Bitcoin Network Splits as BIP-110 Nodes Fall Behind
Bitcoin's network experienced a split into two competing chains on Saturday, leaving nodes enforcing the contested BIP-110 rules 18 blocks behind. The divergence occurred at block height 961,632 when AntPool mined a non-signaling block without the version bit 4 signal, which was required by the BIP-110 proposal.
The majority of the network accepted the block without incident, but nodes running BIP-110 rejected it and followed a rival block produced through the Ocean pool by Roughnecks. The minority chain managed to squeeze out two blocks before stalling, while the dominant chain kept its normal pace, reaching 961,651 by Saturday evening.
The BIP-110 proposal aimed to cap transaction data fields that carry Ordinals inscriptions and Runes tokens at one year, but it failed to gain broad miner support. Even after Ocean switched signaling on by default in July, the percentage of miners supporting the proposal never exceeded 3%, far short of the 55% threshold set by its authors.
Developer Jameson Lopp confirmed the divergence and pointed readers toward a live dashboard tracking both chain tips. The split has raised concerns about the future of the BIP-110 proposal, with some arguing that it will fork into irrelevance if it fails to gain sufficient support.