Bitcoin BLAKE2b fork faces Sept. 1 launch test

Bitcoin developers supporting BIP-110 are preparing a separate BLAKE2b proof-of-work chain for a proposed Sept. 1 launch after an earlier minority branch failed to attract enough SHA-256 mining support. Summary Bitcoin developer Luke Dashjr’s supporters plan a BLAKE2b breakaway chain after BIP-110’s minority branch stalled. The original BIP-110 proposed temporary restrictions on arbitrary data, not a proof-of-work algorithm replacement itself. The first enforcing branch produced only two blocks initially, showing that miners withheld meaningful support. Developers scheduled the BLAKE2b chain for September 1, although its final launch remains technically conditional. No major exchange, wallet, or Lightning implementation had publicly committed support before the planned launch. The new chain became the subject of a dispute on Aug. 31 between BIP-110 supporter Loogart and Ripple co-founder David Schwartz, who previously served as Ripple’s chief technology officer. Loogart argued that supporters had accepted losing the effort to change Bitcoin’s dominant chain and were voluntarily continuing elsewhere. Schwartz rejected the framing that supporters had tried to “fix the legacy chain.” ...