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Bitcoin’s BIP 110 fork deadline nears with miner support at zero
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- DeepHorus
A controversial proposal to purge non-financial data from the Bitcoin blockchain is heading toward a hard deadline in early August, yet miner support remains below 1%, signaling overwhelming opposition despite intense social debate. The BIP-110, or Reduced Data Temporary Soft Fork, aims to temporarily restrict non-financial data on the blockchain for one year, capping OP_RETURN and blocking arbitrary data chunks above 256 bytes. Proponents argue it refocuses Bitcoin on payments and reduces node burden, but critics contend it improperly censors valid, fee-paying transactions and sets a dangerous precedent.
Bitcoin transactions can carry both monetary value and extra data through OP_RETURN fields or data pushes, which have been used for Ordinals, inscriptions, and token metadata. BIP-110 would tighten these paths, limiting data storage capabilities. The proposal employs a user-activated soft fork with a 55% miner-signaling threshold, lower than the traditional 95%, yet miner backing has never exceeded 1% and currently stands at zero, with no major mining pool supporting it.
Key figures have publicly opposed the plan. Michael Saylor, Strategy founder, stated that 'there are 110 things more dangerous to Bitcoin than spam,' warning that turning a policy dispute into a consensus change invalidating valid transactions creates a dangerous precedent. Adam Back, Blockstream co-founder, echoed this sentiment, arguing that Bitcoin says 'no' to such restrictions and that those unconvinced should fork away rather than impose rules on the main network.
Node adoption also remains minimal, with only Bitcoin Knots software showing low single-digit support, while Bitcoin Core nodes have largely ignored the proposal. This lack of adoption suggests BIP-110 is unlikely to achieve network-wide change, potentially resulting in a small minority chain instead.
The deadline of block 957,600 approaches regardless, signaling the start of a new signaling period. Observers note that the proposal's failure to gain traction reflects the broader Bitcoin community's resistance to altering consensus rules for what many see as a transient spam issue. The outcome may reinforce the principle that contentious soft forks rarely succeed without broad support, preserving Bitcoin's conservative governance model.
