Bitcoin Fork BIP-110 Fades After Failed Split
The minority chain produced only two blocks in eight hours and has little miner support. The split centers on BIP-110, which aims to limit non-financial data in Bitcoin transactions.
Key Takeaways
- Bitcoin's BIP-110 fork produced only two blocks in about eight hours and is now close to stalling.
- Bitcoin's main chain is still advancing, and there is no clear sign of lasting miner support for the new chain.
- Because both chains share the same transactions, replay attacks remain a risk, while confirmations on the split are moving slowly.
A minority chain split from Bitcoin on Saturday by BIP-110 supporters has managed to produce just two blocks in roughly eight hours. The result is a chain that is nearly frozen, while Bitcoin's main network continues on as normal. So far, there is no evidence that miners are lining up behind the new chain in any meaningful way.
A Split Without Support
The fork began at block 961.632, when nodes running BIP-110 software started rejecting blocks that did not signal support for the proposal. On the main Bitcoin chain, the network had already reached block 961.681, while the split chain was still stuck at block 961.633.
BIP-110, or Bitcoin Improvement Proposal-110, is designed to prevent images, text, and other non-financial data from being stored in Bitcoin transactions for one year. Supporters say that would preserve blockspace for payments and help keep fees from climbing for users who only want to move money. Opponents counter that if someone pays the fee, they should be free to decide how that space is used.
The dispute also gets at a broader Bitcoin question: how much non-financial data should be allowed onchain, and who should have the final say over protocol changes? That makes BIP-110 more than a technical tweak. It is also a test of how consensus works in a decentralized network. Earlier in the debate, support was already looking thin: Bitcoin Reaches Block 961.632 as BIP-110 Debate Heats Up showed that miner backing was well below the threshold.
Why the Chain Is Stalling
The slowdown comes down to how Bitcoin adjusts mining difficulty every 2,016 blocks so that new blocks arrive about every 10 minutes on average. The split inherited that difficulty setting, but it only has a small amount of hashpower behind it, so blocks are arriving very slowly.
According to the monitor, the new chain would not be able to adjust its difficulty again for about 350 days. Bitcoin itself, by contrast, does so every 14 days. In practical terms, that makes it hard to see the split escaping its current deadlock anytime soon.
Risks for Users
The setup also creates problems for anyone thinking about trading the fork coin. Since both chains still accept the same transactions, a transaction signed on the split can also be replayed on Bitcoin. That creates a possible attack vector in which a buyer sends the same transaction again on the main chain and ends up receiving real BTC there.
On top of that, the new chain is moving so slowly that confirmations are also taking a long time. That raises questions about whether the fork can remain useful as a separate network, especially now that miner support according to the monitor is still far below the level needed to activate without a split.
