for? I’ve explored attempts to find a solution, but I cannot locate any technical details.” Dashjr absolved himself of responsibility and suggested that Samourai Wallet should address the issue on their end.
This exchange of statements divided the crypto community, with some supporting Samourai Wallet’s perspective of “80 Bytes is 80 Bytes,” while others advised fixing the alleged bug.
In the midst of the controversy, a former ASIC and iOS developer within the community believed that Ocean’s new policy enforcing censorship was unintentional. Brad Mills from Nostr Wallet also weighed in, stating, “There’s no policy to censor Whirlpool or privacy-preserving transactions.”
Despite these counterarguments, Samourai Wallet continued to accuse Dashjr of dishonesty, alleging that he was deflecting blame and deceiving community members. The wallet provider urged the community not to let Ocean get away with their actions.