Is Luke Dashjr preparing a new cryptocurrency?
Following the failure (or "blocking") of BIP-110, Luke Dashjr and proponents of the proposal are actively preparing a hard fork with a proof-of-work (PoW) algorithm change, which would create a de facto new cryptocurrency separate from Bitcoin.
Reminder on BIP-110:
BIP-110 (also called RDTS or Reduced Data Temporary Softfork, derived from BIP-444) was a proposal for a temporary soft fork (about 1 year) aimed at strongly limiting arbitrary data in Bitcoin transactions (Ordinal registrations, BRC-20, Runes, large OP_RETURN, etc.). Luke Dashjr (maintainer of Bitcoin Knots, co-founder of Ocean Mining) contributed to the initial draft and was one of its main public advocates.
On August 8-9, 2026, at the beginning of the mandatory reporting period (block ~961,632), the support of miners reached only ~2.53% (far from the 55% threshold). The BIP-110 nodes split into a minority chain that produced only two blocks before shutting down, while the main chain continued normally.
What happens next:
Proponents (including Dashjr, Dathon Ohm, and developers linked to Bitcoin Knots) refuse to consider this a failure. Luke Dashjr claims that "BIP110 is Bitcoin."
So they are preparing a PoW (hard fork) change to "fire the miners" and restart their chain:
1. Quasi-random selection process (via a block of Testnet4 on August 11, 2026) to prevent existing miners from preparing.
2. PoW algorithm: BLAKE2b-256.
3. Dashjr works on block header and PoW changes himself.
4. The announced goal: around September 1, 2026 (the date on which BIP-110 should have been activated), after writing, reviewing and testing the code. In the meantime, SHA-256 continues on their line.
Such a change in PoW makes the chain incompatible with the current mining hardware (SHA-256 ASICs) and with the main chain. From the perspective of the majority of the Bitcoin network, this creates a new altcoin (similar to Bitcoin Gold or other forks), with possibly an airdrop for BTC holders. Critics (Adam Back, etc.) explicitly describe it as such.
Dashjr also took a (sabbatical) leave of absence from his duties as Chairman/CTO of Ocean to focus on "Bitcoin and open-source projects" (according to his vision), and he was removed from his role as BIP editor.
In summary:
Luke Dashjr is preparing (along with others) what would technically be a new cryptocurrency via a PoW hard fork of the minority BIP-110 chain. From his point of view, this is the "real" continuation of Bitcoin; of the rest of the network, it is a fork/altcoin. The situation is evolving rapidly (early August 2026).
