Bitcoin: The Anti-Spam Fork BIP-110 Has Failed

Set Trending Topics as a preferred source on Google.

A proposal set out to ban images, text and other “spam” data from the Bitcoin blockchain. The showdown came over the weekend – and the result was clear: the breakaway chain managed just two blocks in 15 hours, while Bitcoin moved on by 90.

Bitcoin Improvement Proposal 110, or BIP-110, has divided the Bitcoin community for months. The decision came on Saturday evening – and BIP-110 lost. The rule change would have needed 55 percent support from miners. It got 2.53 percent.

What it was about

Only around four megabytes fit into each Bitcoin block. Anyone who pays can fill that space – including with things that have nothing to do with payments: images, text, so-called inscriptions or Ordinals. Part of the community sees this as spam that bloats the blockchain and drives up fees for ordinary transfers.

BIP-110 wanted to restrict such data at the consensus level for roughly one year. The proposal is credited to the pseudonym “Dathon Ohm”; the driving force behind it is widely seen as long-time developer Luke Dashjr, who also maintains the alternative Bitcoin software Knots.

Why many rejected the method

Plenty of people shared the goal. The criticism was aimed at how it was pursued – on three counts: