JAN3 CEO Samson Mow: ‘Maybe It’s Time for Another Fork of Bitcoin’

Samson Mow, CEO of JAN3, stated that, given the upcoming changes to Bitcoin Core and its OP_RETURN policy, it is time to fork the software to “fix misaligned incentives and fund devs with a better structure.”

JAN3 CEO Samson Mow Talks Forking Bitcoin Core, Launching ‘Good’ Alternative

The recent drama surrounding the upcoming changes to the OP_RETURN policies of Bitcoin Core, the main Bitcoin full node software, has caused an uproar in the bitcoin community. Samson Mow, CEO of JAN3, has recently proposed a solution to the “misaligned incentives” of the current developers: fork the current software.

At a recent podcast, Mow explained that given the current “core wars,” as some have started calling the OP_RETURN policy changes regarding spam, there should be a fork of Bitcoin Core to “provide a different way forward.” Mow believes this is the best course of action, as he considers pushing changes with the current structure to be very difficult.

Mow proposed using the current version of Bitcoin Core and setting up a funding structure to support this new software, giving grants for developers to work and maintain it.

“If there is economic power saying bitcoin is money, then this is how you could show it,” Mow stressed, noting that this new hypothetical fork would have a better charter and overall structure. He also recommended that developers working on this new fork remain anonymous to ensure they are not in it for personal glory but to contribute to bitcoin.

Before, Mow had called to take action against Bitcoin Core, suggesting to blacklist developers acting “in bad faith” from conferences and deny funding for organizations funding developers pushing “contentious changes.”

Since the current controversy started, Mow has been highly critical of the stance that Bitcoin Core developers took on lifting the OP_Return guardrails, facilitating the inclusion of non-monetary data into the bitcoin blockchain.

Since Bitcoin Core announced the future merge of these changes, alternative node Software Knots adoption has increased significantly, reaching 1,868 out of 21,767 public bitcoin nodes.