Bitcoin Developers are Fighting Over What the Blockchain is For

Ordinals developers say their technology will survive BIP-110, a proposed rule change that aims to stop people from storing files on Bitcoin. The fight comes down to one question. Should Bitcoin (BTC) handle only money, or anything users pay for? Inscriptions let people store images and text on the Bitcoin blockchain, similar to NFTs. BIP-110 would block most of that data for one year. Supporters call it spam, while critics say Bitcoin should stay open to everyone. What Would BIP-110 Change for Bitcoin? Every Bitcoin transaction can carry a little extra data, and inscriptions use that space to store pictures and messages forever. The proposal would shrink the allowed space to 256 bytes per piece, about one short paragraph of text. That limit would break the storage method inscriptions use today. The rule would last for one year, then switch off automatically, and old coins would not be affected. Its author, who writes under the pen name Dathon Ohm, credits Bitcoin Knots maintainer Luke Dashjr for the first draft. Miners vote by adding a small flag to the blocks they mine. The plan needs 1,109 flagged blocks out of 2,016 in a two-week window. However, the public monitor counted just three flagged blocks as of June 30, under 1%. Support has never passed 1% since voting opened in December 2025. The best two-week stretch reached 0.79% in mid-June. Here is the twist. The plan does not need a majority to activate. From around early August, computers running the BIP-110 software will reject blocks that do not carry the flag. Blockstream CEO Adam Back has warned of fork risk, meaning Bitcoin could split into two competing versions. MicroStrategys Michael Saylor called the plan a self-inflicted risk. Dashjr, for his part, framed the stakes as existential on Thursday. If BIP110 fails, Bitcoin fails with it. I am not interested in any CBDC, much less an unregulated CBDC pretending to be decentralised, he wrote. Follow us on Xto get the latest news as it happens A CBDC is a government-issued digital currency. In his view, a Bitcoin that cannot reject spam loses what makes it different. Ordinals Developers Say They Are Ready On July 2, Ordinals developer lifofifoX published a fix that stores data in a new way. It cuts files into small, allowed pieces instead of using the method that BIP-110 bans. In short, inscriptions would keep working even if the rule passes. Ordinals creator Casey Rodarmor approved the fix the same day. Looks good to me! Lets wait until BIP-110 activates to merge this, Rodarmor wrote on GitHub. The other side has already hit back, filing a counter-update to Bitcoin Knots, the software most BIP-110 supporters run. He argues the software simply does not notice the new format, letting it slip past the size checks. The back-and-forth echoes an earlier inscription debate that also split the community. Money sits at the center of the fight. In October 2024, Runes, a similar data-based format, drove a 32% fee increase that paid miners. In contrast, supporters say the volunteers who run Bitcoins network computers must store all that data forever and get nothing for it. The forced voting phase is about five weeks away. Back has already dismissed the August deadline as a path to a minority altcoin, a spinoff coin few would follow. The coming weeks will show whether the miners silence means opposition or indifference.