bip

According to market news, the Bitcoin network has seen the first block supporting the BIP-110 proposal, mined by the Ocean pool. This proposal aims to limit arbitrary non-financial data in blockchain transactions through a temporary soft fork over approximately one year. Supporters believe this can curb "junk" data that occupies block space, protect Bitcoin's role as a robust monetary infrastructure, and alleviate the burden on node operators. The proposal has sparked intense controversy within the community.Critics, including Blockstream CEO Adam Back, warn that intervention at the consensus layer could undermine Bitcoin's credibility, lead to discriminatory treatment of transactions, and violate the principle of transaction capacity neutrality. He also questioned the actual support for the proposal, stating it could increase the risk of blockchain splits.The controversy escalated further when a developer embedded a 66KB image in a Bitcoin transaction to oppose the core claim of BIP-110, demonstrating that a large amount of data can be encoded even without relying on OP_RETURN. This debate highlights the long-standing ideological divide within the Bitcoin community: whether to staunchly defend Bitcoin's pure positioning as a currency or to maintain maximum neutrality regarding arbitrary uses at the base layer.

SlovakBitcoin developer and RustBitcoin library maintainer Martin Habovštiak has released a proof of concept that writes a 66 kB TIFF image file to the Bitcoin blockchain through a single transaction without using OP_RETURN, Taproot, or OP_IF. The transaction can be publicly verified on-chain and can be decoded into a complete image file.This experiment is seen as a direct challenge to the "anti-spam" soft fork proposal BIP-110, promoted by Luke Dashjr. BIP-110 is a successor to BIP-444, which aims to limit the scale of on-chain data writing, with some supporters arguing that such data storage practices deviate from Bitcoin's core positioning as a "currency."

According to Eleanor Terrett, U.S. Republican lawmakers Fitzgerald (Wisconsin), Cline (Virginia), and Democratic lawmaker Lofgren (California) jointly proposed the "Blockchain Innovation Development Act," aimed at clarifying the applicability of Section 1960 of the Criminal Code.The bill explicitly states that Section 1960 applies only to entities that control customer funds, rather than developers who merely write code. Previously, in cases like TornadoCash and SamouraiWallet, regulators had applied this provision to non-custodial software developers, leading to a strong backlash from the crypto industry. This bill will provide legal protection for blockchain developers and address the long-standing conflict between crypto innovation and regulation.

Bitcoin Core developer Murch announced on February 11 that BIP 360 (Pay to Merkle Root, P2MR) has officially entered the Bitcoin Improvement Proposal repository, marking the first time the Bitcoin development community has incorporated quantum resistance into the official technical roadmap.The proposal was co-authored by Hunter Beast, Ethan Heilman, and Isabel Foxen Duke, and is currently in the review and discussion stage, with no protocol changes activated yet.

According to Bitcoin Magazine, Bitcoin Improvement Proposal BIP-360 has been merged into the official codebase to enhance resistance against quantum attacks.

According to relevant page information, Bitcoin Improvement Proposal 360 (BIP-360) has been added to the official code repository.This proposal introduces the Pay-to-Merkle-Root (P2MR) output type, aimed at enhancing Bitcoin's defense against quantum computing threats through a soft fork.

According to Cointelegraph, the number of Bitcoin nodes supporting Bitcoin Improvement Proposal 110 (BIP-110) has risen to 2.38%. This proposal is a temporary soft fork that limits the amount of data per transaction at the consensus level.According to data from The Bitcoin Portal, out of 24,481 nodes, 583 are running BIP-110, with the main node software implementation for this soft fork proposal being Bitcoin Knots. BIP-110 limits the size of transaction outputs to 34 bytes and sets the OP_RETURN data limit to 83 bytes. According to the proposal's description on its GitHub page, this temporary soft fork will be deployed for 1 year, after which it may be extended or modified. OP_RETURN is a script code that allows users to embed arbitrary data.Since the release of the latest version of the most widely used Bitcoin node software—Bitcoin Core 30—this feature has been a focal point of intense debate within the Bitcoin community. The OP_RETURN data limit was originally set to 83 bytes, but Bitcoin Core developers unilaterally removed this restriction in the Bitcoin Core 30 version. This change stemmed from a controversial code merge request first proposed in April 2025, which was widely opposed by the Bitcoin community.

Galaxy Research Director Alex Thorn posted on the X platform that a key hearing in the legislative process for cryptocurrency market structure will take place next week. Republican members of the Senate Agriculture Committee have released a discussion draft of the "Digital Commodities Consumer Protection Act." This bill is expected to be merged with related legislative content completed by the Senate Banking Committee to form a comprehensive "Cryptocurrency Market Structure Act."As the Senate Agriculture Committee is responsible for overseeing the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), this draft primarily focuses on the digital commodities market, with the core content being to grant the CFTC exclusive regulatory authority over the spot cryptocurrency market, including cryptocurrency trading platforms, dealers, and brokers. The committee plans to hold a hearing on the bill's amendments on January 27 (Tuesday), during which bipartisan lawmakers may propose amendments. Although the commodity attributes section (including the CFTC's regulatory authority over the spot market) is generally considered less controversial than the securities attributes section in the cryptocurrency market structure discussions, this discussion draft still carries a noticeable partisan tone. It has not yet received the endorsement of key Democratic negotiators, although many provisions previously negotiated with Democrats have been included. Overall, the legislative text from the Senate Agriculture Committee aligns with market expectations, with its core being the establishment of a regulatory framework for the digital commodities spot market centered around the CFTC. Compared to the related topics being discussed by the Senate Banking Committee, this version has a narrower scope and is relatively less politically sensitive and controversial.

According to crypto journalist Eleanor Terrett, after months of tense negotiations among Senate Republicans, Democrats, and industry stakeholders, a bipartisan text of the 278-page crypto market structure bill has been released. Banks may gain an advantage in this round of stablecoin yield disputes.The latest draft (page 189) stipulates that companies cannot pay interest solely based on users holding a balance. Users can earn rewards, but only if the rewards are associated with activities such as account opening, conducting transactions, staking, providing liquidity, collateralizing assets, or participating in network governance. Senators now have 48 hours to propose amendments to the bill text, so it remains unclear whether these provisions will remain unchanged by Thursday.

Sources reveal that bipartisan senators are gradually accepting the banking industry's lobbying group's request to adjust the stablecoin yield rules in the GENIUS Act.The related adjustment paths include: adopting the proposal put forward by Senator Alsobrooks, which limits yields to the transaction stage (more supported by Democrats); or requiring that only institutions holding a bank charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) can offer stablecoin yields, the latter being considered more friendly to certain parts of the crypto industry, but controversial in the DeFi space. Additionally, it is reported that Scott is expected to submit the House version of the CLARITY Act as a placeholder text tonight to initiate the review process next week, with the formal text needing to be submitted by midnight on Monday at the latest. Furthermore, industry insiders involved in communications with Senate staff have indicated that the previous notion of "needing to pray for the bill to pass" was more of a light-hearted joke rather than a pessimistic judgment on the legislative prospects, and the final direction may gradually become clearer in the coming days.

According to Jinshi Data reports, there are market rumors that the White House is considering nominating a group of bipartisan candidates to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

Reporter Eleanor Terrett stated that the Senate Agriculture Committee has been working for months to ensure that the CLARITY bill draft has bipartisan support. Although there is still uncertainty as it approaches a critical juncture, such efforts are not common within Congress.She also recalled that last summer, the CLARITY bill provisions pushed by the House Agriculture GOP passed with significant bipartisan support, with 47 votes in favor and 6 against.

Cryptocurrency journalist Eleanor Terrett revealed the latest developments on the "Cryptocurrency Market Structure Act" (CLARITY Act). The U.S. Senate Banking Committee has officially scheduled a review of it for Thursday, January 15, 2026, and committee members and their staff are racing against time to reach bipartisan consensus on outstanding issues.On Tuesday, during a meeting at the office of Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott, topics such as the ethical standards for public officials related to cryptocurrency, stablecoin yields, bipartisan representation in cryptocurrency regulatory bodies, and several DeFi-specific provisions were the focus of discussion, attended by 13 pro-cryptocurrency senators. It remains unclear how many issues were resolved during the three-hour meeting, but both Republican and Democratic senators expressed optimism that the bill could gain bipartisan support.As senators engage in internal negotiations, the cryptocurrency industry is ramping up lobbying efforts this week to make its voice heard on the remaining unresolved issues. On Thursday, the Digital Chamber will hold a lobbying event on Capitol Hill, with over 40 members heading to the Senate to lobby.The event will start at 10 a.m., featuring speakers including Patrick Harker, Executive Director of the White House Cryptocurrency Council, and Cynthia Lummis, Republican Senator from Wyoming. Representatives from companies such as Unicoin, Anchorage Digital, eToro, Coinflip, Input Output Group, Arca, Bitdeer, Binance.US, Crypto.com, VanEck, Hedera, Mara, and Helium are expected to participate. Additionally, some industry leaders will meet privately with senators this week to discuss unresolved issues related to DeFi and stablecoin yields.

Cryptocurrency journalist Eleanor Terrett revealed the latest developments on the "Crypto Market Structure Act" (CLARITY Act). The U.S. Senate Banking Committee has officially scheduled a review for Thursday, January 15, 2026, and committee members and their staff are racing against time to reach bipartisan consensus on outstanding issues.On Tuesday, during a meeting at the office of Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott, topics such as the ethical standards for public officials related to cryptocurrency, stablecoin yields, bipartisan representation in cryptocurrency regulatory bodies, and several DeFi-specific provisions became focal points of discussion. Thirteen pro-cryptocurrency senators attended the meeting. It remains unclear how many issues were resolved during the three-hour meeting, but both Republican and Democratic senators expressed optimism that the bill could garner bipartisan support.As senators engage in internal negotiations, the cryptocurrency industry is ramping up lobbying efforts this week to make its voice heard on the remaining unresolved issues. On Thursday, the Digital Chamber will hold a lobbying event on Capitol Hill, with over 40 members heading to the Senate to advocate. The event will start at 10 a.m., featuring speakers such as Patrick Harker, Executive Director of the White House Cryptocurrency Committee, and Wyoming Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis.Representatives participating in the event are expected to come from companies such as Unicoin, Anchorage Digital, eToro, Coinflip, Input Output Group, Arca, Bitdeer, Binance.US, Crypto.com, VanEck, Hedera, Mara, and Helium. Additionally, some industry leaders will meet privately with senators this week to discuss unresolved issues related to DeFi and stablecoin yields.

According to The Block, Congressman Max Miller (R-OH) and Steven Horsford (D-NV) are drafting a cryptocurrency tax bill called the Digital Asset PARITY Act.The bill will provide tax benefits for certain stablecoin transactions and delay taxation on rewards for validating blockchain transactions. The legislation will exempt capital gains tax on stablecoin transactions below $200. As a compromise between the IRS's current guidance and industry demands, taxpayers will have the option to defer taxes on staking and mining rewards for five years, after which they will be taxed as ordinary income at fair market value.The bill will extend wash sale rules (which prevent investors from selling at a loss and immediately repurchasing to claim tax credits) to digital assets and allow traders to use the mark-to-market method for accounting.

According to Decrypt, U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman and Senator Cory Booker have released a bipartisan discussion draft that would grant the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) explicit regulatory authority over the trading of digital commodity spot markets.The proposal requires major cryptocurrency spot platforms to register with the CFTC and implement anti-fraud, record-keeping, fund segregation, and dispute resolution measures. Brokers and dealers will follow separate registration rules. The draft explicitly protects the rights to self-custody wallets, allowing individuals to hold and trade digital assets directly through hardware or software wallets.The draft defines digital commodities as "any fungible digital asset that can be exclusively held and transferred person-to-person without the use of an intermediary and recorded on a cryptographically secure public distributed ledger." The bill will take effect 270 days after enactment and includes a transition period. The timeline for Senate passage remains uncertain.

White House cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence director David Sacks said, "Thanks to Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman and committee member Cory Booker for the constructive discussion today on cryptocurrency market structure legislation before the Senate Agriculture Committee. I am encouraged by the significant progress made so far and look forward to the introduction of a bipartisan joint proposal in the near future."

ChainCatcher news, according to crypto journalist Eleanor Terrett, multiple sources have revealed that the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee is set to release its bipartisan joint draft, which pertains to the commodity-related aspects of the cryptocurrency market structure bill, although the specific release time varies among sources.Some say the committee may act as early as tomorrow; others indicate that the final preparations mean the draft's release could be delayed until next week. In any case, this upcoming draft, along with the resumption of bipartisan staff negotiations in the banking committee, suggests that the progress on market structure-related matters has gotten back on track following last week's industry roundtable.

ChainCatcher message, the Bitcoin Core core developer Luke Dashjr, known for his anti-engraving stance, believes that the probability of BIP 444's success is very high, although there may be some initial confusion. He stated that for opponents to reject it, they would need to perform a reverse fork and split the chain, which is unlikely to have many people doing such a crazy thing.In addition, Luke Dashjr mentioned that statements about freezing someone's BTC and similar remarks are just FUD against BIP 444, with no reason to believe that real coins would be affected. Mempool developer mononaut expressed opposition and cited examples of some real coins that would be frozen by BIP 444, such as some simple financial use cases using OP_IF in Tapscript.

ChainCatcher news, Israeli privacy blockchain infrastructure developer Fhenix has received investment from Japan's Biprogy and TransLink Capital.Fhenix focuses on developing privacy-oriented blockchain infrastructure, utilizing homomorphic encryption technology to enable confidential transactions on decentralized finance platforms. Biprogy is a major information technology service company in Japan, holding a significant position in the financial services sector. This round of investment will support Fhenix's entry into the Japanese Web3 and fintech markets, including establishing potential partnerships with local financial institutions. The funds will help adapt its privacy technology to meet the demands of the Japanese market.