Foundry USA Pool launches voting on BIP-110: miners decide the fate of the soft fork
Leading mining pool Foundry USA Pool has initiated a voting process on the BIP-110 proposal. Technical details of the initiative have been published on a dedicated resource page, and pool participants are invited to cast their votes via an email form. The voting window closes at block #961,632, which is tentatively scheduled for early August.
BIP-110 is a proposed soft fork aimed at limiting the inclusion of arbitrary non-monetary data in blockchain transactions. Specifically, the document imposes limits on the OP_RETURN field and other information transmission channels, which have recently been actively used for embedding metadata, tokens, and even images. In my assessment, this is an attempt to restore Bitcoin's original essence — to be a decentralized payment system, not a repository of junk.
Foundry USA Pool controls over 22% of the global Bitcoin hashrate, according to Hashrate Index data. This makes its opinion critically important for the fate of any soft fork. If the majority of pool participants support BIP-110, it could send a strong signal to the entire community and other miners. However, it is worth remembering that the vote is advisory in nature, and the final decision rests with developers and network nodes.
In my view, the initiative is timely. The growth in OP_RETURN transaction volume, associated with protocols like Ordinals and Runes, creates excessive load on the blockchain and increases fees. Limiting non-monetary data is a logical step to preserve network efficiency. However, it should be noted that strict limits could stifle innovation and force developers to seek workarounds. The balance between protocol purity and flexibility remains a key challenge for Bitcoin.