Blockchain Tech Update: BIP-110 Stalls, Glamsterdam Hits Snags
July was a significant month for blockchain technology, particularly in the Bitcoin and Ethereum ecosystems. On July 8, Bitcoin Core v31.1 was released, introducing new features, bug fixes, performance improvements, and translation updates.
The release addressed issues such as excessive disk reads and writes due to repeated rewriting of chainstate database data and IP address leaks when using the -privatebroadcast feature.
Meanwhile, BIP-110 became a focal point of Bitcoin governance in July. The proposal seeks to restrict inscriptions, OP_RETURN, and other non-monetary data through a one-year soft fork. By mid-month, miner signaling remained below 1%. Foundry launched a hashrate-weighted vote, but by July 27, signaling had reached only approximately 2.64%, far below the 55% threshold.
On the Ethereum side, the Glamsterdam upgrade entered its final round of integration and performance testing in early July. The upgrade aims to deliver extreme L1 scaling and greater MEV fairness. However, progress was slowed by issues such as performance degradation in progressive SSZ containers, inconsistencies in BAL RPC, and payload propagation problems.
The team has postponed the launch of DevNet 8 / Platåberget testnet until benchmark testing and Discovery v5 preparations are complete. The upgrade is currently only scheduled for the second half of 2026, with no formal mainnet date announced.