Roughnecks, the mining group that produced Bitcoin's BIP-110 minority chain's only two blocks, has quit mining the fork and told other miners to stand down after Ocean's hashrate collapsed roughly 96.5% over the weekend. The breakaway chain remains stuck at block 961,633, now 111 blocks behind Bitcoin's main chain, with signaling support still near zero.
Roughnecks, the mining group behind Bitcoin's BIP-110 minority chain, said early Aug. 9 that it was halting its mining and urging other miners to stand down. The fork has produced only two blocks since splitting from Bitcoin's main chain, and the gap between the two chains has widened to 111 blocks.
Ocean's hashrate collapses as Roughnecks steps back
Ocean, the mining pool at the center of BIP-110 signaling through its DATUM system, saw its hashrate collapse this weekend. Its displayed output fell from about 36 exahash per second on Aug. 8 to about 1.25 EH/s by Aug. 9, a decline of roughly 96.5%. Roughnecks described the retreat as a step in its campaign rather than a defeat, though a small share of hashrate was still pointed at the fork the same morning, according to mining-pool trackers.
Full mining difficulty traps the minority chain
BIP-110 is a temporary soft fork intended to restrict how transactions store non-financial data. When the split occurred, the enforcing branch inherited Bitcoin's existing mining difficulty of 127.48 trillion, calibrated for the far larger hashpower securing the main network. Bitcoin recalculates difficulty every 2,016 blocks, but with only two blocks mined in the current window, the next adjustment stays out of reach until the branch works through the rest of that period.
Miner support has stayed near zero
Support for the proposal has fallen further. 51 of the 2,016 blocks in the previous difficulty period signaled for BIP-110, equal to 2.53%. As of Sunday, none of the 113 blocks mined in the new period had signaled. Michael Saylor, Strategy's executive chairman, wrote on X that "about 99.85% of Bitcoin's hashpower stayed with Bitcoin" — a figure he said was his own estimate rather than a published measurement.
What comes next for BIP-110
Mandatory signaling continues through block 963,647, with LOCKED_IN required no later than block 963,648 before the reduced-data rules could take effect a difficulty period later. Reviving the chain now depends on fresh hashrate, a revised strategy, or another coordinated push to keep it alive.
Sources: crypto.news, Bitcoin News
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