A Bitcoin miner has declined to support the controversial BIP-110 proposal despite operating through OCEAN, a mining pool that had been signaling support for the initiative by default.
Simple Mining revealed that it mined Bitcoin block 961,634 without signaling BIP-110, highlighting how individual miners can make independent decisions even when the mining pool they use takes a different position.
The development also underscored the limited mining support behind BIP-110, which sought to temporarily restrict certain forms of non-financial data stored on the Bitcoin blockchain.
Simple Mining Chooses Bitcoin's Main Chain
Simple Mining produced block 961,634 using OCEAN's DATUM protocol. Instead of signaling support for BIP-110, the miner chose to continue building on Bitcoin's main chain.
The decision came just two blocks after BIP-110-supporting nodes began rejecting blocks that did not signal for the proposal at block height 961,632.
According to Simple Mining, support for the proposal had reached only about 2.6% of Bitcoin's total hashrate, considerably below the 55% threshold associated with its activation mechanism.
The miner said its decision reflected the lack of meaningful hashrate support for the proposal.
The episode is particularly noteworthy because OCEAN had previously configured miners to signal BIP-110 by default and represented most of the limited mining support behind the initiative.
DATUM Gives Individual Miners More Control
Simple Mining was able to take a different position because it uses OCEAN's DATUM protocol.
Mining pools traditionally combine computing power from multiple miners to improve their chances of finding Bitcoin blocks. The rewards are then distributed among participants according to the pool's payout structure.
Under conventional pool arrangements, the pool operator can also have significant influence over block templates, including which transactions are selected.
DATUM changes part of this relationship by giving participating miners greater control over the blocks they produce. This meant Simple Mining could use OCEAN's infrastructure while independently choosing not to signal BIP-110.
The incident therefore became more than a debate over one Bitcoin proposal. It demonstrated how decentralized block construction can allow miners to express preferences independently from their mining pool.
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What Is Bitcoin BIP-110?
BIP-110, formally known as the Reduced Data Temporary Softfork, proposes temporary consensus restrictions on certain types of data stored in Bitcoin transactions.
The rules are intended to remain active for approximately one year.
Supporters argue that Bitcoin should prioritize its monetary and payment functions rather than being used extensively for storing arbitrary content such as images and text.
Under the proposal, additional restrictions would be placed on data fields and transaction structures that can be used to carry larger amounts of non-financial information.
The issue has become controversial because critics argue that restricting valid, fee-paying transactions at the consensus level could create unnecessary risks for Bitcoin.
The proposal has consequently become part of a broader debate about what Bitcoin's blockchain should be used for and who should influence those decisions.
BIP-110 Chain Falls Behind
The biggest problem facing BIP-110 is its lack of mining support.
After participating nodes began rejecting non-signaling blocks at height 961,632, the BIP-110 chain managed to produce only two blocks before activity effectively stalled.
Bitcoin's main chain, meanwhile, continued processing blocks normally and moved more than 200 blocks ahead, according to the report.
That gap demonstrates the importance of hashrate when attempting to enforce controversial consensus changes.
Without sufficient mining power, a minority chain can struggle to produce blocks at Bitcoin's expected pace because its difficulty remains calibrated for a much larger amount of computational power.
Bitcoin Governance Debate Continues
The BIP-110 episode highlights Bitcoin's unusual governance structure.
There is no central organization capable of forcing miners, node operators or users to accept a particular consensus change. Instead, significant changes depend on participants voluntarily choosing which rules and software they are willing to follow.
Simple Mining's decision illustrates this dynamic clearly.
Although it was operating through a pool associated with BIP-110 signaling, the miner used technology that allowed it to independently reject the proposal and continue mining on Bitcoin's dominant chain.
With BIP-110 receiving only a small fraction of Bitcoin's total hashrate, its chances of challenging the main network appear extremely limited unless miner participation changes dramatically.
