The push to cap Bitcoin transaction data and push Ordinals inscriptions out of blocks collapsed this week. BIP-110's fork chain froze at block 961,633, with the main chain more than 240 blocks ahead, and the small mining group that produced the fork's only two blocks walked away on August 9. Backers now say they'll change the proof-of-work algorithm and launch a separate coin, targeting September 1.
How the fork died
The numbers were never close. Organizers lowered the activation threshold from 95% to 55% miner approval, and support still peaked at 2.53%. Mandatory signaling began at block 961,632, and nodes running Bitcoin Knots rules started rejecting blocks that didn't signal. That split the network — briefly. The fork chain froze one block later. Bitcoin kept going, more than 240 blocks ahead.
The only miner to touch the fork was a small group called Roughnecks, operating on OCEAN's platform. They mined two blocks and quit. That was it.
OCEAN's 18-hour detour
OCEAN admitted it routed some customers' hashrate to the minority chain for about 18 hours without clear consent. The admission came after the fork had already stalled. It's not clear how many customers were affected or what they were told, if anything.
The September 1 plan
The fork's backers aren't done. They're planning a proof-of-work change that would abandon Bitcoin's miners entirely and launch a separate coin. Luke Dashjr suggested September 1 as the day BIP-110 would have activated for that change. A proof-of-work change means every existing Bitcoin mining machine becomes useless on the new coin overnight — a hard sell for anyone holding hardware.
The fight has also turned internal. Murch, a Bitcoin Core contributor, filed a motion to strip Dashjr of his BIP Editor role, citing conflict of interest.
What the numbers say
Michael Saylor said about 99.85% of Bitcoin's hashpower stayed with the main chain, which he framed as proof the system worked. The comparison to Bitcoin Cash is instructive: BCH broke away in 2017 with far more support and kept Bitcoin's mining algorithm. It trades near $215, roughly 0.3% of Bitcoin's price. Bitcoin itself trades near $64,722, up 0.6% in the past day.
The September 1 target is now the next concrete date. Whether the new coin gets miners, users, or a ticker that matters is an open question — the last attempt didn't get past two blocks.
