BIP-110 Voluntary Support Falls Short, Raising Concerns Over Miner Backing

Michael Saylor says BIP-110 cannot reach the required voluntary miner threshold in the current difficulty period, and public monitor data backs up the math — raising fresh concerns about whether the proposal has genuine miner support or is being pushed through by a small, coordinated group. What the numbers show - At block 960,561, Saylor reported 24 signaling blocks out of 946 — 2.54% of the period so far. He said every signal came from miners using DATUM with rewards shared through the OCEAN pool, and that no signals were observed outside that system. - By 11:13 UTC on Aug. 2 the public BIP-110 monitor had reached block 960,723 and tallied 28 signals in 1,108 blocks — 2.53% — with 908 blocks remaining in the 2,016-block difficulty period. - BIP-110 needs 1,109 signaling blocks in a single difficulty period to lock in voluntarily (a 55% threshold). Even if every remaining block in this period signaled, the total could only reach 936 — “mathematically unreachable,” Saylor said — so the current voluntary window cannot produce the required majority. Attribution caveat The public monitor confirms the low overall signaling rate and that the count barely changed after four additional signals appeared. However, it does not independently verify Saylor’s claim that every signaling block came from DATUM/OCEAN. His pool attribution applied to the 24 blocks examined at block 960,561; monitor logs confirm the rate but not the promotional intent he alleges. What BIP-110 would do BIP-110, formally the “Reduced Data Temporary Softfork,” proposes temporary consensus limits intended to curb arbitrary data stored on-chain. Key proposed restrictions include: - Limiting most new output scripts to 34 bytes - Capping OP_RETURN outputs at 83 bytes - Restricting certain data pushes to 256 bytes - Temporarily limiting several Taproot features Outputs created before activation would be exempt. Supporters say a one-year rule set would protect Bitcoin’s monetary focus; critics argue consensus rules should not decide which currently valid transaction formats get block space. Claims about promotion and pool behavior Saylor has alleged that OCEAN made signaling for BIP-110 the default on an endpoint, calling the effort a “vertically integrated marketing campaign for Knots and OCEAN/DATUM.” That characterization is his interpretation; independent technical reviewers have not made that finding. The official BIP-110 installation guide does direct users to Bitcoin Knots and includes instructions for pointing rented hashpower at a DATUM node. OCEAN’s DATUM documentation says miners create block templates through their local nodes while the pool coordinates reward splits rather than constructing the mining work — a technical relationship the docs confirm but that does not, on its own, prove promotional intent. Timeline and risk of enforced activation - The voluntary signaling period ends at block 961,631. - From block 961,632 through 963,647, BIP-110’s implementation would require mandatory signaling: software enforcing the proposal would reject every block that does not set bit 4. - If mandatory signaling reaches 100% in that window, Saylor warns that outcome would reflect the software rule rather than a fresh miner vote of support. - If the mandatory window succeeds, BIP-110 would lock in at block 963,648 and activate at block 965,664, after which its restrictions would apply for 52,416 blocks (roughly one year). What to watch next The next decisive signals will come from major mining pools, exchanges, wallets and node operators before the mandatory period begins. Foundry USA Pool separately solicited customer votes on whether the pool should signal; its voting window closes near block 961,632, but no verified result was public as of Aug. 2. Low voluntary signaling does not by itself cancel BIP-110 because the deployment path includes a mandatory signaling window — however, enforcing nodes could end up following a minority chain if most hashpower continues to mine non-signaling blocks. Saylor and other critics, including Blockstream co-founder Adam Back, have warned that enforcing the proposal without broad agreement risks dividing the network. Bottom line The current data and Saylor’s analysis show that voluntary miner support for BIP-110 is currently far below the 55% lock-in threshold and appears concentrated among a small set of participants. Whether the proposal advances will depend on how large mining pools and node operators act before and during the impending mandatory signaling window — and whether the community can avoid a contentious split over governance and on-chain policy.