A Short-Lived Fork: The BIP-110 Experiment Stalls

On August 9, the Bitcoin network witnessed a brief forking event. Nodes supporting the BIP-110 proposal executed a hard fork at block height 961,632, rejecting blocks that did not carry a specific support signal. However, this attempt to alter network rules lost momentum almost immediately, stalling after roughly eight hours of independent operation.

The Reality of Missing Hash Power

The newly created chain managed to produce only two blocks after the split. Data from fork monitors shows its height stuck at 961,633, while the Bitcoin main chain progressed steadily to block 961,681—a gap of nearly 50 blocks. This widening gap is a clear indicator that the vast majority of Bitcoin's mining power never migrated to support the new chain.

A blockchain's survival depends on a continuous supply of hash power to produce blocks and secure the network. This fork failed to attract anywhere near the computational resources needed to sustain itself, leaving it effectively dormant.

The Goals and Hurdles of BIP-110

BIP-110 is a one-year proposal designed to enforce stricter limits on how Bitcoin's block space is used, specifically targeting the writing of non-financial data. This directly impacts use cases like Ordinals inscriptions, which embed content such as images or text onto the blockchain.

The proposal's activation mechanism set a high bar: it required at least 1,109 blocks (55%) within a roughly two-week (2,016-block) difficulty period to signal support. In the most recent full signaling period prior to the fork, only 51 blocks (2.53%) signaled in favor. This low figure was a strong early signal of the proposal's lack of consensus among the mining community.

  • Core Tension: The proposal seeks to draw a sharper line between Bitcoin's roles as a "store of value" and a "data layer."
  • Community Response: The minimal support indicated most network participants did not agree with imposing such limits at this time.
  • Market Decision: Miners voted with their hash power, ultimately allowing this unsupported fork attempt to fade.

This event underscores the difficulty of upgrading Bitcoin. Any attempt to change core rules requires not only sound technical design but also broad, deliberate community consensus. Forks launched without sufficient support are consistently marginalized by the network.