CTV + CSFS: a letter

James O'Beirne highlights an aspect of Bitcoin transaction processing related to the use of annexes by miners. He points out that miners have the option to enhance their earnings by selectively mining transactions with annexes only when these annexes are necessary for the transactions' validity. This practice contrasts with instances where miners might overlook profitable transactions due to the presence of large, uncommitted annexes. By removing these unnecessary annexes, miners can increase their profitability.

O'Beirne draws a parallel between this behavior and the decision-making process regarding the clean-stack check. Just as disabling the clean-stack check can lead miners to miss out on profitable transactions by failing to mine valid transactions that could be more profitable without extraneous stack elements, ignoring transactions with manageable annexes can similarly result in financial losses. This comparison underscores the importance of strategic decision-making in the mining process to maximize earnings.

The discussion extends to the consideration of whether CheckTemplateVerify (CTV) should commit to annexes. While acknowledging this as a potential improvement, O'Beirne argues that the current issue of miners potentially overlooking profitable transactions due to uncommitted annexes does not alone justify such a change. This perspective suggests a nuanced view of protocol optimization, emphasizing operational adjustments over protocol-level changes for addressing specific inefficiencies in the mining process. For further details, James references Peter Todd's website.