Foundry Asks Miners to Vote on BIP-110 Soft Fork

Foundry Digital, a leading Bitcoin mining pool operator based in Rochester, New York, has announced that it will enable its mining clients to participate in a vote on BIP-110. This proposal aims to temporarily limit the amount of non-monetary data that can be included in Bitcoin transactions, effectively implementing a soft fork if approved.

The voting process will be based on the hashrate of each participant, with votes weighted accordingly. Foundry has stated that it will signal 'No' until the majority of hashrate votes favor 'Yes,' which would activate the soft fork at around block 961,632, projected for early August. The proposal, known as the 'reduced data temporary soft fork,' seeks to cap arbitrary data in transactions, limiting new outputs to 34 bytes and restoring an 83-byte limit on OP_RETURN outputs.

Supporters argue that the soft fork would help maintain Bitcoin as a pure peer-to-peer money system by reducing blockchain spam. Opponents, including notable figures like Michael Saylor and Adam Back, warn that it could turn a policy dispute into a consensus change, potentially invalidating fee-paying transactions.

Foundry’s voting process considers each participant's 10-day average hashrate, and individual owners can change their votes during the signaling window. The company controls about one-third of the network's hashrate, making its stance influential in the outcome.

This development highlights ongoing debates within the Bitcoin community regarding network data policies and the role of miners in governance. The outcome of this vote could have implications for how data restrictions are implemented and accepted by the network.