On September 1, Luke Dashjr, a well-known developer and proponent of radical changes to Bitcoin, launched his own hard fork. However, the ambitious attempt to switch the network to the new BLAKE2b mining algorithm failed spectacularly: miners and exchanges largely ignored the new branch, leaving it without adequate computing power and liquidity.
The essence of the conflict and reasons for the failure
The BIP-110 proposal, promoted by Dashjr, called for stripping Bitcoin blocks of all data unrelated to payment transactions. Supporters of the idea dubbed the main network "Spamcoin," claiming it had deviated from the original concept. However, the overwhelming majority of market participants viewed the September 1 network split as an insignificant event not worthy of attention.
This is not the first such attempt. In August, an alternative branch with BIP-110 lasted only two blocks before miners from the OCEAN pool, whose hashing power had been redirected to the new fork without explicit consent, demanded control be restored. A key issue was also that switching from SHA-256 to BLAKE2b automatically cut the new network off from all industrial mining equipment. The specialized ASIC devices that underpin Bitcoin's hash rate proved useless for the new chain, instantly collapsing its power.
Community and market reaction
Blockstream CEO Adam Back, a well-known skeptic of such experiments, summed it up in one phrase on social media platform X: "Live by the fork, die by the fork." Dashjr himself, however, continues to insist that his secondary chain is the "real Bitcoin," claiming that the BTC ticker belonged to the original network for over a decade and has now "moved" to BLAKE2b. Network data suggests otherwise.
The market also failed to notice the event. The main network operated without disruptions, and the BTC price held steadily near the $76,900 mark. Major exchanges were in no hurry to list the new coin, and only a small test platform opened order books under the unofficial ticker BTCB2. Even there, activity proved negligible: buy orders did not rise above $82, nearly 900 times lower than Bitcoin's price, while the spread against the sell price of $190 stood at 131.7% — a clear sign of no real trading.
My conclusion: this episode once again demonstrates that consensus in the Bitcoin community is built not on ideological slogans, but on economic viability and industry support. Any attempt to change the network's fundamental parameters without considering the interests of miners and businesses is doomed to marginalization. Dashjr is undoubtedly a talented engineer, but his vision of a "pure" Bitcoin, it seems, will remain the domain of a small group of enthusiasts.