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First Block Signals Support for Bitcoin Proposal BIP-110 Limiting Non-Financial Data

First Block Signals Support for Bitcoin Proposal BIP-110 Limiting Non-Financial Data

Mining pool Ocean mined the first block backing BIP-110, a temporary soft fork aiming to curb arbitrary data stored on Bitcoin’s blockchain—a move that has sparked ideological divides among developers.

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Fact Check
Multiple credible crypto news sources consistently describe BIP‑110 as a Bitcoin Core proposal aimed at limiting or restricting non‑financial data, such as Ordinals inscriptions or OP_RETURN metadata, within transactions and blocks. Articles from Binance Square, Phemex News, MEXC News, and Panewslab independently corroborate this central purpose. Several reports also mention miner signaling activity and suggest that at least one block appeared to signal support for the proposed soft fork, though few provide direct blockchain data confirming the exact block height or timestamp. Taken together, the body of evidence strongly supports that the first block did indeed signal support for BIP‑110, and that the proposal’s objective was to contain non‑monetary data in Bitcoin transactions. While no source provides direct raw blockchain verification, the consistency and cross‑referenced discussions among reasonably authoritative outlets make the statement very likely true. The probability of falsity remains low due to minor uncertainty around the explicit identification of the 'first block' but does not meaningfully undermine the core claim.
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Summary

Bitcoin’s internal debate over data storage intensified as mining pool Ocean mined the first block signaling support for BIP-110, a proposed temporary soft fork capping arbitrary non-financial data on Bitcoin transactions for one year. Supporters argue this limit will reduce blockchain ‘spam’ and preserve Bitcoin’s efficiency as sound monetary infrastructure. Critics, including Blockstream CEO Adam Back, warn such consensus-level restrictions undermine user neutrality and may split the network. In protest, a developer encoded a 66KB image into Bitcoin to demonstrate how large data can still be embedded, highlighting enduring philosophical tensions between monetary purity and open data use. Separately, Hong Kong and Shanghai signed a memorandum to build a shared blockchain-based system for cross-border cargo trade and finance under Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s Project Ensemble framework.

Terms & Concepts
  • BIP-110: A Bitcoin Improvement Proposal introducing a temporary soft fork to limit non-financial or arbitrary transaction data stored on the blockchain for one year.
  • Soft Fork: A backward-compatible blockchain upgrade that tightens or modifies consensus rules without invalidating existing valid transactions.
  • OP_RETURN: A Bitcoin script instruction marking an output as unspendable, allowing users to embed arbitrary data such as text or images directly onto the blockchain.