BIP 110 Bitcoin Fork Stalls After Just Two Blocks

A recent attempt to update the Bitcoin network through a BIP 110 soft fork has effectively failed. The project, which aimed to restrict specific data types like Ordinals and Runes, split from the main chain at block 961,632. While the mining pool Roughnecks managed to find two blocks on this new branch, the rest of the network hashpower ignored the change, leaving the fork stranded.

Bitcoin continued to operate normally on the original chain, rapidly pulling ahead of the BIP 110 experiment. Because the new chain lacked significant mining support, it struggled to produce blocks under the current difficulty settings. Industry analysts noted that nearly all of the network hashpower, along with major exchanges and economic nodes, stayed on the main chain, proving that the fork lacked the consensus required to survive.

The conflict originated from a desire to prioritize standard payments by limiting non monetary data in blocks. Critics argued that the proposed fix posed risks to existing wallet structures and script formats. While some supporters of the change still defend the effort, the failed deployment has sparked internal debates, including calls to remove those who led the initiative from their roles as Bitcoin Improvement Proposal editors.

For now, the event serves as a clear demonstration of how difficult it is to alter Bitcoin's consensus without overwhelming support from miners and node operators. The price of Bitcoin remained stable throughout the ordeal, showing that the market viewed the split as a non event rather than a threat to the network.