Bitcoin’s BIP-110 fork is 300 blocks behind BTC and six years from fixing itself
A controversial Bitcoin fork attempt known as BIP-110 has effectively stalled after failing to gain sufficient miner support, leaving the new chain hundreds of blocks behind the main network. Due to the network's difficulty adjustment mechanism, the fork is now projected to take over six years to produce the blocks necessary to reset its mining difficulty.
Why it matters
The incident highlights the technical challenges and consensus requirements inherent in modifying Bitcoin's protocol, demonstrating how failed governance attempts can lead to network fragmentation and technical stagnation.
The chain that broke away from bitcoin on Saturday has not moved since. It is still sitting on block 961,633, its second. Bitcoin has since climbed to block 961,959, leaving the fork 326 blocks behind.
The split happened because of a proposal called BIP-110, which would stop people storing pictures, text and other non-payment data in bitcoin transactions for a year. Changing bitcoin's rules requires miners to agree, and they register that agreement by marking the blocks they produce. BIP-110 needed 55% of blocks over a two-week stretch. It got about 2.6% at its peak.
But rather than accept that, the proposal had a second route built into it. At block 961,632, computers running BIP-110 software began rejecting every block that did not carry the mark, regardless of what miners had decided.
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