Bitcoin Approaches BIP110 Signaling Cutoff With 185 Blocks to Go

Bitcoin is nearing the end of the current signaling window for BIP110, a proposed temporary soft fork designed to reduce block data. Once the period expires, nodes that enforce BIP110 would begin rejecting blocks that fail to signal support. A third-party tracker reported that, as of 14:41:49 UTC on Aug. 7, only 48 of 1,831 observed blocks were signaling—2.62%—leaving 185 blocks remaining before the window closes. BIP110 needs 1,109 signaling blocks within a 2,016-block period to clear its 55% threshold. Even if all remaining 185 blocks signaled, the tally would reach just 233 of 2,016, or about 11.56%. The tracker says it pulls block data from mempool.space and checks each block's version field for version bit 4. Rules diverge starting at height 961,632 From block height 961,632, nodes continuously enforcing BIP110 would reject blocks that do not signal bit 4. Nodes following current Bitcoin rules could still accept those same blocks if they otherwise comply, creating the possibility of divergent block acceptance. Any sustained enforcing branch would depend on miners producing BIP110-valid work after the boundary. Under the proposal, mandatory signaling runs through block 963,647. Lock-in becomes impossible once the chain reaches 963,648, and reduced-data rules would activate at 965,664. That schedule applies to BIP110-enforcing nodes without binding all Bitcoin participants. Implementation status and ecosystem signals A BIP110 implementation pull request in the Bitcoin Core repository was closed unmerged on March 26. Core contributor Antoine Poinsot wrote in a personal capacity on June 4 that Core does not enforce the proposal. Mining pool OCEAN said it would offer separate signaling and non-signaling endpoints and that its default would switch on July 15. Independent verification would be needed to confirm the switch occurred and that all miners using the pool now enforce BIP110. Knots release flags potential validation issues Alternative Bitcoin node software Bitcoin Knots said its Aug. 7 release includes a warning that older, non-enforcing software—including current Bitcoin Core—could, in some scenarios, stop fully validating BIP110 rules and leave chainstate unsafe. Independent reproduction of the Core-specific warning on Bitcoin Core or on mainnet has not yet been established. A July 17 BlockSlop technical write-up demonstrated a narrower late-upgrade issue on regtest using enforcing and non-enforcing Knots builds. In that test, a data directory could retain a block accepted under old rules after an operator switched builds because a normal startup did not reconnect inherited history. The test did not include physical database corruption or a mainnet incident. Knots later merged a safeguard that scans inherited headers for mandatory-signaling violations, invalidates offending blocks, and reorganizes. Violations not visible in headers—such as transaction or script issues—still require reconnection validation and may require reindexing. With the chain nearing height 961,632, the first blocks after 961,631 are expected to show whether miners change signaling behavior and whether an enforcing chain can accumulate work. Separate evidence—such as exchange support, node adoption, or holder behavior—would be needed to gauge broader economic backing. The post "Bitcoin has 185 blocks left before BIP110 rules begin rejecting blocks" appeared first on CryptoSlate.