Key takeaways
- Barefoot Mining produces block #938903, the first Bitcoin block signaling support for BIP-110, using Ocean's DATUM template system
- Ocean's architecture lets individual miners construct their own block templates and signal independently of the pool operator
- Predyx prediction market prices BIP-110 activation at 8%, reflecting deep uncertainty about the temporary soft fork proposal
Miner-Level Signaling Returns
Barefoot Mining has produced the first Bitcoin block signaling support for BIP-110, the temporary soft fork proposal that would cap arbitrary non-financial data in transactions for approximately one year. Block #938903, mined through Ocean's pool, marks the opening move in what could become Bitcoin's next governance contest.
The signal came not from Ocean as a pool operator but from Barefoot Mining as an individual miner. Using Ocean's DATUM protocol, Barefoot constructed its own block template and embedded the BIP-110 signal directly, broadcasting the block to the network without passing through a middleman.
Barefoot Mining's Bob Burnett put it simply.
'There were several folks hashing and trying to signal, Barefoot just happened to be the first. We are honored to have mined the first BIP-110 signaling block and the first Ocean block back in 2023. We are blessed.'
The Proposal and the Pushback
BIP-110 aims to reinstate strict limits on transaction output sizes and OP_RETURN data fields, targeting what proponents consider spam use of block space. Supporters argue that unchecked inscriptions and arbitrary data payloads burden node operators and dilute Bitcoin's purpose as monetary infrastructure.
The community remains split. Blockstream CEO Adam Back warned that consensus-level intervention could harm Bitcoin's credibility and lead to preferential treatment of some transactions. A developer inscribed a 66 KB image in a single Bitcoin transaction as a pointed rebuttal. On Predyx, a Lightning-native prediction market, the proposal sits at an 8% probability of activation by September 2026.
Why It Matters
The block itself is less important than how it was mined. In 2017, miners signaling for SegWit did so through their pool's settings. Ocean flips that model: miners build their own templates, embed their own signals, and broadcast directly. This is what decentralized mining governance looks like in practice. Whether BIP-110 activates or fails, the precedent of individual miners exercising sovereign signaling power through DATUM is a structural win for the network. Large pools have accumulated enormous influence over Bitcoin's upgrade process. Ocean's architecture chips away at that concentration, one block at a time.
