Bitcoin network splits as BIP-110 soft fork fails to gain miner support

The Bitcoin network experienced a significant chain split following the failed activation of BIP-110, a proposed soft fork designed to limit non-financial data such as Ordinals inscriptions. The proposal, which sought to reduce what proponents called “spam” on the blockchain, failed to reach the required 55% miner signaling threshold, securing only approximately 2.5% support.

As a result of the mandatory signaling window, nodes running BIP-110 software began rejecting blocks that did not support the new rules, creating a minority chain. This breakaway branch, supported by the Ocean mining pool and developer Luke Dashjr, produced only two blocks before stalling. The minority chain inherited Bitcoin’s high mining difficulty but lacks the necessary hashpower to sustain regular block production, with some estimates suggesting it could take years to reach its next difficulty adjustment.

Prominent industry figures, including Michael Saylor and Adam Back, criticized the proposal. Saylor argued that the attempt to filter transactions threatened Bitcoin’s neutral, permissionless nature, stating that “the network has spoken.” While BIP-110 backers have discussed potential ways to revive the chain, such as changing the proof-of-work algorithm to bypass current miners, the event serves as a decisive demonstration of Bitcoin’s decentralized governance and economic consensus.