US Constitution Permanently Inscribed on Bitcoin Blockchain

An unknown individual has permanently inscribed the complete text of the U.S. Constitution onto the Bitcoin blockchain, an act that has drawn significant attention within the cryptocurrency community. The transaction, processed on May 28, 2026, by mining pool SpiderPool, cost approximately 113,454 satoshis, equivalent to about $83.41 in fees.

This notable inscription, weighing in at 44.4 kilobytes, is considerably larger than typical Bitcoin transactions. It leveraged the OP_RETURN script opcode, which allows for arbitrary data to be attached to a transaction without carrying monetary value. Historically, the OP_RETURN field was limited to 80 bytes, restricting its use to small data points like hashes or timestamps.

Technical Facilitation

The ability to embed such a large document became possible due to the release of Bitcoin Core v30 in mid-2025. This update removed the previous 80-byte size limit and the restriction of a single OP_RETURN output per transaction. Developers argued that the former limitations were counterproductive, as users were finding alternative methods for data embedding. The inscription also utilized features like SegWit and Taproot to accommodate the substantial data size.

While the concept of writing data to the blockchain is not new, with projects like OpenTimestamps and Ordinals protocol having previously anchored various forms of data, this instance stands out due to the nature of the inscribed document. Instead of hashes or digital art, it is a foundational legal text.

Community Discussion

The anonymous act has reignited a critical discussion within the Bitcoin community regarding the network's primary purpose. A pending proposal, BIP-444, seeks to reintroduce an 83-byte cap on OP_RETURN, with proponents arguing that unlimited data storage could detract from Bitcoin's core identity as a peer-to-peer monetary system. The identity of the sender remains unknown, having left only the Constitution's full text embedded irrevocably on the global ledger.