Bitcoin's BIP-110 sparked a fight over who gets to decide the future of Bitcoin

TechBitcoin's BIP-110 sparked a fight over who gets to decide the future of BitcoinBIP-110 sought to limit non-financial data on Bitcoin's blockchain but instead reignited debates over censorship and decentralization.By Jamie Crawley, AI Boost|Edited by Shaurya Malwa Jul 14, 2026, 11:01 a.m. 3 min readMake preferred on ShareShare this articleCopy linkX iconX (Twitter)LinkedInFacebookEmailMake preferred on SummaryShowBIP-110 aimed to temporarily restrict certain types of transaction data on the Bitcoin blockchain.The proposal sparked debate over whether Bitcoin should distinguish between "good" and "bad" uses.The proposal now appears unlikely to be activated having gained little support from miners or the wider industry.Bitcoin has experienced exchange collapses, government crackdowns and community debates over how the network should scale. However, one proposal aimed at restricting certain types of data stored on the blockchain has become one of its most contentious governance debates in several years.The Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP)-110 sought to temporarily tighten the network's consensus rules in a way that would make many types of non-financial tractions far more difficult.Its supporters think of the proposal as an attempt to restore Bitcoin's original purpose as peer-to-peer digital cash. But critics say it represents an attempt to restrict or censor certain uses of Bitcoin. The proposal now appears to have little chance of activation after failing to gain meaningful industry backing and numerous high-profile Bitcoin developers and investors voicing their opposition to it. Nevertheless, the surrounding debate is sure to continue and provides a fascinating insight into how Bitcoin governance actually works.Bitcoin's purposeThe BIP-110 controversy begins with a question that has divided Bitcoins for many years: what is Bitcoin's blockspace - or the capacity to handle data in each block - actually for?The activation of the Taproot upgrade in 2021 allowed …

Bitcoin's BIP-110 sparked a fight over who gets to decide the future of Bitcoin

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