Bitcoin has survived on the notion that it’s focused. Doesn’t waver from the mission. OP_RETURN left open the door to something beyond basic functionality. We kicked the can down the road regarding programmability thinking no one would succeed.

It feels like Lightning was an acceptable side mission that wouldn’t destroy Bitcoin, but now Runes/Ordinals/etc are challenging that position.

Now OP_RETURN is topic du jour. Why? Manufactured outrage. It’s good to have alternative Bitcoin implementations. We used libbitcoin early on and supported. You should choose the build you trust.