The battle for Bitcoin’s future is heating up, and this time the opposition is coming from an unexpected source.
Blockstream CEO Adam Back, who is typically known for his support of Bitcoin’s traditional sound money values, has strongly criticized a new proposal called BIP-110.
This proposal aims to limit spam on the network, including JPEG images and audio files stored as Ordinals.
A developer named Dathon Ohm supports BIP-110 and says there is an urgent need to prevent people from misusing the blockchain to store large amounts of data.
Adam Backs is against BIP-110
However, Adam Back disagrees. On Feb. 16, he called the proposal an “attempted lynching,” saying it seeks to force major changes without proper community consent. He warned,
“It’s even worse because it’s an attack on bitcoin’s credibility as a store of value, its security credibility, and an attempt by a lynch mob to make changes that don’t have consensus.”
Despite his criticism, the proposal is receiving support. About 7.5% of Bitcoin [BTC] nodes, usually using Bitcoin [BTC] Knots software has already done that agreed to follow these stricter rules.
The debate intensified after Back questioned whether he actually believes the proposal, aimed at reducing spam, is more harmful than Ordinals, which uses SegWit and Taproot to add extra data to the network.
Back to what replied,
“Spam is just annoying, it all fits within the block size. Operational returns are 4x smaller.”
He added:
“Pushing for a fork when you know there is no consensus is controversial. And people have repeatedly explained what is broken and bad about the BIP, freezing UTXOs, disabling features, 55% activation, flag day and filter proponents don’t seem to understand, listen or care.”
Why was BIP-110 proposed in the first place?
That said, BIP-110 is not just about technology. It also shows that power within the Bitcoin network is shifting. For years, Bitcoin Core controlled almost 98% of all nodes.
Now his share is decreased to approximately 77.2%. At the same time, Bitcoin Knots has grown to around 22.7% as more users switch software.
Source: Muntdans
This shift started in late 2025, when Bitcoin Core removed the 80 byte limit for the OP_RETURN function. This change made it easier to add images and other large data to Bitcoin.
As more spam entered the network, many users became dissatisfied. This is why BIP-110 was proposed to reduce this extra data.
The risk of a hard fork
While BIP-110 is under discussion, another controversy emerged last year.
Leaked reports suggested that Luke Dashjr was considering a hard fork that would allow a small “trusted committee” to remove illegal data from the blockchain.
Proponents say this could reduce legal risks, but critics warn it would enable censorship and weaken Bitcoin’s core values.
Together, these debates show that Bitcoin is now questioning who controls the network and whether it can truly remain neutral and decentralized.
Final summary
- Concerns about frozen UTXOs pose serious risks as even minor technical changes can impact real user funds.
- Developers now face pressure from users, miners and regulators simultaneously, making compromises harder than ever.