Ordinals developer launches DOG Mode client — a BIP-110 alternative that does not require mining consensus
Leonidas, co-founder of the Runestone project known under the pseudonym, has announced the launch of a new open-source Bitcoin client called DOG Mode. This solution is a direct alternative to the controversial BIP-110 proposal, but with a fundamental difference: it does not require miner support or majority voting for activation.
Key Changes in the Client
DOG Mode introduces two critical changes to transaction relay policy. First, the maximum transaction size in weight units (WU) increases from 400,000 to 3.9 million. For context, an entire Bitcoin block holds 4 million WU, so the new rule effectively covers almost the entire block volume. Second, the so-called "dust limit"—the minimum output size—is reduced from 294–546 satoshis to 1 satoshi.
Why This Matters for Ordinals and Runes
These changes directly simplify sending Ordinals inscriptions and Runes tokens—Bitcoin analogs of NFTs and fungible assets. Both technologies remain among the most controversial topics in the community: critics call them "spam," while supporters see them as network evolution. Raising the transaction ceiling will allow sending files and entire collections nearly the size of a full block. Currently, Bitcoin Core rejects such transfers as "non-standard," even though they are technically fully valid. As a result, users must use direct channels with miners—for example, MARA's Slipstream service.
Reducing the "dust limit" to 1 satoshi will eliminate excess satoshis from each output in Ordinals and Runes. According to the developer's estimates, this will free up about $25 million in "excess" satoshis that were previously locked in transactions.
Technical Essence: Relay Policy, Not Consensus
It is important to understand that Leonidas's proposal does not affect network consensus but rather relay policy—the rules by which a node decides whether to forward a transaction further. DOG Mode removes these restrictions at the individual node level, so no miner support threshold is needed for its activation. This fundamentally distinguishes it from BIP-110, which requires 55% of the network's hashrate for implementation. As of July 13, support for BIP-110 was estimated at around 1%, and by the time of this analysis, it had dropped even lower.
Expert Opinion
In my view, DOG Mode is an elegant bypass maneuver that demonstrates how the problem of "excessive" restrictions can be solved without lengthy political battles. However, it sets a precedent where individual clients can introduce rules not supported by the network majority. On one hand, this stimulates innovation; on the other, it fragments the ecosystem. Nevertheless, for Ordinals and Runes, this is a significant step forward that could substantially reduce transaction costs and increase protocol flexibility.