The BIP-110 faction has split from the main Bitcoin network and managed to mine a tiny chain of four blocks. Typically, this would immediately kill a fork, but supporters of BIP-110 have a different path to survival: to rid the minority chain of the unbearable SHA-256 difficulty by completely replacing the proof-of-work cryptographic hash function. Rumors suggest the switch to a new PoW algorithm could happen in September.
To date, the Roughnecks have extended the minority chain to block 961635, but after this block was mined three days ago on August 12th, progress has stalled once again. Since then, block 961636 has accumulated a staggering amount of fees, but with virtually no exchange support, no one can reliably assess the value of the asset created by the BIP-110 fork or determine what these fees are worth.
The Plan: Blake2b
Supporters of BIP-110, including Ocean co-founder Luke Dash Jr., claim the minority chain will switch its PoW hash function from SHA-256 to Blake2b. According to available information, this choice was made from several randomly selected hash functions and PoW algorithms. Importantly, changing the minority chain's PoW hash function does not mean inventing or implementing a completely new consensus mechanism.
The original Blake algorithm was developed in 2008, and Blake2 emerged on December 21, 2012, thanks to Christian Winnerlein, Jean-Philippe Aumasson, Samuel Neves, and Zcash founder Zooko Wilcox-O'Hearn. Blake2b is an optimized 64-bit variant of this primitive, designed for higher performance on modern processors. Blake2b was developed with the goal of outperforming SHA-256 on modern 64-bit CPUs while maintaining an equivalent or higher level of cryptographic security.
As a Nakamoto consensus-based mining primitive, Blake2b has seen relatively limited adoption: it is used in Siacoin and only a few other PoW blockchains. For Blake2b to work, BIP-110 developers must rewrite the header validation mechanism and implement new PoW validation in the minority chain. Mining software, Stratum servers, and pool infrastructure must support the updated header format and hash function.
Explorers, wallets, and indexing tools also need updates to recognize the altered chain and its tokens. Miners, in turn, will require hardware or software capable of efficiently processing Blake2b. This is a large-scale undertaking, but its supporters seem determined to see it through.
No Exchange Trading Means No Price for the New Coin
The coin resulting from the BIP-110 fork has yet to appear on any exchange. There is no demand, no supply, no liquid market capable of determining a reliable price. Coins mined by the Roughnecks, under current rules, cannot be spent until they receive 100 confirmations. For now, transfers are mainly limited to holders who know how to safely split their coins, and users unknowingly sending BIP-110 coins due to the fork's lack of replay protection.
As of this weekend, over 400,000 transactions have accumulated, waiting for a block and confirmations in the minority chain. Since the fork froze after just four blocks, this backlog will not be cleared anytime soon. With practically no economic incentives, supporters of the minority chain are already facing a brutal and difficult struggle. This fork has perhaps received the weakest support from industry infrastructure since the 2017 fork frenzy, when dozens of split coins still managed to gain recognition from major wallets and exchanges.
Here, this hasn't happened at all, and the crypto community is forced to watch events unfold. The real test will come if BIP-110 supporters actually abandon SHA-256 for Blake2b, reset the excessive mining difficulty, and finally add proper replay protection.
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