Stats on compact block reconstructions

A recent sequence of events involved the coordinated effort by an individual to mine uncommon-goods rune mints as cost-effectively as possible. The strategy employed revolved around constructing transactions that contained a single OP_RETURN for each mint, since only one OP_RETURN is permitted per runestone mint. To minimize transaction size and, therefore, fees, the transactions were designed with a P2A (Pay-to-Anyone) input and outputs consisting of both a P2A and an OP_RETURN. This approach yields compact transactions of approximately 100 virtual bytes (vB), allowing each mint to be processed at a fee rate as low as 0.1 sat/vbyte—translating to about 10 satoshis per mint. An example of such a transaction can be viewed here.

These transactions did not occur in isolation. Instead, they were chained together in succession, forming extended sequences. Rather than propagating these transactions through the usual node protocols involving inventory announcement (inv) followed by data requests (getdata), the creator pushed these chains directly to network peers by sending unsolicited tx messages. This direct transmission bypassed standard relay mechanisms, leading to an unusual propagation pattern across the Bitcoin network.

An additional layer of complexity arose from the nature of P2A outputs, which are inherently "anyone-can-spend." Observers noted activity associated with the user agent /p2aburn:1.0/, who appeared to systematically burn or spend these outputs as soon as they became aware of them. Such intervention effectively prevented the original party from completing their intended minting process. An illustrative transaction of this burning behavior is available here.

The interplay between the unsolicited propagation of lengthy transaction chains and prompt burning by third parties contributed to significant discrepancies in mempool contents across nodes. These irregularities persisted until October 18, 2026, when the flow of unsolicited transaction chains abruptly ceased. Coinciding with this cessation, metrics relating to compact block reconstruction showed marked improvement, suggesting a direct relationship between these phenomena and network-wide performance degradation observed previously.

Further technical insight and discussion on these events can be found in the relevant threads at bnoc.xyz and compact block reconstruction degradation analysis.