Foundry USA, the world’s largest Bitcoin mining pool by hashrate, has started asking its mining customers to vote on how the pool should signal support for Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP-110). This is a soft fork that aims to reduce the amount of data that can be stored in Bitcoin transactions, targeting non-financial uses like Ordinals inscriptions.
The voting window opened recently and will close at Bitcoin block 961,632, which is expected to occur sometime in early August. Foundry also released educational materials about the proposal to help miners understand what’s at stake. Clients can cast their votes by following a link sent to them via email.
What BIP-110 proposes
BIP-110 is currently one of the most debated proposals in the Bitcoin community. Its core idea is to limit the data storage capacity within Bitcoin transactions to discourage non-monetary uses, such as storing images or other data on the blockchain. Supporters argue this keeps the network focused on peer-to-peer transactions and reduces long-term bloat.
But critics have been vocal. Blockstream CEO Adam Back warned that BIP-110 could potentially be used to freeze user funds, a serious concern for anyone who values the permissionless nature of Bitcoin. Michael Saylor, executive chairman of Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), also criticized the proposal. He said BIP-110 could accidentally invalidate normal, ordinary transactions on the network, which would be a major disruption.
Foundry’s role and the vote
Foundry accounts for about 23.8% of the total Bitcoin network hashrate, according to data provider Hashrate Index. That gives the pool significant influence over how mining power signals on protocol changes. By asking customers to vote, Foundry is trying to gauge sentiment among its miners before making a decision on signaling support for BIP-110.
The outcome of this vote could shape how other mining pools and the broader network respond. Cointelegraph has reached out to Foundry for additional comment on the matter, but has not yet received a response.
For now, the debate continues. It’s unclear whether the proposal will gain enough traction to move forward, especially given the strong opposition from well-known figures. But the vote is a reminder that Bitcoin’s governance is still messy, decentralized, and driven by miners, developers, and users arguing it out in public.
