# 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.

URL: https://blockspace.wiki/research/policy-observatory/

**Status on [blockspacelabs.com](https://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](https://blockspace.wiki/glossary/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](https://blockspace.wiki/glossary/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](https://blockspace.wiki/glossary/fee-floor/).

## The data it will use

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

## Related research

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

Sources:

- The blockspacelabs.com page (index.html) · https://blockspacelabs.com
- Blockspace Holdings records

Updated: 2026-10-20