Bitcoin faces two separate fork events in August 2026: a contested soft fork called BIP-110 and a planned hard fork called eCash backed by Drivechain architect Paul Sztorc. They share a rough timeframe but not a mechanism, a purpose, or a risk profile.
Two fork events are heading for Bitcoin in August 2026, and they are nothing alike. One is a proposed soft fork, BIP-110; the other is a planned hard fork called eCash, backed by Drivechain architect Paul Sztorc. A soft fork tightens existing rules and stays backward-compatible, so the chain can remain unified in a clean activation. A hard fork changes rules incompatibly and, if the network splits, produces two chains and two assets — the 2017 Bitcoin Cash split being the clearest example.
BIP-110 tightens what data blocks can carry
BIP-110, also called the Reduced Data Temporary Softfork, was authored by Dathon Ohm and targets the data embedding used by Ordinals, inscriptions, and BRC-20-style tokens. Under the rules, new scriptPubKeys above 34 bytes become invalid, except OP_RETURN outputs up to 83 bytes. The proposal grandfathers coins that exist before activation and is designed to expire automatically after about one year.
Activation runs on a modified BIP9 deployment with a 55% signaling threshold, well above the 95% bar used in past soft forks. A mandatory signaling window is expected to begin around block 961,632, roughly Aug. 8.
Signaling stays low, but risk does not
Miner support has been thin. Cumulative signaling was around 0.42% through July 2, out of 9,066 blocks tracked since May 1, though the rate has since grown to 0.83%. Yet low signaling does not mean low risk. The danger is what happens if miners, exchanges, wallets, and large holders disagree once the mandatory window arrives in August.
eCash builds a separate chain
Sztorc's eCash does not need Bitcoin's approval to exist. The split is scheduled at block 964,000, with estimates pointing to Aug. 21 around 15:00 UTC, when existing holders would receive an equivalent eCash balance. Its core addition is Drivechain functionality, built on BIP-300 and BIP-301.
Why 2026 differs from 2017
The last fork wars played out in an almost entirely retail market. That has changed. IBIT, Blackrock's Ishares Bitcoin Trust ETF, reported $44.95 billion in net assets as of July 2, 2026, and its SEC-filed prospectus states the trust will permanently and irrevocably abandon incidental rights to forked or airdropped assets unless a future SEC rule change allows otherwise. For self-custody holders wanting the option to hold eCash, controlling private keys before the snapshot is the only reliable path.
Source: Bitcoin News
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