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BIP-110 Fork Stalls
A minority chain created by supporters of Bitcoin’s BIP-110 proposal split from Bitcoin on Saturday and produced just two blocks roughly eight hours after going live, while the main bitcoin chain advanced by 48 blocks.
“producing only two blocks in roughly eight hours while the main bitcoin chain has advanced by 48 blocks”
The breakaway chain sits at block 961,633 while the main bitcoin chain has reached block 961,681, and the fork happened at 961,632 when computers running BIP-110 software began rejecting any block that did not signal support for the proposal.
CoinDesk said the fork inherited bitcoin’s mining difficulty but has only a tiny share of hashpower, leaving it unable to make mining easier until it completes 2,016 blocks at that pace.
The BIP-110 stall is tied to the proposal’s one-year aim to stop people storing pictures, text and other non-financial data inside bitcoin transactions, with supporters arguing it would reduce congestion and costs while critics argue it violates users’ freedom to use paid block space.
CoinDesk also warned that both chains still accept identical transactions, so a signed transaction sending fork coins can be rebroadcast on bitcoin, creating replay-style risks for anyone trying to sell fork coins.
Mandatory Signaling Window
As the mandatory signaling window opens for BIP-110, BigGo Finance said the decisive phase begins at block 961,632 and runs through block 963,647, with nodes running Bitcoin Knots rejecting every block that fails to set version bit 4.
BigGo Finance put miner backing at roughly 2.6%, far below the 55% supermajority required for lock-in, and said that if lock-in materializes it must occur no later than block 963,648 with full activation following at block 965,664.
In the same window, BigGo Finance reported that by block 961,421 monitors logged 47 signaling blocks out of 1,806, or 2.60%, and that the highest reachable total is 263 with 217 blocks remaining in the period.
BigGo Finance also quoted BIP-110’s pseudonymous author Dathon Ohm urging miners and users to install Bitcoin Knots and abandon Bitcoin Core, writing: "It is not recommended to run Bitcoin Core, as it will become insecure when mandatory signaling begins".
Michael Saylor, executive chairman of Strategy (MSTR), framed the same mechanism differently in a post, saying: "At 961,632, BIP-110 nodes reject non-signaling blocks."
Replay Risk and PoW Contingency
Beyond the stalled fork, the debate has sharpened around what happens to holders if exchanges and custodians must decide which chain to treat as canonical, because BigGo Finance said the immediate practical question is whether holders end up with coins on two incompatible chains.
“Both chains still accept identical transactions, so a signed transaction sending fork coins also works on bitcoin”
CoinDesk described the fork’s position for sellers as “an awkward position,” because both chains accept identical transactions and a buyer can rebroadcast a signed transaction to collect real BTC from the same seller.
In parallel, Bitcoin developer Chris Guida said supporters are preparing a switch to proof of work (PoW) if miners reject the soft fork plan, updating PoW fork code originally authored by Luke Dashjr in 2017 within a recent Bitcoin Knots codebase.
Guida told users the PoW change is not meant to be activated immediately, writing: "That’s not the case. It’s simply code we have on hand in case miners betray Bitcoin, to activate it at some later time."
The PoW contingency is presented as an escape route from the miners’ hash rate, while Guida’s public branch keeps BIP-110’s deadline tied to the mandatory signaling window approaching around August 8 or 9 at block 961,632.
