BIP-110 Supporters Prepare PoW Switch If Miners Refuse Soft Fork Plan

amatop1984

08/08/26 • 127 Views • 0 Share • Published in Film & Animation

Bitcoin developer Chris Guida has dusted off code that could swap the mining algorithm on a breakaway BIP-110 chain if supporters fail to overcome miners’ resistance. With the activation height closin..

The code is not yet scheduled for activation, and Guida has described it as a last-resort contingency rather than an imminent fork. The codebase public release still raises the stakes around BIP-110, a proposed temporary soft fork that would restrict how much nonfinancial data can be embedded in bitcoin transactions and could place enforcing nodes on a separate chain if miners refuse to cooperate.

Guida Revives Bitcoin’s Nuclear Option Guida rebased proof-of-work change code written by Bitcoin developer Luke Dashjr in 2017 onto a recent Bitcoin Knots codebase.

The public branch updates the older concept for modern software and includes changes to mining validation, consensus settings, block handling, chain parameters and functional tests. On Aug. 4, Guida told the public that the code is being kept “in our back pocket” in case miners block or stall BIP-110. “

People seem to think that the intention is for this pow change to activate immediately,” the developer wrote. “That’s not the case This is just some code to have in our back pocket in case miners betray bitcoin, to activate at some point later.”

The purpose is to give BIP-110 supporters an escape route from the computing power controlled by existing miners. A new proof-of-work (PoW) algorithm would prevent today’s specialized bitcoin mining machines from immediately dominating the breakaway chain. Guida has said he expects miners to support a smooth BIP-110 activation, while Dashjr has doubled down by saying “

Core is the scamcoin,” making clear he sees the fight as far from over. Ordinals Keep Flowing While Bitcoin’s Biggest Players Stay Quiet Those backing Ordinals, Runes and other arbitrary blockchain data are making their position unmistakably clear just before mandatory signaling begins. At block height 961278, MARA Pool mined a block containing only two transactions, one of which embedded a vintage-style Pepe the Frog image. “Really MARA?” one user wrote. “3.85 MB space for this? People using Slipstream for

Across Bitcoin’s infrastructure, contingency planning for BIP-110 has been strikingly quiet. Major mining pools including MARA Pool, Antpool, F2Pool, ViaBTC and others have revealed little, while support has largely come from smaller operators such as SoV, Roughnecks and Sympatheia.

Exchanges and custodians remain mostly silent. Bitcoin.com News previously reported that Australian bitcoin platforms Bitaroo and Hardblock are among the few to publicly outline contingency plans. BIP-110 Forces Miners Toward a Deadline BIP-110, formally called the Reduced Data Temporary Softfork, would tighten Bitcoin’s rules on arbitrary data for roughly one year. It would limit certain contiguous data, reduce permitted script sizes and restore an 83-byte consensus limit for OP_RETURN, a transaction field that can be used to attach data. Supporters say the restrictions would return the base layer’s focus to financial activity and reduce legal or operational risks for node operators.

Voluntary signaling has remained low, even as Bitcoin Knots adoption has appeared higher among reachable nodes. That gap matters because miners provide the computing power that advances the chain, while nodes independently decide which blocks and rules they accept. When miners and a meaningful group of nodes follow incompatible rules, Bitcoin can divide into competing histories, ultimately leaving businesses and users to decide which chain they recognize. A PoW Switch Would Strand Today’s ASICs Bitcoin currently uses double SHA-256, known as SHA-256d, as its PoW algorithm. Specialized machines called application-specific integrated circuits, or ASICs, perform that calculation far more efficiently than ordinary computers and account for nearly all modern bitcoin mining. Changing the algorithm would make those machines ineffective on the new chain unless developers selected a compatible replacement.

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