Overview
- Leonidas, co-founder of Runestone, announced DOG Mode on Friday, July 17, 2026 as an initiative to build an open-source Bitcoin client that relaxes relay policy for Ordinals and Runes transactions.
- The proposal would raise the maximum relayed transaction size from 400,000 weight units to 3,900,000 and cut Bitcoin Core’s dust threshold to one satoshi, changes meant to allow near–block-size inscriptions and tiny outputs.
- DOG Mode would only change node relay rules and would not alter Bitcoin consensus, so transactions it forwards could still be confirmed only if miners receive and include them in blocks.
- The project currently has no released code, repository, or build and is seeking developers and at least one cooperative miner to begin relaying those larger transactions.
- The announcement shifts the fight from a stalled protocol route—BIP‑110, which has shown virtually no miner signaling—to competing client-level tactics that could fragment node behavior and change who can forward non-financial data.