BIP-110 entered its mandatory signaling period in August with less than 3% of miners signaling support, according to contemporaneous reporting. The proposal is now marked closed in the Bitcoin Improvement Proposals repository. Its short life still offers a useful case study in how Bitcoin rule changes move from a technical specification to a network-wide coordination test.
The proposal, titled Reduced Data Temporary Softfork, sought a one-year consensus change that would limit several ways transactions can carry large data fields. Its stated goal was to reduce the cost imposed on node operators by arbitrary data storage and to keep block space focused on monetary use. Opponents saw the same restrictions as an attempt to narrow a permissionless network’s acceptable uses.
What BIP-110 would have restricted
The specification set a 34-byte ceiling for most new output scripts, while allowing OP_RETURN outputs up to 83 bytes. It also limited certain pushed data and witness items to 256 bytes, restricted spending through undefined witness versions, and disabled several Taproot-related paths during the temporary deployment.
Existing coins received explicit protection. Outputs created before activation would have remained spendable under the old rules, and the temporary restrictions would have expired after one year. That grandfathering provision addressed one of the sharpest risks in a consensus change: making previously valid funds impossible to spend.
The proposal’s authors argued that large data fields increase storage and validation burdens, particularly when they expand the unspent transaction output set. Critics objected that consensus rules should not decide which fee-paying transactions have an acceptable purpose. Those positions reflect different views of what node policy and consensus are supposed to protect.
Why signaling support mattered
BTC-Pulse reported that mandatory signaling began around block 961,632 with miner support generally below 3%. The reported threshold for the planned miner-activated path was 55%, leaving a wide gap between the proposal’s activation design and visible support.
Miner signaling is not a complete vote of every Bitcoin user. Exchanges, wallet developers, node operators, merchants and holders can reject software even when miners support it. Low signaling still makes deployment harder because miners produce the blocks that must follow any activated consensus restriction. A change without broad coordination can create incompatible rule sets and expose users to chain-split risks.
A user-activated path carried different risks
Supporters discussed treating the proposal as a user-activated soft fork after miner signaling stalled. Under that approach, participating nodes would reject blocks that violated the proposed limits whether or not most miners had upgraded. The method can pressure miners when a substantial economic majority coordinates around it, but weak or unclear adoption can leave two groups accepting different chains.
Anyone handling funds during a disputed fork would need to know which rules an exchange, custodian or wallet recognizes. Transactions may be replayable across chains unless protections exist, and coins received after a split can carry different histories. Those operational issues turn an abstract protocol dispute into a custody and settlement problem.
What remains after the proposal closed
BIP-110 did not establish new Bitcoin consensus rules. The repository’s closed status means readers should not treat its restrictions as active network policy. Its specification remains a record of one proposed response to inscriptions and other arbitrary-data uses.
The episode also shows why a written BIP is only the beginning. A consensus proposal needs review, compatible software, a defensible activation method and enough agreement among miners and economic nodes to avoid competing rule sets. Low signaling made that coordination gap visible before users had to test it with real funds.
Sources & further reading
- BTC-Pulse — Adapted from: Bitcoin BIP-110 Mandatory Signaling Starts With Miner Support Below 3%
- Bitcoin BIPs repository — Primary specification: BIP-110: Reduced Data Temporary Softfork