Bitcoin’s BIP-110 Fork Collapses Within Hours as Community Rejects Proposal
A minority Bitcoin fork designed to block ordinals and other non-financial data stalled after mining just two blocks Saturday, failing to attract meaningful network support.
The Fork That Failed to Launch
Bitcoin nodes running experimental BIP-110 software initiated a chain split at block 961,632 on Saturday, attempting to enforce restrictions on non-financial data embedded in transactions. The breakaway network produced only two blocks over approximately eight hours before grinding to a near halt, trailing the main Bitcoin blockchain by dozens of blocks as the primary network maintained its regular rhythm of block production.
The divergence occurred when BIP-110-configured nodes began rejecting blocks lacking support signals for the proposal. When AntPool mined an unsignaled block, BIP-110 nodes rejected it while the main network accepted it. Separately, an Ocean pool miner produced an alternative block that the minority chain recognized, formalizing the split.
Why the Fork Ran Out of Steam
The breakaway chain’s immediate collapse reveals a critical vulnerability: Bitcoin recalibrates mining difficulty only every 2,016 blocks—roughly every two weeks on the main network. The fork inherited this same difficulty while commanding less than 3% of total network hashpower, creating an untenable situation.
With only 2.53% of recent blocks signaling support—far below the 55% threshold BIP-110 would have needed to activate consensually—the minority chain faces roughly 350 days until its next difficulty adjustment. This means blocks on the fork would arrive hours apart rather than every ten minutes, effectively rendering it non-functional as a payment network.
The Deeper Battle Over Bitcoin’s Purpose
BIP-110 emerged from a months-long dispute over Ordinals inscriptions, which embed images, text, and arbitrary data into Bitcoin transactions. Proponents argued this practice congests the network, increases ordinary transaction fees, and potentially exposes Bitcoin to legal risk by hosting user-generated content.
The opposition—led by figures including Michael Saylor—maintained that anyone purchasing block space earns the right to use it as they choose. They cautioned that empowering miners and node operators to police transaction content would set a hazardous precedent for Bitcoin’s foundational property: censorship resistance.
The fork’s swift collapse decisively answers the community question: the Bitcoin majority rejected the proposal overwhelmingly. The failed fork illustrates how protocol changes require deep consensus—a reminder that contentious splits lack the mining, node, and economic support needed to sustain an alternative chain.
This episode reinforces that Bitcoin’s openness to all users, regardless of intent, remains a defining feature the community fiercely protects, even as competing blockchain ecosystems like those friendly to XRP explore alternative approaches to data storage and network governance.
Source: Decrypt. Not financial advice.