Luke Dashjr Removed as BIP Editor After BIP 110 Dispute

On Sunday, Bitcoin developer Mark Erhardt opened a pull request that removed Luke Dashjr from the list of editors for the Bitcoin Improvement Proposals repository. Erhardt had recommended Dashjr’s removal on the Bitcoin Developer mailing list.

In the pull request, Erhardt wrote that Dashjr had been “heavily involved” in creating and implementing BIP 110. Erhardt alleged Dashjr attempted to assign BIP 110 a BIP number before a mailing-list discussion and quickly merged an update to the proposal while still listed as an editor. Erhardt described those actions as an unfair use of editor privileges.

Developer Jon Atack verified repository permissions and confirmed Dashjr no longer had editor or administrator access. Atack then merged the pull request and the repository change took effect when the merge completed.

Dashjr replied on the mailing list, calling the action “just an abuse of power by Core” and writing “They have no authority to do so.” He disputed the grounds given for his removal.

BIP 110 proposed a temporary rule to limit the amount of arbitrary data that can be embedded in Bitcoin transactions. Nodes enforcing BIP 110 rejected blocks from miners that did not signal support, creating a minority chain split. That fork attracted little mining power and stalled, and BIP 110 did not change consensus rules.

BIP editors maintain the repository of improvement proposals, review contributions and manage assignment and merging of proposal documents. The removal of an editor is uncommon. The repository change and the mailing-list discussion involved questions about process and potential conflicts of interest when contributors to a proposal also hold editorial privileges.