TLDR
- BIP-110 entered mandatory signaling at block 961,632 with only 2.53% miner support, far below the 55% threshold needed
- Nodes enforcing BIP-110 began rejecting blocks that did not signal support, creating a minority chain
- The breakaway chain produced just two blocks in eight hours while the main Bitcoin chain advanced 48 blocks
- The fork inherited Bitcoin’s full mining difficulty but has a tiny share of hashpower, putting the next difficulty adjustment 350 days away
- Critics including Michael Saylor and Adam Back warned the proposal could divide Bitcoin
Bitcoin Improvement Proposal 110 has entered its mandatory-signaling phase, but the minority chain it created has nearly ground to a halt after producing just two blocks in roughly eight hours.
Saylor Says BIP-110 Fork Has Just 0.15% of Bitcoin Hashpower
Michael Saylor said about 99.85% of Bitcoin’s hashpower remained on the main chain after the BIP-110 fork, while the minority branch mined only two blocks and fell more than 80 blocks behind. He estimated the BIP-110… pic.twitter.com/a9Bt2GfjwF
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) August 9, 2026
The milestone was triggered at block 961,632 on Saturday. Nodes running BIP-110 software started rejecting any block that did not carry a specific signal in support of the proposal.
The problem is that miners are not on board. Only 51 of the previous 2,016 blocks signaled support, a rate of just 2.53%. The threshold needed for early activation is 55%.
What BIP-110 Actually Proposes
BIP-110 was written by pseudonymous developer Dathon Ohm. It proposes a set of temporary restrictions on how Bitcoin’s block space can be used, lasting roughly one year.
The proposal would limit most new output scripts to 34 bytes, cap OP_RETURN outputs at 83 bytes, and restrict certain data pushes and witness elements to 256 bytes. It would also temporarily limit several Taproot features.
Supporters say the restrictions would reduce inscriptions and non-financial data stored inside Bitcoin transactions, which they argue increases costs for node operators.
Opponents say anyone paying a transaction fee has the right to use block space as they choose. Mining firm AntPool mined the first non-signaling block, which the main network accepted and BIP-110 nodes rejected.
Why the Fork Is Struggling
A miner using Ocean produced the block the breakaway chain followed instead. That left two competing chains, but the split is extremely uneven.
The minority chain inherited Bitcoin’s current mining difficulty but has only a small fraction of the total hashpower. That means blocks on the BIP-110 chain arrive hours apart rather than every ten minutes.
Bitcoin’s difficulty adjusts every 2,016 blocks. The monitor tracking the situation estimates the BIP-110 chain will reach that adjustment in 350 days, compared to 14 days for the main chain.
By around 6 a.m. UTC on Sunday, the main Bitcoin chain had reached block 961,681 while the BIP-110 chain sat at block 961,633.
There is also a transaction replay risk. Because both chains still accept identical transactions, a signed transaction on the fork chain can also be broadcast on the main Bitcoin network, creating a potential attack vector for buyers.
BIP-110 critics Michael Saylor and Blockstream CEO Adam Back have argued the proposal risks fragmenting Bitcoin. Developer Chris Guida has also discussed a proof-of-work change as a fallback if miner opposition continues, though no activation date has been set.
The mandatory-signaling window runs until block 963,647.
