Michael Saylor opposes BIP-110 as Bitcoin miners weigh fork vote

Michael Saylor's public opposition to BIP-110 has thrust Bitcoin's governance into its most consequential test since the 2017 block size wars.

Michael Saylor of Strategy has publicly opposed BIP-110, a Bitcoin upgrade restricting non-monetary data on-chain, deepening a community split over a potential fork.

"It's good to prepare in advance for contingencies," Luke Dashjr, a Bitcoin Core contributor, said, referring to emergency code being readied if miners reject the proposal.

BIP-110 targets non-monetary transactions such as Ordinals inscriptions, which proponents argue bloat the blockchain and deviate from Bitcoin's purpose as peer-to-peer electronic cash. Developer Chris Guida has reworked 2017 proof-of-work change code to run on Bitcoin Knots as a fallback if major mining pools refuse to support the soft fork. EMCD, a mining pool with more than 30 EH/s of hashrate and a top-10 global ranking, has opened a hashrate-weighted vote among participants to determine the pool's position on the proposal.

The standoff between miners and node operators carries real consequences. If the contingency code is activated, the network could split into two competing versions of Bitcoin, exposing users to replay attacks and market volatility. Bitcoin's price was relatively flat over the past 24 hours, with retail sentiment in the neutral zone, according to Stocktwits data.

EMCD's 30 EH/s Vote Tests Miner Sentiment

Chris Guida's preparation involves updating the code for a proof-of-work change that would alter the mining algorithm, effectively replacing the existing mining network if major mining pools refuse to support BIP-110. This approach was previously discussed in 2017 as a potential mechanism to enforce user-activated soft forks. Supporters, including a developer known as Mechanic, argue that a credible PoW change threat is necessary to ensure miners fulfill their responsibilities to node operators.

EMCD's Konstantin Zherebtsov said the pool does not support the approach proposed in BIP-110, believing changes of this kind should not impose additional restrictions on how the Bitcoin network is used. However, the pool is putting the question to a hashrate-weighted vote and will update its position to reflect the decision of its mining community. EMCD serves users across 120+ markets and was founded in 2017 as an early industrial BTC mining operation in Europe.

The debate over BIP-110 and the contingency plan reflects a philosophical divide within Bitcoin about its future direction. The outcome of this proposal could set a precedent for how protocol changes are implemented and enforced, potentially affecting Bitcoin's long-term scalability and usability. For holders, the immediate risk is uncertainty: fork-related speculation could drive short-term price volatility even as the network's technical roadmap remains unresolved.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.