Bitcoin's BIP-110 Forks a Minority Chain Backed by 2.5% of Miners

Bitcoin split at block 961,632 on 8 August

Bitcoin split into two chains on 8 August 2026 at block 961,632. Nodes running Bitcoin Improvement Proposal 110 (BIP-110) rejected a block that did not signal support for it. AntPool mined that block on the main network, while a miner named Roughnecks produced a competing block through the Ocean pool. The two blocks held different transactions, which created a separate minority chain. At one point on the day of the split, the main chain had reached block 961,640 while the BIP-110 chain sat seven blocks behind at 961,633.

Miner signalling reached 2.53%, far below the threshold

BIP-110 needed 55% miner support — 1,109 of 2,016 blocks — to activate. During the final signalling period, only 51 blocks signalled support, or 2.53%. Four pools that together control more than 70% of Bitcoin's hashrate — Foundry Digital, AntPool, ViaBTC and F2Pool — never signalled for it. Most of the limited support came from the Ocean pool, which left the effort far short of activation.

BIP-110 sought a one-year limit on data

BIP-110 is a proposed one-year change that restricts non-financial data storage on Bitcoin, including Ordinals inscriptions. It caps certain data fields at 256 bytes, limits OP_RETURN outputs to 83 bytes and restricts certain Taproot functions. The proposal grew out of a long dispute over how Bitcoin's block space should be used. Luke Dashjr, chief technology officer at Ocean, backs BIP-110 and argues that non-financial data distracts from Bitcoin's core payment function. Opponents say node policies and fee markets, not consensus rules, should decide which valid transactions get block space. Supporters see the split as a way to keep pressing their case on a separate chain.

Saylor said the vote was not miner consensus

Michael Saylor, executive chairman of Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, opposed the proposal before the split. He pointed to the low signalling count as proof that miners had not agreed.

"The 55% voluntary threshold is now mathematically unreachable this period. This is not miner consensus.", 1 August 2026. — Michael Saylor, Executive Chairman, Strategy

Bitcoin's price held steady after the split

Bitcoin traded at $64,729 at the time of publication, down 0.35% over the past 24 hours and up 2.1% over the past seven days (CoinPaprika, 9 August 2026). Trading volume over the previous 24 hours fell about 45% (CoinPaprika, 9 August 2026). Its total market value stood near $1.30 trillion. The chain split produced no clear move in the price.

The minority chain fell behind the main network

The outcome differs from Bitcoin's Taproot upgrade in November 2021. That change activated at block 709,632 with broad miner support and did not leave a lasting minority chain. BIP-110 drew far less backing, so its rejection of non-signalling blocks pushed its supporters onto a separate chain. The minority chain lost ground after the split. Reporting on the split put mining difficulty at 127.48 trillion at that height, which left the smaller chain facing slow blocks with limited hashrate. Within hours, the BIP-110 chain trailed the main network by more than a dozen blocks. Holders on the minority chain hold coins that only its nodes recognise, separate from the main Bitcoin network.