The controversial BIP-110 Bitcoin fork has mined only two blocks several hours after splitting from the main Bitcoin network, highlighting the difficulty faced by the minority chain as it operates with only a small fraction of Bitcoin's total mining power.
The breakaway blockchain was created on Saturday when supporters of BIP-110 began running software that rejects blocks that do not signal support for the proposal. However, the new chain quickly lost momentum, with no clear indication that enough miners are prepared to continue supporting it.
At around 6 a.m. UTC, the BIP-110 chain was sitting at block 961,633, while the main Bitcoin network had already advanced to block 961,681, according to the BIP-110 situation monitor. The split occurred at block 961,632.
Bitcoin normally produces a new block approximately every 10 minutes. As a result, the 48-block difference represents several hours of activity on the main chain while the alternative network has barely progressed.
What Is BIP-110?
BIP-110, or Bitcoin Improvement Proposal-110, aims to restrict the use of Bitcoin transactions for storing non-financial information such as images, text and other forms of data for a period of one year.
Supporters of the proposal argue that putting large amounts of non-monetary data on Bitcoin can consume valuable block space, potentially increasing transaction costs and making the network less efficient for users who primarily rely on it for payments.
Critics take the opposite view. They argue that users who pay the required transaction fees should be free to use Bitcoin's block space as they choose. From this perspective, miners and node operators should not have the authority to determine which types of transactions are legitimate.
Mining Support Remains Limited
The early stages of the fork demonstrated the sharp divide between the two networks.
AntPool mined the first block that did not signal support for BIP-110. That block was accepted by the main Bitcoin network but rejected by nodes running the BIP-110 rules.
A miner operating through Ocean subsequently produced the alternative block that was accepted by the BIP-110 chain.
Both AntPool and Ocean operate as mining pools, allowing multiple miners to combine their computing power and share the rewards generated from successfully mining Bitcoin blocks.
However, the new chain currently controls only a very small portion of the overall mining power available to Bitcoin. That imbalance has created a major technical problem for BIP-110 supporters.
Why the BIP-110 Chain Is Struggling
Bitcoin's mining difficulty is adjusted every 2,016 blocks. The system is designed to keep the average time between blocks close to 10 minutes regardless of how much computing power is participating in the network.
The BIP-110 chain inherited Bitcoin's existing mining difficulty when the fork occurred. But because it has access to only a tiny share of the hashpower supporting the main network, finding new blocks takes considerably longer.
The chain cannot immediately reduce its mining difficulty. It must first reach the next 2,016-block adjustment before the network can recalculate the difficulty based on its much smaller mining power.
According to the BIP-110 monitor, reaching that adjustment could take approximately 350 days at the chain's current pace. By comparison, the main Bitcoin network is expected to reach its next difficulty adjustment in roughly 14 days.
For now, the two chains can continue accepting their respective valid transactions, but the dramatic difference in mining power means the BIP-110 network faces a significant challenge if it hopes to remain active and attract additional miners.
The early slowdown therefore raises a fundamental question about the fork's future: whether enough mining power will eventually move to the BIP-110 chain to keep it operational, or whether the network will effectively remain stalled after producing only a handful of blocks.