Jimmy Song criticized Bitcoin's Taproot upgrade for not anticipating Inscriptions.

Jimmy Song, a developer of Bitcoin Core, criticized the Taproot upgrade for failing to anticipate the emergence of inscriptions – content containing non-financial data – on the blockchain. He argues that Taproot has not fulfilled its promise of privacy and security.

Although Taproot has introduced Schnorr signatures and improved efficiency for multi-signature transactions, analysis tools can still recognize transaction patterns and address types, reducing anonymity. Furthermore, many wallets and services have not fully adopted the new features, so users still use classic addresses, which are less secure.

The song also emphasizes that Taproot bypasses risks from the “social attack surface” – that is, the part vulnerable to abuse due to user or societal behavior – making it not designed to counter data spam or inscriptions affecting Bitcoin's core financial objectives.