Blockchain specialist Kevin Loaec has warned that attempting to sell coins obtained from a potential soft fork of BIP-110 could lead to the loss of actual bitcoins.
⚠️IMPORTANT⚠️In the next couple of days, a new shitcoin will fork off Bitcoin. It is a big security risk for people who just believe they will get an “airdrop” and want to sell it, to get more bitcoin.
I will write more about it, but here is the TLDR: 👇— Kevin Loaec 🧙♂️🐟 (@KLoaec) August 6, 2026
The blockchain split will create a double balance situation: the same amount of assets will be reflected in both chains simultaneously. According to Loaec, this could be exploited by malicious actors who might buy coins from the new network using real bitcoins.
Initially, transactions are valid in both versions. By signing a transfer of fork tokens, the seller inadvertently provides the buyer with a template for an identical operation in the main network.
As a result, an equivalent amount is deducted from the same address in real bitcoins, and fees are charged twice. The wallet is not emptied, but the exact amount declared for sale is lost.
The developer suggested that large holders are at the greatest risk. He stated that the only reliable strategy is to keep assets stationary. To copy a transaction, a signed operation is needed, and without it, there is nothing to replicate.
Bitcoin has experienced a similar hard fork before. After the separation of Bitcoin Cash in 2017, developers had to integrate a special mechanism into the new network to prevent transaction transfers between chains. The BIP-110 specification lacks such protection.
Why the Network Faces a Split
The dispute has been ongoing since fall 2025, when developers released Bitcoin Core v30 and increased the OP_RETURN field limit from 80 to 100,000 bytes. Critics argued that the change would simplify the placement of extraneous information on the blockchain, leading the Bitcoin Knots team to propose BIP-110 in December, which limits non-payment data for a year.
For standard activation, the initiative must be confirmed by 1109 out of 2016 blocks. Currently, about 2.6% of blocks contain the BIP-110 tag.
However, the authors have foreseen another scenario. Starting from block #961,632, expected on August 8, nodes with BIP-110 will begin rejecting blocks without the required tag. Since almost the entire hash rate does not include it, these nodes will stop following the main chain.
This alone will not create a new blockchain. Miners are needed to continue producing blocks according to the proposal’s rules. If none are found, an alternative chain will not emerge.
BIP-110’s restrictions on non-payment data will take effect later—from block #965,664, expected in early September.
Until then, both networks will be able to accept the same operations. To safely separate assets, the owner must first obtain coins that exist only in one branch and use them to separate one balance from the other.
The block production rate may shift both dates by about a day in either direction.
In July, the co-founder of the Runestone project, under the pseudonym Leonidas, introduced a Bitcoin client in opposition to BIP-110.
