Bitcoin Mining Giant Foundry Lets Miners Vote on Spam-Blocking Rule

A major Bitcoin company is putting a controversial decision in the hands of the people who help run the network. Foundry Digital, the world's largest Bitcoin mining pool (a group of computers that work together to process Bitcoin transactions and earn rewards), is letting its clients vote on a proposed rule change.

What is the vote about?

The proposal is called BIP-110 (short for Bitcoin Improvement Proposal 110). It aims to reduce "spam" — unnecessary, non-money data stored on Bitcoin's shared record (the blockchain, a public digital ledger of all transactions). Supporters want Bitcoin to work purely as digital money. Critics, including well-known figures Michael Saylor and Adam Back, warn it could block legitimate, fee-paying transactions.

If approved, it would trigger a soft fork — a rule update that older software can still accept, so the network doesn't split.

Key facts about the proposal:

• Limits most new transaction outputs to 34 bytes of data
• Restores an 83-byte limit on a special data field called OP_RETURN
• Rejects data pushes above 256 bytes

Miners vote using their hashrate — the computing power they contribute. More power means a bigger say.

• Voting weight is based on each account's average hashrate from July 6 to July 15
• Foundry's default position is "No" until "Yes" votes pass 51% of voting power
• If that threshold is crossed, Foundry switches all its blocks to "Yes"
• Miners who don't respond automatically count as "No"
• Votes stay private, but overall results may be shared

Foundry controls about one-third of the entire Bitcoin network's mining power. That makes its final decision hugely influential over whether the rule actually takes effect. A key deadline is expected in early August, at block number 961,632, forcing a decision before the window closes.

In short, ordinary miners now hold real power over how Bitcoin evolves — a rare example of network governance in action.

This is an AI-generated summary. Read the original article at: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/news/foundry-asks-bitcoin-miners-vote-bip-110