BIP-110 Signaling Window Opens With Almost No Miner Support
The proposed one-year soft fork to restrict Ordinals, BRC-20 tokens, and Runes from Bitcoin transactions has entered its mandatory signaling window with little pool support — and Michael Saylor has called it "a bad idea."
BY DEREK CHU5 MIN READ
BIP-110 entered its mandatory signaling window with little support from Bitcoin mining pools.
What BIP-110 would do
BIP-110 is a proposed one-year soft fork that would restrict a category of non-financial data — including Ordinals, BRC-20 tokens, and Runes — from Bitcoin transactions, largely by limiting how OP_RETURN outputs and similar data-carrying fields can be used. An earlier signaling attempt mined two blocks before stalling in early August with support from barely 1% of miners.
Where signaling stands
The proposal has now entered its mandatory signaling window, the formal period during which mining pools indicate support by flagging blocks. Major pools have shown little movement toward backing it, and Michael Saylor has publicly called BIP-110 "a bad idea." Activation still looks unlikely given the low signaling, though the governance dispute the proposal has surfaced is likely to persist regardless of the technical outcome.
The governance fight underneath
Even a failed BIP-110 exposes an unresolved tension between miners, node operators, and the application builders who rely on Bitcoin's transaction format for data-heavy projects. The real question isn't whether this specific proposal activates — it's who gets to decide what counts as a valid use of Bitcoin's block space going forward.
WHY IT MATTERS
Even if BIP-110 fails to activate, the fight over it exposes an unresolved tension between miners, node operators, and application builders over how much control any single actor has over what counts as a valid Bitcoin transaction.
What to watch next
1.Whether signaling support grows or fades further before the window closes.
2.Statements from other major public bitcoin holders and companies on the proposal.
3.Whether a rival proposal or compromise emerges from the mining community.
Frequently asked questions
What is a soft fork?
A soft fork is a backward-compatible rule change: nodes that don't upgrade still accept new blocks, unlike a hard fork, which can split the network into two chains.
Would BIP-110 ban Ordinals?
It would restrict a category of non-financial data from Bitcoin transactions for one year, not ban any specific project outright, though it would affect systems built on that data, including Ordinals, BRC-20 tokens, and Runes.
Why does Michael Saylor oppose it?
Saylor has framed BIP-110 as an unnecessary intervention in bitcoin's neutral transaction rules, calling the proposal a bad idea.
SOURCES & DATA
Education, not financial advice. See our editorial process and corrections policy.
Derek Chu
Bitcoin Almanack's editorial byline for on-chain data, holder behavior, exchange flows, network activity, and technical market structure.
For the activation threshold, chain-split risk and proposal mechanics, read our complete BIP-110 explainer.
Sources, standards & corrections
Sources are linked inline. Read our editorial information, AI disclosure and corrections policy, or report an error.
Sources are linked inline. Read our editorial information, AI disclosure and corrections policy, or report an error.