BIP-110: Temporarily Limit Arbitrary Data in Bitcoin

2 min read Original article ↗

Consensus (soft fork)

BIP-110:
Protecting Bitcoin's Purpose

Temporarily limit the size of data fields at the consensus level, in order to correct distorted incentives caused by standardizing support for arbitrary data, and to refocus priorities on improving Bitcoin as money.

Read the Full BIP

By Dathon OhmCreated 2025-12-03BSD-3-Clause

BIP-110: Also referred to as RDTS (BIP-444)

Key Points

A temporary, focused intervention to protect Bitcoin's core mission

Live BIP-110 signaling

Track current miner support, period progress, and the remaining signals needed for activation.

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Waiting for monitor data

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Protecting Bitcoin's Purpose

Starting with the 'inscription' hack in 2022, a trend emerged around embedding arbitrary data into Bitcoin transactions. This creates unnecessary burdens on node operators and diverts development focus from Bitcoin's fundamental purpose: being sound, permissionless, borderless money.

Data storage competes unfairly with payments, making Bitcoin transactions unnecessarily costly. This encourages reliance on third-party payment processors, making Bitcoin payments easier to censor.

By limiting data storage, this proposal liberates developers from endless scope creep, enabling them to focus on what's really important: Bitcoin's success as money.

Evidence archive

WTF Happened in Feb 2023?

Review the blockspace, fee pressure, and node-resource data behind the February 2023 spam wave.

“Bitcoin should do one thing, and do it well.”

How It Works

Simple restrictions that preserve all monetary use cases while limiting data abuse

Inputs spending UTXOs created before activation are permanently exempt from these rules — there is no deadline to move existing funds.

Inspect the implementation

The commented walkthrough ties each rule to the tagged Bitcoin Knots source.

Open code walkthrough

Common Questions

Answers to frequently asked questions about BIP-110

Important Considerations

Honest assessment of limitations and risks

Deployment Timeline

Key dates and milestones for BIP-110 activation

December 1, 2025

Signaling Begins

Miners signal readiness using bit 4. Early lock-in if 55% of blocks signal in a retarget period (1109/2016).

~August 2026

Mandatory Lock-in

If not locked in early, mandatory signaling begins — blocks that don't signal are rejected as invalid, guaranteeing lock-in.

2 weeks post lock-in

Activation

New consensus rules take effect. Blocks violating these rules are rejected by all enforcing nodes. Pre-existing UTXOs remain permanently exempt.

~1 year after activation

Expiry

52,416 blocks after activation, all restrictions lift automatically.

Signaling uses bit 4 • 55% threshold for early lock-in • Mandatory signaling guarantees activation