BIP-110 Reaches Mandatory Signaling Stage Despite Miner Support Under 3%
A crucial deployment phase examines whether nodes implementing the proposal can maintain the modification despite minimal mining support and conversations around a potential hard-fork alternative.
On Saturday, Bitcoin Improvement Proposal 110 reached its mandatory-signaling stage at block height 961,632, with mining operators showing support across only 51 blocks out of the previous 2,016-block period, representing merely 2.53% participation—significantly beneath the 55% threshold necessary for achieving early activation, as reported by the BIP-110 monitoring system.
At the arrival of block 961,632, network nodes implementing BIP-110 enforcement initiated the rejection of any blocks failing to include version bit 4, whereas standard Bitcoin nodes maintained acceptance of blocks regardless of their signaling status. This divergence resulted in the emergence of a minority BIP-110 blockchain branch, which rapidly lost ground compared to the prevailing chain.
The minimal level of signaling participation renders the possibility of maintaining a competing blockchain highly improbable absent significantly increased involvement from mining operations. Given the relatively sparse mining backing, any BIP-110 blockchain fork would likely progress at a considerably reduced pace or potentially cease block production entirely.
This critical juncture evaluates whether advocates can successfully implement a disputed consensus modification without widespread miner endorsement, potentially creating a split between enforcing nodes and the primary blockchain and intensifying disagreements regarding the appropriate utilization of Bitcoin's block space resources.
BIP-110 seeks temporary limits on Bitcoin data
Authored by pseudonymous developer Dathon Ohm, BIP-110 introduces supplementary consensus limitations intended to remain active for approximately one year's duration.
The proposal would impose restrictions on most newly created output scripts to a maximum of 34 bytes, establish an 83-byte ceiling for OP_RETURN outputs, confine specific data pushes and witness elements to no more than 256 bytes, and temporarily constrain various Taproot functionality aspects. Transaction outputs that were unspent and generated prior to the activation point would receive exemption from these rules.
Advocates for the proposal contended that implementing these limitations would serve to disincentivize inscriptions and additional non-monetary data types that elevate storage requirements and bandwidth expenditures for individuals operating full nodes.
Critics of the proposal, among them Strategy Executive Chairman Michael Saylor and Blockstream CEO Adam Back, have contended that the measure risks fragmenting Bitcoin's network and could result in nodes declining transactions that remain valid according to the network's currently established protocols.
The proposal employs version bit 4 as its mechanism for miner signaling. According to its deployment timeline, blocks numbered 961,632 through 963,647 constitute the mandatory-signaling period, throughout which nodes running BIP-110 enforcement refuse blocks lacking the appropriate signal.
The technical specification designates block 963,648 as the commencement of its locked-in phase and identifies block 965,664 as the activation point when its transaction limitation rules would become operational.
Supporters of BIP-110 have additionally considered a more comprehensive backup plan. On Aug. 1, Bitcoin developer Chris Guida performed a rebase of preliminary code implementing a proof-of-work modification originally authored by Bitcoin Knots maintainer Luke Dashjr.
Guida characterized the code at that juncture as a contingency measure in the event miners demonstrated opposition to BIP-110, though clarified that no specific activation timeline had been established.