Bitcoin's BIP-110 episode is free-market capitalism in purest form

CoinDeskPublished on 8 hours ago

Your day-ahead look for Aug. 10, 2026

Your day-ahead look for Aug. 10, 2026

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Whether bitcoin BTC$65,175.61 works better as a store of value or a payments mechanism can be debated. But one of its core appeals, its radically free-market, permissionless design, is not. The BIP-110 saga put that design on full display.

The Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP)-110 started as a proposal to limit non-financial data such as Ordinals inscriptions, seen by some as spam, to free up blockchain space. The proposal was debated in an open forum by the developer community, failed to secure broad support and was effectively denied by distributed consensus. The key here is distributed consensus: No regulator or central committee banned it.

The free-market story continues, though. Supporters also got to exercise their right to form their own blockchain, forked or split from the original Bitcoin. They did so at block 961,632 in an attempt to implement their preferred rules in the newer version in a voluntary move not forced by any regulator or middlemen.

Miners quickly chose the more profitable version, the original Bitcoin. The new chain, which inherited Bitcoin’s massive mining difficulty, attracted only a tiny fraction of hashpower and produced just two blocks before grinding to a halt. Meanwhile, the original Bitcoin network continued uninterrupted, retaining virtually all activity, liquidity and security.

“Bitcoin worked exactly as designed,” Michael Saylor, the founder of BTC-holding company Strategy (MSTR), said on X.

Contrast that with the so-called free-market economies of the world. Falling corporate profitability should trigger cost-cutting and layoffs, but electoral politics often leads governments to block that adjustment, resulting in prolonged industrial sickness. Or, when high inflation hits, governments issue subsidies that artificially prop up demand, fueling even higher inflation. The usual free-market response of reduced consumption and price discipline never gets a chance to play out.

Bitcoin’s takeaway for the real economy is clear. The free market economy works when you let it run its course.

As for the coin’s spot price, it continues to trade near $65,000 alongside a continued demand for downside protection. This week’s U.S. inflation data is expected to influence the price trajectory.

Stay alert!

Read more: For analysis of today's activity in altcoins and derivatives, see Crypto Markets Today . For a comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk's "Crypto Week Ahead."

What’s trending

A rare CME shift: Hedge funds abandon structural shorts to bet on a bitcoin rally (CoinDesk): Hedge funds trading bitcoin futures on the CME turned net long. The rare positioning shift suggests professional traders are increasingly betting on bitcoin prices rising. XRP is getting left behind in the crypto bounce even as ETFs keep attracting investor money (CoinDesk): XRP dropped about 5% to $1.03 last week, even as bitcoin, ether and solana each rose. The underperformance is puzzling because XRP exchange-traded funds attracted net investor capital for a fourth consecutive week. Global stocks tick up with oil steady on Hormuz plans (Reuters): Global equities inched higher as oil prices held broadly steady after Iran said a final pact with Oman was near for shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

Today’s signal

The chart shows bitcoin’s price swings in candlestick format with the Ichimoku Cloud indicator overlaid.

BTC currently remains inside the Ichimoku Cloud, a classic sign of consolidation. The cloud (Kumo) normally acts as dynamic support when the price is above it and resistance when it’s below. Once the price moves into the cloud, that zone becomes an equilibrium band where buyers and sellers are roughly balanced and the trend is neutral.

In practice, traders treat crossovers and closes above the cloud as bullish signals and those below as bearish, while price action inside the cloud is often considered “no‑trade” or range‑bound territory until a clear breakout occurs.

The indicator itself was created in the late 1960s by Goichi Hosoda, a Japanese journalist and technical analyst.

1Strategy sells 1,690 bitcoin, raises $653 million from MSTR shares5 min ago 2Crypto exchange Coinsbuy loses $8 million in coordinated two-blockchain attack35 min ago 3Why the UK financial watchdog is drafting new rules for tokenized gold36 min ago 4Bitcoin steadies above $65,000 as Iran-Oman deal talk eases Hormuz concerns, lifts risk assets1 hr ago 5Bitcoin volatility is in meltdown, but downside protection still commands a premium2 hrs ago 6A rare CME shift: Hedge funds abandon structural shorts to bet on a bitcoin rally3 hrs ago 7U.S. CPI inflation, Securitize, Gemini among earnings reports: Crypto Week Ahead3 hrs ago 8Inside stablecoin firm BVNK’s journey to a $1.8B acquisition by Mastercard4 hrs ago 9Robinhood brings crypto trading to UK in AI-powered all-in-one app 5 hrs ago 10Live updates: Bitcoin steady above $65,100 as Strategy reports 1,690 BTC sale5 hrs ago

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