Bitcoin’s BIP 110 proposal is approaching an early August deadline with miner signaling at zero in the current period. The plan would temporarily restrict arbitrary data on Bitcoin, but opposition from major figures and limited node adoption suggest it is unlikely to become a network-wide change.
Bitcoin’s BIP 110 proposal is approaching an early August deadline with miner signaling at zero in the current period. The plan would temporarily restrict arbitrary data on Bitcoin, but opposition from major figures and limited node adoption suggest it is unlikely to become a network-wide change.
The debate matters because it touches one of Bitcoin’s core governance questions: what should count as acceptable use of block space. Supporters argue the measure would help keep Bitcoin focused on payments and reduce the burden on nodes. Critics say it would convert a dispute over spam and data storage into a consensus rule that rejects transactions currently treated as valid.
Bitcoin’s BIP 110 proposal is nearing a key deadline with no visible miner backing in the current signaling period, according to CoinDesk. The proposal, formally called the Reduced Data Temporary Soft Fork, would temporarily restrict certain forms of non-financial data on the Bitcoin blockchain for one year.
The debate matters because it touches one of Bitcoin’s core governance questions: what should count as acceptable use of block space. Supporters argue the measure would help keep Bitcoin focused on payments and reduce the burden on nodes. Critics say it would convert a dispute over spam and data storage into a consensus rule that rejects transactions currently treated as valid.
BIP 110 would tighten limits on OP_RETURN and other data-carrying methods, including restrictions on larger arbitrary data chunks and some script formats mainly used for data storage. These routes have been used by Ordinals, inscriptions and some token systems to place images, text and token metadata on-chain.
The proposal uses a user-activated soft fork structure with a 55% miner-signaling threshold, rather than the more traditional 95% level. Even against that lower bar, support has not materialized: CoinDesk reported that miner signaling has never moved above about 1% in any period and stands at zero in the current one, with no major mining pool behind it. Node adoption is also in the low single digits, mostly through Bitcoin Knots, an alternative to Bitcoin Core.
Several prominent Bitcoin figures have opposed the effort. Michael Saylor argued that the precedent of invalidating currently valid, fee-paying transactions is the larger risk, while Blockstream co-founder Adam Back said those who want the change may need to fork away rather than expect Bitcoin broadly to follow.
The current signaling window runs from block 957,600 to 959,615, with a voluntary lock-in deadline at block 961,542 expected in early August. If only a small share of nodes and almost no miners enforce BIP 110, CoinDesk noted, the likely outcome would not be a change for the whole Bitcoin network but a small minority chain.
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