Jon Atack tells Bitcoin users to pause transactions before BIP-110 activation
Jon Atack, a Bitcoin Core contributor, is telling Bitcoin users to stop sending transactions during the second week of August. His concern is not dramatic, at least not in the way crypto headlines usually are: BIP-110 could make the network shaky for a short stretch.
Atack, who works on Bitcoin Improvement Proposal maintenance, sees this as a period when BTC users and traders should slow down. I’ll be honest: that is unusually direct advice for a technical contributor. The proposal is controversial, and the activation path is awkward.
BIP-110 is a proposed one-year soft fork. It would temporarily limit arbitrary non-payment data in transactions, including large OP_RETURN outputs used by Ordinals, Runes, and inscriptions.
Atack says the goal is to reduce blockchain “spam” and move Bitcoin back toward payments.
Sounds clean. It isn’t.
That argument looks tidy on paper, but activation is where the trouble starts. Most upgrade debates pretend the hard part is the philosophy. That’s only half right. The messy part is what happens when different parts of the network enforce different rules at the same time.
BIP-110 also uses a lower miner threshold than Bitcoin users usually expect. Instead of the common 95% miner signaling threshold, it needs only 55% miner support.
If miners do not reach that 55% threshold, the proposal says a mandatory signaling window would begin around block 961,632. Current estimates put that around August 7.
At that point, nodes running BIP-110-compatible software would start rejecting blocks that do not signal support.
Why does this matter? Because a rejected block is not just a rejected opinion. Some nodes would accept blocks that others reject, which can create competing chains or blockchain reorganizations, also called reorgs.
Right now, miner support looks close to nonexistent. Recent monitoring shows almost no major mining pools signaling for BIP-110.
Atack argues that weak miner agreement raises the chance of trouble during the activation period.
He plans to run both his own Bitcoin Core version and Knots 110 so he can watch the network closely. He is also keeping his own bitcoin separate and inactive. My take: that last detail carries more weight than another long forum thread.
His advice is blunt: “Avoid transacting during the second week of August until the dust settles and reorg risk subsides.”
The fight also shows how divided parts of the Bitcoin community are right now.
Atack warned against treating the debate as “us or them.” Counter to the usual advice, neutrality is not always the mature move here. He wants people to think through the tradeoffs themselves instead of choosing a side and defending it forever.
This kind of technical fight can spill into the market. It often does, even if only for a few days.
Bitcoin has lived through plenty of messy episodes, but uncertainty around the network can still move price in the short term.
Market analysts expect wider bid-ask spreads and thinner liquidity if traders decide to sit this one out. BTC has recently traded around $60,000 to $65,000, so even a short caution window could matter.
The BIP-110 debate also gets back to an old Bitcoin argument: should the chain mainly be money, or should it also carry other kinds of activity?
Ordinals and similar protocols have brought transaction volume. They have also brought fees, heavier chain use, and higher costs for basic payments.
Same fight, new label.
That tension is not new. It just keeps returning under a different name, and in our view, that is exactly why traders should not dismiss it as developer drama.
Some market watchers think BIP-110 could affect how future Bitcoin proposals are judged. If this activation causes reorgs, confidence could take a hit, even if only briefly.
A sharp reorg could pressure BTC in the same way stablecoin panic briefly hit USDT’s peg in 2022. Yes, the mechanics are different. The nerves would feel familiar.
What this means
Atack’s warning points to a rough technical window for Bitcoin, and that could turn into market uncertainty for BTC.
Low miner signaling and the unusual activation process create a setup where some nodes may reject blocks that others accept. That is where the temporary reorg risk comes from.
Atack is not treating this as trivia for node operators. He is warning investors and traders that transaction finality could be weaker than usual for a short time.
The message is caution. Traders may price that in through higher volatility or less risk-taking. A quick BTC dip is also on the table.
The date to watch is August 7, when the BIP-110 mandatory signaling window is expected to begin.
Is this overkill? For normal weeks, yes. For a disputed activation window with low miner signaling, no.
Traders should watch on-chain data for miner signaling changes. Reports of network instability matter too.
BTC’s price around $60,000 also matters. If that level breaks while reorg headlines are circulating, the move could accelerate quickly.
Any serious reorg or chain split would probably hit the market fast.
It is also worth watching how other Bitcoin Core contributors and major mining pools respond to Atack’s warning.
Some analysts see this as a test of how Bitcoin handles disputed upgrades. I would put it more plainly: if the network gets through this without much drama, traders move on. If it does not, August could get loud.