BIP-110 Bitcoin branch stalls after two blocks as gap widens
The enforcing fork remains stuck at Bitcoin’s full mining difficulty as mandatory signaling proceeds with little hashpower support.
The Bitcoin BIP-110 enforcing fork remains stalled at the network's maximum mining difficulty despite limited support from miners. As of Sunday, this branch had only mined two blocks, bringing its total to block 961,633. Meanwhile, the non-enforcing chain progressed to block 961,721, creating an 88-block gap between the two. According to the BIP-110 monitor, the latest block was mined approximately 12 hours prior.
This branch was mined by a group known as Roughnecks, who utilized Ocean's DATUM mining protocol. The split occurred after BIP-110 entered mandatory signaling at block 961,632, with only 51 out of the previous 2,016 blocks signaling support, or 2.53%. During this period, BIP-110 nodes reject blocks lacking version bit 4 signaling, while regular Bitcoin nodes accept both signaling and non-signaling blocks.
Mandatory signaling is set to continue through block 963,647. Progress in the enforcing branch is slow, as it must mine through the remaining 2,016-block adjustment period without additional hashpower. BIP-110 has faced criticism from influential Bitcoin figures. Michael Saylor, strategy executive chairman, acknowledged the proposal's goals but argued it undermines Bitcoin's neutral rules and consensus.
Blockstream CEO Adam Back warned that this consensus-level change could damage Bitcoin's credibility and potentially render certain unspent transaction outputs unspendable.
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