Foundry Calls on Bitcoin Miners to Vote on BIP-110

Bitcoin Improvement Proposal BIP-110 is a controversial blockchain network upgrade that uses a user-activated soft fork. The proposal matters to the global digital-asset market because failure to secure majority backing from the community and miners could split off a minority chain after the deadline. Such an outcome would divide overall computing power and pose a serious test for Bitcoin’s decentralized consensus and transaction security.

The controversial BIP-110 proposal faces an activation deadline in August 2026, according to the latest data. Miner support currently stands at just 0.42%, far below expectations. Unless support rises substantially as the August deadline approaches, its user-activated soft-fork mechanism could produce a small minority chain after the deadline that would coexist with the current Bitcoin mainnet.

Non-monetary transactions such as Ordinals inscriptions have sparked fierce debate across the Bitcoin community since their introduction because they consume block space and drive up fees. Opponents of such transactions subsequently proposed the BIP-110 soft fork to restrict this type of data insertion. The dispute is Bitcoin’s most closely watched protocol-level conflict since the historic blocksize war, and its outcome could have far-reaching implications for the network’s core principle of decentralization and its future direction.

Strategy Executive Chairman Michael Saylor and Blockstream CEO Adam Back have joined forces to oppose restrictions on inscriptions. The proposal has set a voluntary lock-in deadline of August 8, 2026, with activation scheduled for September 1 and requiring support from 55% of miners. However, miner support remained at 0% as of mid-July, making the proposal unlikely to pass without community consensus and raising the risk of a chain split.

BIP-110, or the Reduced Data Temporary Soft Fork, proposes a soft fork lasting about one year to restrict non-monetary data written to the Bitcoin blockchain through OP_RETURN, inscriptions and other methods. Supporters say it would curb blockchain bloat and preserve Bitcoin’s use for payments. Opponents argue that fee-paying transactions should not be censored, turning the dispute into a broader battle over block space and governance rights.

The first supporting block was mined on March 2, 2026. As of July 18, only eight of 940 blocks in the current signaling period had signaled support, or 0.85%, far below the 55% threshold, which requires 1,109 of 2,016 blocks. Strategy founder Michael Saylor and Blockstream co-founder Adam Back oppose the proposal. A mandatory signaling period is expected to begin in August, with activation possible as early as September, though the risk of a minority chain split remains.