Bitcoin Knots, the alternative node client maintained by veteran developer Luke Dashjr, claimed over the weekend that the Bitcoin network is under attack and block production has slowed. Public chain data tells a different story. The main Bitcoin chain continued producing blocks normally, passing height 961,963 on August 11, with the last six blocks averaging under 10 minutes apart.
The claim vs. the chain data
The Knots fork, which runs BIP-110, stalled at block 961,633 after producing only two blocks. The main network pulled more than 300 blocks ahead. Miners never backed the split. Support peaked near 2.53% even after the activation threshold was lowered from 95% to 55%, then dropped to zero during mandatory signaling.
David Schwartz, former CTO of Ripple, called the claim nonsense and accused the project of misleading people who lack technical context. Adam Back dismissed the campaign as unserious.
A fork that never caught on
Bitcoin Knots is an alternative node client that filters out data its users treat as spam. It runs on a small slice of the network. Mining pool OCEAN, co-founded by Dashjr, admitted routing miners onto the minority chain without clear consent. Its hashrate collapsed by 96% soon after.
The group plans to pick a new proof-of-work algorithm on August 11 at 14:00 UTC through a deterministic draw in its Discord. The aim is to launch a breakaway chain by September 1.
What happens next
Bitcoin trades near $63,979, down 1.5% on the day. Traders have shrugged off the dispute. The draw at 14:00 UTC will show whether the group can follow through on its plan, but with miner support at zero, the breakaway chain faces an uphill climb.
