Foundry pool opens BIP-110 vote controlling third of Bitcoin hashrate

Foundry Digital, the world’s largest Bitcoin mining pool operator, will let clients use their computing power to vote on the BIP-110 soft fork. The Rochester, New York-based firm outlined the process in a Friday email, setting up a decisive test for a proposal aimed at restricting non-monetary data on the blockchain.

The outcome of this vote carries outsized market significance because Foundry controls roughly a third of the total Bitcoin network hashrate. Analysts at BGeometrics note that signaling decisions by Foundry and Antpool are the only ones capable of pushing daily support into a meaningful range. A mandatory signaling window projected for early August at block 961,632 will force the issue before the activation timeline closes.

BIP-110, also known as the reduced data temporary soft fork, would cap the amount of arbitrary data transactions can carry. It limits most new outputs to 34 bytes, restores an 83-byte limit on OP_RETURN outputs, and rejects data pushes above 256 bytes. Supporters argue the change is necessary to ensure Bitcoin functions strictly as peer-to-peer money by curbing blockchain spam.

However, the proposal faces fierce opposition from prominent industry figures who view it as a threat to network stability. Strategy founder Michael Saylor and Blockstream co-founder Adam Back argue that BIP-110 inappropriately converts a routine policy dispute into a fundamental consensus change. For investors and miners, the core risk is that critics warn the rule change could result in the invalidation of legitimate, fee-paying transactions, directly impacting mining revenue.

Foundry will weigh votes based on an account’s average computing power between July 6 and July 15. The pool’s default position is to signal "No" with all of its blocks until "Yes" votes cross a 51% hashrate threshold, at which point it flips entirely to "Yes." Miners who do not actively respond will be counted as "No" votes, though account holders can change their choice while the window remains open.

“It’s one of the more actively debated proposals in Bitcoin right now, and miners play a direct role in whether it activates,” Foundry said in its announcement. While individual voting choices will remain confidential, the firm indicated it may share aggregate results as the early August deadline approaches.