Runestone Co-founder Launches DOG Mode Bitcoin Client to Bypass BIP 110 Data Restrictions on July 17

According to CoinDesk, on July 17, Runestone co-founder Leonidas launched DOG Mode, an open-source Bitcoin client designed to bypass BIP 110 restrictions on non-financial data. The client increases standard transaction maximum weight units from 400,000 to 3,900,000—nearly the entire block capacity—and reduces dust limits from 294-546 satoshis to 1 satoshi. Leonidas stated that eliminating dust limits would unlock approximately $25 million in idle funds.

DOG Mode requires no consensus or voting; it only modifies individual node forwarding rules. If sufficient nodes run the client and miners accept transactions, confirmations can proceed. Leonidas noted that DOG Mode diverges from Bitcoin Core less than Knots, and called for developer contributions and miner adoption. BIP 110, which requires 55% miner support through a user-activated soft fork, currently has near-zero backing.