[REVISION HISTORY]

Bitcoin split evolves as developers prepare BLAKE2b fork

Updated 16 times since CLSTR started tracking revisions of this situation.

What changed

2026-08-20 01:43 UTC → 2026-08-31 19:25 UTC · added ~~removed~~

Bitcoin ~~splits~~ split evolves as ~~BIP-110 signaling begins~~ developers prepare BLAKE2b fork

Miner signaling for BIP-110 stayed far below the 55% threshold throughout July 2026, hovering under 1% as the mandatory-signaling window opened in early August. To counter potential miner resistance, developer Chris Guida prepared a “last-resort” fallback to change the proof-of-work code if the upgrade was blocked. As the mandatory signaling period began, the network experienced a chain split at block 961,632. While the mining heavyweight Antpool mined the block on the main chain, the BIP-110-supporting Roughnecks and the OCEAN mining pool produced a rival version. Nodes running BIP-110 enforcement rules, such as Bitcoin Knots, began rejecting blocks lacking version bit 4, effectively isolating them from the main network. The minority chain has since largely stalled, having produced only two blocks. It inherited Bitcoin's massive mining difficulty but lacks sufficient hashpower to maintain regular production. Prominent figures including Michael Saylor and Adam Back opposed the proposal; Saylor noted that “the network has spoken,” arguing the attempt to filter transactions threatened Bitcoin’s neutral nature. Concerns have emerged regarding replay attacks, where transactions from one chain could be re-executed on the other. To mitigate this, BIP-110 supporters have discussed a hard fork to replace the SHA-256d algorithm with BLAKE2b. Following the failure of the BIP-110 soft ~~fork, which aimed~~ fork to ~~limit~~ restrict non-financial ~~data like Ordinals,~~ data, the main Bitcoin chain has seen ~~an increase~~ a surge in data-heavy blocks. At block 962,266, standard monetary transfers ~~occupied only a small portion of the block, while the majority of the space was filled with~~ were dwarfed by NFT inscriptions and custom scripts. While critics labeled this content “garbage and spam,” David Schwartz, CTO Emeritus of Ripple, ~~commented~~ argued that as long as users pay fees commensurate with resources consumed, the economic balance remains ~~intact.~~ intact, warning that regulating block space could move decentralized structures toward traditional banking. Concerns regarding replay attacks—where transactions from one chain are re-executed on the other—have intensified. Developers noted that a significant portion of blocks on the BIP-110 minority chain consist of replayed transactions from the main chain. In response, BIP-110 supporters are preparing to launch a separate proof-of-work chain, potentially around September 1. This new chain will replace the SHA-256d algorithm with BLAKE2b and introduce a new 164-byte block header to create a distinct design. The move has ignited a governance debate. Schwartz characterized the creation of a separate chain after losing a consensus vote as an “attack on the network rather than a good-faith disagreement.” Conversely, supporters such as developer Loogart maintain they are simply accepting the governance outcome by voluntarily continuing their version of the protocol elsewhere.

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