The BIP-110 Bitcoin fork has stalled after mining only two blocks, significantly lagging behind the main Bitcoin chain.
The BIP-110 Bitcoin fork has come to a halt after managing to mine only two blocks in approximately eight hours, significantly trailing the main Bitcoin chain, which added 48 blocks in the same period.
This minority chain emerged from a split among supporters of the BIP-110 proposal, which aims to restrict the inclusion of non-financial data in Bitcoin transactions for a year. Advocates argue that this would ease network congestion and lower transaction costs, while detractors assert it infringes on users' rights to utilize paid block space freely.
Currently, the BIP-110 chain is at block 961,633, whereas the main Bitcoin chain has advanced to block 961,681. The fork occurred at block 961,632, when nodes running the BIP-110 software began rejecting blocks that did not support the proposal.
Typically, Bitcoin's network adds a block every ten minutes, making the 48-block difference evident. The BIP-110 chain's slow progress is due to its limited hashpower, which accounts for just 2.53% of recent mining support, leading to extended intervals between mined blocks.
As the new chain adopted Bitcoin's existing mining difficulty settings, it faces a significant challenge. It cannot adjust its difficulty until it has mined 2,016 blocks, which could take around 350 days at its current rate, compared to just 14 days for the main Bitcoin chain.
The BIP-110 initiative has garnered minimal support, with only 2.53% of blocks signaling approval over the last two weeks, far short of the 55% needed for activation without a split. This lack of backing places the forked coin in a vulnerable position for potential sellers, as transactions signed on the fork also function on the main chain, increasing the risk of replay attacks.
Additionally, the slow block production complicates transaction confirmations, hindering trading activity. The two-week timeframe for BIP-110 nodes to signal support extends to block 963,647, but given the current pace, the chain is unlikely to meet this target.
