Blockchain specialist Kevin Loak has published a warning about the technical risks associated with the possible separation of the bitcoin network as a result of the activation of the BIP-110 soft fork. The main threat is the lack of a built-in protection mechanism against replay attacks. If the blockchain is split, users will have a double balance: the same amount of assets will be reflected both in the main network and in the alternative branch. Loak notes that attackers can take advantage of this vulnerability by offering to redeem the tokens of the new network for real bitcoins. Since transactions are valid in both versions of the protocol at an early stage, signing the fork token transfer automatically creates a cryptographic template that can be applied on the main network. As a result, an equivalent amount in real bitcoins will be debited from the seller's address, while the transaction fee will be deducted twice. The developer emphasizes that large holders are in the zone of greatest risk, and recommends the only reliable strategy at the moment – complete abstinence from any transactions until the situation stabilizes, since a pre-signed transaction is required to copy the operation.

A historical precedent for such a situation took place in 2017 during the hard fork and the creation of the Bitcoin Cash network. Then the developers of the new chain had to urgently implement a special mechanism to prevent the transfer and duplication of transactions between the two blockchains. There is no similar protection in the current BIP-110 specification, which makes assets vulnerable at the stage of the coexistence of two chains. The root of the current technical dispute goes back to the fall of 2025, when the developers released the Bitcoin Core v30 update, which increased the OP_RETURN field limit from 80 to 100,000 bytes. Critics of this change have expressed concern that it will simplify the placement of extraneous, non-monetary information on the blockchain. In response, in December, the Bitcoin Knots team initiated the BIP-110 proposal, which provides for a temporary, one-year limit on the amount of non-monetary data in blocks.

The BIP-110 activation mechanism provides for two scenarios. For standard activation, the initiative must be confirmed in 1109 out of 2016 blocks, but currently only about 2.6% of blocks contain the corresponding label. The authors of the proposal also envisioned an alternative scenario: starting from block #961,632, expected on August 8, nodes supporting BIP-110 will automatically reject blocks that do not contain the necessary signal. Since the vast majority of the network's hashrate does not set this signal, these nodes will stop following the main chain. It is important to note that this in itself does not guarantee the creation of a new blockchain: for a full-fledged separation, miners are needed who will purposefully mine blocks according to the new rules. Restrictions on non-payment data will take effect later, with block #965,664 expected in early September. Until then, both networks will accept identical transactions, and in order to safely separate assets, owners will first need to obtain coins that exist exclusively in one of the branches in order to use them to split balances.