Michael Saylor published a detailed rebuttal against BIP 110 on July 18, 2026, presenting 100 arguments opposing the proposed Bitcoin softfork. He warned that the proposal threatens Bitcoin's neutral consensus rules by restricting certain non-payment transactions.
Details of BIP 110 and Saylor's Critique
The "Reduced Data Temporary Softfork," known as BIP 110, reached a Complete status on June 25, 2026, signaling its authors have finished development and recommend adoption. However, this status does not imply consensus among Bitcoin developers or node operators. The softfork aims to temporarily enforce seven new consensus restrictions for about one year, including limiting OP_RETURN outputs to 83 bytes, capping pushed payloads and witness items at 256 bytes, banning spending of undefined witness and Tapleaf versions, forbidding the Taproot annex, limiting Taproot control blocks to 257 bytes, and rejecting certain Tapscript opcodes and branches. Unspent transaction outputs created before activation would remain under current rules, but Saylor cautioned that some workflows crossing the activation window could still face new constraints, possibly forcing users to migrate funds early.
Saylor's primary concern lies with BIP 110's activation mechanism. It proposes a 55% miner signaling threshold, significantly lower than the 95% threshold set by the standard BIP 9 process. The softfork also eliminates the conventional timeout and FAILED state that allow stalled proposals to expire quietly and introduces a mandatory signaling period before lock-in. Saylor argued that this lower threshold for a contested rule change increases the risk of a chain split because miners represent only a segment of the broader ecosystem, including holders, exchanges, wallets, and custodians who determine which rules govern the network. He emphasized that mandatory signaling alters the meaning of nonparticipation for node operators during deployment.
Concerns About Fee Market and Network Security
In his essay, Saylor also raised concerns about the impact on Bitcoin's fee market. He noted that the softfork could reduce miner fee revenue, which is especially critical as block subsidies continue to halve over time. The potential decrease in fees might affect network security and miner incentives.
BIP 110's recommended activation by a 55% miner majority contrasts sharply with the established 95% threshold, marking a significant departure from prior protocol updates. Saylor's extensive critique shows the contentious nature of the proposal and its implications for Bitcoin's consensus rules.
This material is informational and not financial advice.
