Bitcoin network under attack: BIP-110 fork is 18 blocks behind

On 8 August 2026, the Bitcoin network is at the centre of a serious conflict between miners. A minority fork on the blockchain, backed by supporters of BIP-110, is now 18 blocks behind the main chain. At the same time, developer Luke Dashjr is warning users about the risk of double spending attacks in which miners Foundry Services and AntPool are said to be involved.

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In brief:

• A BIP-110 minority fork split off after block 961,632 and is lagging far behind the Bitcoin main chain.
• Luke Dashjr is calling on users to upgrade Bitcoin Knots because of the risk of double spending attacks.
• BIP-110 supporters acknowledge that the minority fork has no chance against the main chain without drastic intervention.

What is BIP-110 and why is there a fork?

BIP-110, also known as RDTS (BIP-444), is a proposal drafted by Dathon Ohm and published on 3 December 2025. The idea behind the proposal is to temporarily limit the size of data fields at the consensus level. In doing so, the proposal aims to shift the Bitcoin network’s focus back to its function as a means of payment, rather than on storing arbitrary data in transactions.

After block 961,632, a split from the main chain occurred. The mining pool Roughnecks, which supports BIP-110, only produced blocks 961,632 and 961,633 on the split chain. Meanwhile, the Bitcoin main chain continued to block 961,651. The fact that the gap is growing so quickly has to do with the mining difficulty: at the time of the split, it stood at 127.48 T, while the BIP-110 chain operates at the same difficulty with considerably less computing power.

Warning about double spending attacks

Developer Luke Dashjr is directly addressing users who are not yet running a recent version of Bitcoin Knots. Anyone who has not yet upgraded to version 29.3.knots20260508 or version 29.4 is, in his view, at risk of accepting fake Bitcoin. He cites Foundry Services and AntPool as parties facilitating these attacks and is calling on everyone to upgrade as soon as possible.

Dathon Ohm himself states that the network is currently being attacked by miners who are hostile towards him. Matthew Kratter, a well-known BIP-110 supporter, meanwhile acknowledges that the situation does not look good for the minority fork. According to him, an “enormous change” is needed to ever catch up with the main chain. Some supporters are now discussing switching to a different proof of work algorithm as a possible way out.

BIP-110 chain falls further behind

Wu Blockchain reports that the BIP-110 chain is producing blocks ever more slowly due to the lack of computing power. Because the difficulty level does not automatically decrease as long as the chain has not produced enough blocks for a new adjustment, the minority fork is in a difficult position. The Bitcoin price, meanwhile, stands at $65K, a decline of 0.1% over the past 24 hours. Nearly 23% of Bitcoin miners are already running at a daily loss, which further reduces the willingness to mine on a hopeless minority fork.

Whether the BIP-110 chain will remain viable at all is therefore highly questionable. Without a large influx of computing power or an adjustment to the algorithm, the split appears doomed to fail. Meanwhile, the debate over the future of data on the Bitcoin blockchain remains unresolved for now.