Bitcoin BIP-110 Implementation Chain Halts at Two Blocks While Distance from Main Chain Expands
The implementation fork continues to face obstacles at Bitcoin's maximum mining difficulty level while the required signaling mechanism moves forward with minimal hashpower backing.
The Bitcoin blockchain branch implementing BIP-110 enforcement came to a standstill at block 961,633 this past Sunday following the creation of just two blocks, as the standard non-enforcing blockchain proceeded forward to block 961,721, creating an expanding differential of 88 blocks between the two chains.
Data from the BIP-110 monitoring system, last refreshed at 10:19 am UTC, indicated that the most recent block on the enforcing branch had been successfully mined approximately 12 hours prior to the update. Mining records from Ocean reveal that an anonymous collective of miners operating under the name Roughnecks was responsible for generating the initial two blocks on this branch, utilizing Ocean's Decentralized Alternative Templates for Universal Mining (DATUM) protocol for their mining operations.
The chain split occurred following BIP-110's transition into the mandatory signaling phase at block 961,632 this past Saturday. A mere 51 blocks out of the previous 2,016-block period, representing just 2.53% of total blocks, demonstrated support through signaling. Throughout this timeframe, nodes running BIP-110 software refuse to acknowledge blocks that fail to signal via version bit 4, whereas standard Bitcoin nodes will validate and accept blocks regardless of whether they include the signaling mechanism or not.
Based on the terms of the proposal, the mandatory signaling phase will persist until block 963,647 is reached. The enforcing branch is required to complete mining throughout the remaining portion of the 2,016-block difficulty adjustment cycle before any difficulty recalibration can occur, resulting in extremely slow advancement unless a significant increase in hashpower support materializes.
The BIP-110 proposal has encountered resistance from well-known figures within the Bitcoin community. Michael Saylor, who serves as executive chairman at Strategy, stated that while he supports the underlying goals of the proposal, he believes the methodology employed poses risks to Bitcoin's principle of neutral governance rules and its established consensus mechanisms.
Adam Back, serving as CEO of Blockstream, issued a cautionary statement that implementing this consensus-layer modification could undermine Bitcoin's reputation for stability and might result in rendering specific unspent transaction outputs permanently unspendable.