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Policy observatory

Research: count the transactions mined each block that standard relay would refuse, and how much blockspace reaches miners off the standard relay path.

Status on blockspacelabs.com: Research.

What it studies #

The Labs site describes it in two sentences: it "counts the transactions mined each block that standard relay would refuse: over 100 kvB, large OP_RETURN, below 1 sat/vB. How much blockspace reaches miners off the standard relay path."

Bitcoin's consensus rules decide what a block may contain. Relay policy decides what ordinary nodes pass on before a block is found. A transaction can be valid but not a standard transaction, and still be mined if it reaches a miner some other way. The study counts three kinds:

  • transactions over 100 kvB (400,000 weight units), the standard size limit;
  • large OP_RETURN outputs, above the data-carrier limit (83 bytes, the Bitcoin Core 28 default the Labs node runs);
  • transactions paying below 1 sat/vB, the default fee floor.

The data it will use #

"BTI byte census and bitcoind blocks": the byte census for each block's bytes, and the Labs node for the blocks themselves. It is a descriptive card; no results are claimed.

Its measured effects feed blockspace expansion policy. 4 MB transaction relay concerns the same 100 kvB limit, and low-fee propagation the same sub-1 sat/vB transactions. The relay policy page describes each limit.

Sources #

  1. The blockspacelabs.com page (index.html) · blockspacelabs.com
  2. Blockspace Holdings records

Updated 2026-10-20 · This page as Markdown