DOG Mode: Leonidas proposes new Bitcoin client

Leonidas introduced DOG Mode, a Bitcoin client proposal to raise transaction size limits and lower the dust limit, aiming to ease Ordinals and Runes use without consensus changes.

Leonidas has unveiled DOG Mode, an open-source Bitcoin client designed to relax current transaction policy restrictions enforced by major Bitcoin clients. DOG Mode proposes increasing the maximum transaction size from 400,000 to 3.9 million weight units—nearly filling an entire block—and reducing the dust limit from 294–546 satoshis to just 1 satoshi. These changes aim to simplify and expand the use of Ordinals and Runes by enabling both larger and smaller transactions, potentially unlocking around $25 million in previously unspendable funds. Unlike BIP 110, which restricts non-financial data and requires significant miner support, DOG Mode avoids consensus changes or votes, relying instead on node-level policy adjustments. Currently, DOG Mode is a proposal without released code, with Leonidas seeking developer and miner support. The initiative aims to pressure existing clients like Bitcoin Core to reconsider their policy restrictions by attracting user adoption.