Saylor Escalates Opposition to Bitcoin’s BIP-110 Data Curbs

Bitcoin’s investment case rests on a fixed supply of 21 million coins, permissionless transactions and consensus rules designed to resist unilateral change. Michael Saylor, co-founder and executive chairman of Strategy, likened the base-layer code to a constitution protecting holders’ economic rights. He argued that internal efforts to introduce covenants, larger blocks or protocol-level censorship pose a greater threat than external attacks, while innovation should remain on Layer 2 networks and at the application edge.

On July 18, Saylor published an approximately 3,700-word essay on X outlining 110 objections to BIP-110, formally called the Reduced Data Temporary Softfork. Version 1.0.0 was completed on June 25 and would restrict techniques used to place Ordinals and other non-payment data on Bitcoin for about one year. Ahead of an August signaling period, miner support stood at just 0.86%, far below the proposal’s 55% activation threshold.

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.