Michael Saylor Launches 110-Point Case Urging Bitcoin Community to Reject BIP-110 Ahead of Critical Soft Fork

Michael Saylor, Executive Chairman of Strategy, has publicly urged the Bitcoin community to reject BIP-110, publishing a lengthy 110-point essay that argues the proposed soft fork would undermine one of Bitcoin's core principles: neutrality.

The statement comes just weeks before the proposal enters a critical activation phase in early August, as debate intensifies over whether the network should impose new restrictions on arbitrary data stored on the blockchain.

Saylor Warns Against Restricting Valid Bitcoin Transactions

Published on X under the title "110 Reasons BIP-110 Is a Bad Idea," Saylor's essay presents his most comprehensive critique of the proposal to date.

While acknowledging that supporters aim to protect Bitcoin from blockchain spam, Saylor argued that the proposed solution creates greater risks than the problem it seeks to address.

His central argument is that Bitcoin's consensus rules should not attempt to determine the purpose of transactions that are otherwise valid and pay the required network fees. Instead, he contends that participants who object to certain types of transactions remain free to ignore, filter, or decline to relay them without changing Bitcoin's consensus rules.

According to Saylor, protocol changes should only be introduced when addressing proven security vulnerabilities or denial-of-service threats rather than attempting to regulate how users choose to utilize block space.

He concluded the essay by describing BIP-110 as a "Bitcoin Iatrogenic Proposal," borrowing the medical term "iatrogenic," which refers to harm caused by treatment itself.

"Bitcoin does not need guardians of purity," Saylor wrote. "It needs guardians of neutrality."

BIP-110 Seeks to Limit Non-Financial Data on Bitcoin

BIP-110 proposes a temporary one-year soft fork designed to reduce the amount of arbitrary data embedded in Bitcoin transactions.

The proposal includes several restrictions targeting data-heavy transactions following changes introduced in Bitcoin Core v30, which removed default limits on OP_RETURN data. Supporters argue that increasing amounts of non-financial data place unnecessary strain on the network, forcing monetary transactions to compete for limited block space.

A version of the proposal is implemented through software based on Bitcoin Knots, maintained by Ocean CTO Luke Dashjr, one of the initiative's leading advocates.

Supporters maintain that the temporary restrictions are intended to preserve Bitcoin's primary function as a monetary network while reducing incentives for non-payment-related uses of block space.

Miner Support Remains Well Below Activation Threshold

Attention is now turning toward BIP-110's activation timeline.

The proposal's mandatory signaling period is expected to begin around August 7, when participating nodes will begin requiring miners to signal support for the upgrade. If activated, the new rules would become enforceable for those nodes approximately one month later.

However, current miner support remains limited.

Public monitoring data shows that signaling represents just 0.86% of the current mining difficulty period, significantly below the 55% threshold required for early activation. Support has reportedly never exceeded roughly 1% since monitoring began.

If those figures remain unchanged, enforcing nodes could reject the majority of blocks produced by miners that do not signal support, potentially creating the conditions for a temporary minority chain split.

Debate Highlights Broader Questions About Bitcoin's Future

The disagreement over BIP-110 extends beyond technical implementation and reflects a broader philosophical debate over Bitcoin's role and governance.

Critics, including Saylor, argue that preserving network neutrality is essential and that Bitcoin should not discriminate between valid transactions based on their intended use.

Supporters counter that allowing unrestricted data storage alters network incentives, increases operational costs for node operators, and diverts scarce block space away from financial transactions. From their perspective, the proposal represents a limited intervention designed to reinforce Bitcoin's original monetary purpose rather than permanently restricting network functionality.

The debate has also sparked public exchanges within the Bitcoin community. Earlier this month, Saylor responded to criticism of BIP-110 by Blockstream CEO Adam Back, stating that there are "110 things more dangerous to Bitcoin than spam." In response to his latest essay, investor and BIP-110 supporter Fred Krueger published a corresponding list outlining 110 reasons to support the proposal.

Rare Protocol Intervention From Bitcoin's Largest Corporate Holder

Saylor's comments mark an unusual step into Bitcoin protocol governance.

While he has long been one of Bitcoin's most prominent advocates, he has generally avoided taking public positions on protocol-level disputes. His intervention carries additional weight given that Strategy remains the world's largest corporate Bitcoin holder, owning 843,775 BTC, according to its latest SEC filing.

Strategy's Weekend Post Fuels Speculation

Hours after publishing the essay, Saylor returned to another familiar tradition by sharing a chart tracking Strategy's Bitcoin holdings on X alongside the caption, "What's next?"

Similar weekend posts have frequently preceded Monday announcements regarding the company's Bitcoin purchases. However, the pattern has become less predictable in recent weeks. One recent post was followed by Strategy's largest Bitcoin sale to date, while another preceded a filing showing no Bitcoin transactions at all.