‘Can not be censored’- Bitcoin proposal to block Ordinals wins under 1% support

The controversial Bitcoin soft fork aimed at combating network spam, BIP-110, has failed to garner enough support from miners. 

As of 4th July, the final day for miners (miner-activated soft fork, MASF) to implement the temporary upgrade, the support was surprisingly negligible. Notably, only 10 blocks out of 2,016 supported the move, or less than 1% of the total Bitcoin hashrate power. 

For the soft fork to be activated, 55% of blocks should signal support in a 2,016-block period.

Reacting to the low support by miners, David Bailey, founder of the Bitcoin Conference and treasury firm Nakamoto, termed it “bullish” for BTC. 

It’s incredibly bullish for Bitcoin that the hostile takeover attempt known as BIP-110 failed. This attack was a multi-year campaign of information warfare led by Bitcoin’s most eccentric developer.

The proposal was first introduced by pseudonymous developer Dathon Ohm to help restrict non-financial data on Bitcoin transactions. In other words, Ordinals and Runes that incorporate images, videos, or large texts would be blocked out of the network. 

For supporters, like Luke Davis Jr, a renowned Bitcoin protocol developer, the soft fork would ensure the network maintains its core money function by encouraging low-cost P2P transfers.

For them, memecoins on Bitcoin would increase transfer costs and make such a vision impossible. 

Critics warn BIP-110 could crack Bitcoin wallets

However, for the critics, the planned soft fork goes beyond just preventing anti-spamming. BitMEX Research claimed that the plan can easily break wallets and would ban over 1.7M BTC from transfers. 

Bitcoin has never banned existing transaction formats like this before. This essentially breaks Bitcoin as a reliable money and something people can depend on.

On his part, Adam Back, Blockstream CEO and another public critic of the BIP-110, warned those pushing for a soft fork that Bitcoin cannot be censored, just like the internet. 

Same logic for Bitcoin: it’s also similarly hard to censor. Why do you think anyone cares about your pro-censorship views?

The final window for activation of the BIP-110 will be in August by users. Given the low support from miners, it is unclear whether Bitcoin supporters will fail to back the soft fork. 

Final Summary

• The BIP-110 soft fork failed to garner enough miner backing, with less than 1% of hashrate power signaling support. The 
• Bitcoin community remained divided over the upgrade, with critics claiming the protocol can not be ‘censored.’