Foundry Digital, the world's largest Bitcoin mining pool, is putting a contentious network upgrade in the hands of its clients. The pool is allowing miners to vote on BIP-110, a soft fork that would temporarily restrict spam by limiting non-monetary data on the blockchain. With about a third of the total network hashrate, Foundry's move could tip the scales on a proposal that's split the community.
How the vote works
Each client's vote is weighted by their average hashrate on the pool over a 10-day window between July 6 and July 15. Accounts that don't vote are counted as 'No.' The signaling period runs through early August at block 961,632. Foundry's starting position is 'No,' and it will only switch to 'Yes' if 'Yes' votes cross 51% of the voting hashrate. Individual votes stay confidential, though aggregate results may be shared.
Why BIP-110 is divisive
Supporters say the proposal would restore Bitcoin as pure peer-to-peer money by capping OP_RETURN outputs to 83 bytes, limiting outputs to 34 bytes, and rejecting data pushes above 256 bytes. But opponents — including Michael Saylor and Adam Back — argue it turns a policy dispute into a consensus change. Their concern: it could invalidate fee-paying transactions that use the blockchain for data storage, even if those transactions are otherwise valid.
Foundry's role and the hashpower behind it
Foundry controls roughly one-third of the total hashrate, making its position consequential. Analysts at BGeometrics identified Foundry and Antpool as the two pools capable of moving daily signaling into a meaningful range. That means Foundry's vote structure — starting 'No' but open to flipping — gives the whole process real weight. The pool isn't dictating the outcome; it's letting the hashrate decide.
The signaling period is expected to run until block 961,632, which should arrive in early August. If 'Yes' votes clear 51%, Foundry will switch its position. But even then, the vote is just signaling — it doesn't lock in the soft fork. The real test will be whether other pools and miners follow. Right now, the clock is ticking, and the hashrate is speaking.
