The BIP-110 minority chain has fallen 18 blocks behind Bitcoin's main chain following a chain split at block 961,632. The Roughnecks mining pool produced blocks 961,632 and 961,633 on the BIP-110 fork, while Bitcoin's main chain advanced to block 961,651.

The split occurred after mandatory signaling rules took effect. BIP-110 inherited Bitcoin's mining difficulty of 127.48 trillion but operates with only a small fraction of Bitcoin's total hash power, resulting in significantly longer block intervals on the minority chain. This dynamic mirrors prior Bitcoin chain splits, such as the 2017 Bitcoin Cash fork, where minority chains initially lagged behind before independent difficulty adjustments took hold.

Roughnecks and the Chain Split

Roughnecks mined its second BIP-110 block at height 961,633 after Antpool produced the competing block on Bitcoin's main chain. The two chains subsequently diverged under different node rulesets.

Because Bitcoin adjusts mining difficulty every 2,016 blocks — roughly two weeks at normal hash rates — the BIP-110 chain must continue producing blocks at the inherited difficulty level before it can reach its next adjustment. With only a sliver of total network hash power, that adjustment could take far longer on the minority chain, compounding its lag. Matthew Kratter acknowledged that the BIP-110 chain would need a dramatic shift in hash power to overtake Bitcoin. Some supporters have discussed changing the proof-of-work algorithm as a potential path forward, a step that would constitute a hard fork and create a fundamentally separate network.

Miner Support Remains Below Threshold

Michael Saylor stated that BIP-110 had received only 2.6% miner support. He noted that BIP-110 nodes would reject blocks lacking the required signaling after block 961,632. The proposal's mandatory signaling period required 55% miner support, but reported figures indicate actual support ranged between 0.3% and 2.6%, well short of the activation threshold.

Dathon Ohm, the author of BIP-110, characterized the situation as an attack on the Bitcoin network by hostile miners. Luke Dashjr separately warned Bitcoin Knots users about potential double-spending attacks, a known risk during chain splits when users may see conflicting confirmations across competing chains.

The dispute stems from disagreements over Bitcoin's handling of arbitrary data embedded in transactions, a practice popularized by Ordinals inscriptions and related protocols that encode data in witness fields. BIP-110 proposes temporary restrictions on such data within Bitcoin transactions.

Longer Block Times on the Minority Chain

No stolen or affected coins have been reported. The immediate concern centers on block production speed and the competing chain rules.

Simple Mining, an Iowa-based hosting company that directs hash power toward Ocean, mined Bitcoin block 961,634. The company uses Ocean's DATUM system, which allows miners to select their own block templates.

Ocean has direct ties to the BIP-110 camp. Dashjr serves as Ocean's chief technology officer, and both Ocean and DATUM miners provided early signaling support for the proposal.

At block height 961,651, the BIP-110 chain trails Bitcoin's main chain by 18 blocks.