Key facts
- The Bitcoin BIP-110 soft fork proposal has failed to achieve the necessary consensus for activation.
- Key figures including Michael Saylor, Adam Back, and Samson Mow opposed the proposal.
The proposed Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) 110, aimed at temporarily restricting non-payment data on the blockchain to combat spam, has failed to gain sufficient community support. Prominent figures like Michael Saylor and Adam Back opposed the soft fork due to technical risks and potential ineffectiveness.
The failure of BIP-110 highlights ongoing debates within the Bitcoin community regarding network resource management and the acceptable use of blockchain space, demonstrating the challenges in achieving consensus for significant protocol changes.
The Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) 110, which aimed to temporarily restrict the integration of non-payment data such as images and text on the Bitcoin blockchain for one year, has failed to gain sufficient community support. Prominent Bitcoin advocates, including Michael Saylor, Adam Back, and Samson Mow, strongly opposed the proposal, citing concerns over unnecessary technical risks and potential ineffectiveness in curbing blockchain spam.
Farside UK announced on X that BIP-110 had not reached the required 55% miner signaling threshold and therefore could never achieve it, leading to its failure. Earlier warnings indicated that the proposal would need over 73% miner signaling to succeed within the current period, or it would spin off into a new coin. Supporters of the proposal argued that the temporary limitations would help mitigate blockchain spam and free up network resources for financial transactions.
Critics, however, raised doubts about the proposal's efficacy, with some developers cautioning about potential activation bugs that could lead to a chain split. Others pointed out that images could still be recorded on the blockchain despite the proposed restrictions. The proposal, submitted by developer Dathon Ohm in late 2025, suggested seven temporary changes to the consensus, including limits on witness elements and Tapscript instructions. It also proposed that coins stored prior to the new rules remain spendable, though some pre-signed transactions could become unusable if submitted during the temporary restrictions.