‘We’re trying to defend Bitcoin’: Why BIP-110 is losing community support
Blockstream CEO Adam Back argues that Bitcoin Improvement Proposal 110 (BIP-110), a contentious soft fork, is misguided. He contends discussions are fueled by misconceptions about Bitcoin's architecture, not malicious intent, and that the proposal's proponents are often well-intentioned newcomers. BIP-110, implemented in December 2025, aims to restrict arbitrary data like Ordinals inscriptions to prevent network spam and preserve Bitcoin's primary function as peer-to-peer cash.
Back acknowledges spam is an issue but believes Bitcoin's existing market-driven mechanisms—transaction fees, miner incentives, and decentralized consensus—already address it. He argues BIP-110 clashes with Bitcoin's permissionless ethos and that a fork based on it would likely fail due to a lack of community support and because it contradicts Bitcoin's foundational principles.
Market dynamics show limited support for the proposal, with only 10 out of 2,016 blocks backing a temporary upgrade on July 4th. Concurrently, Ordinals activity has dropped to all-time lows, with fewer than 10,000 inscriptions daily. Bitcoin's price has also fallen 45% over the past year. Michael Saylor echoes Back's critical stance on BIP-110.
ambcrypto9h ago