Learn
Learn: reading the August 2026 consensus event
This is a short explainer series about BIP-110, the Reduced Data Temporary Softfork (RDTS), and the August 2026 Bitcoin consensus window. It gives you the vocabulary and the mental model first, so that when you open the Live dashboard the numbers mean something and you do not mistake a claim for a fact.
Everything here describes protocol mechanics. It states what the rules do and what the software does, not what miners, exchanges, or markets will decide. Where a value changes with the chain (signalling counts, node counts, the current height), the page shows it as a live figure or a clearly dated snapshot, never as a fixed fact.
Two ground rules run through the whole series. First, heights are the clock: consensus heights are fixed, and calendar dates are only approximations that drift with hashrate. Second, four things that sound alike are different, and keeping them apart is the entire discipline of reading this event: miner signalling (a header claim), actual enforcement (a validation behaviour), economic-node adoption (what settles value), and public-node counts (a crawl sample).
Reading order
Read the articles in order the first time. Each one assumes the vocabulary set up by the ones before it. After that, use them as reference and jump straight to the section you need.
Understanding BIP-110
The load-bearing overview. What RDTS is (a temporary restrictive soft fork), the four things people conflate, the seven transaction rules in brief, how activation works, and how to read the live instruments without over-reading them. Start here even if you only read one page.
Understanding BIP-110 › Explainer 2What the seven rules restrict (data carriage)
The seven rules, byte for byte: output-script sizes, push-payload limits, the witness and Tapscript restrictions, and how per-input grandfathering exempts old coins but never old outputs. This is the article for builders who need to know exactly what an active BIP-110 block will and will not accept.
What the seven rules restrict › Explainer 3Activation and fork paths
The versionbits state machine from DEFINED to EXPIRED, the five key heights, the difference between voluntary and mandatory signalling, and why state is branch-relative (a reorganization can change the state a node computes). This is the clock, explained.
Activation and fork paths › Explainer 4Scenarios and the split matrix
The permutation matrix of outcomes. Given whether the threshold is reached, whether miners build on the BIP-valid parent, and how much hash power actually enforces, what are the possible mechanical results? Strictly mechanics: if X, then the protocol behaves as Y. No prediction of which outcome occurs.
Scenarios and the split matrix › Explainer 5What to monitor in each phase
A bridge from Learn to Live. For each phase, what to watch, which live panel shows it, and the guardrail that stops you over-reading each signal. Absence from a mempool is not rejection. A header bit is a claim, not enforcement. Signalling is not hashrate. Node counts are not economic weight.
What to monitor in each phase › Explainer 6Replay and wallet safety
Safety basics only. BIP-110 adds no native replay protection: the two sides keep the same transaction format, signatures, and addresses, so a payment spending a shared coin can confirm on both histories. This page explains why, and what reliable separation actually requires. It is not financial or custody advice.
Replay and wallet safety › Coming sooneCash and drivechain
A separate August 2026 event, secondary for this site today: the eCash drivechain fork. A short stub explains what it is and why it is sequenced after the BIP-110 material.
eCash and drivechain ›What to watch
Once you have the vocabulary, the Live dashboard shows the current state of the window in these same terms: the event clock, mempool divergence between Core and Knots, signalling by period, the enforcement census, pool intent, and chain tips. Each Live panel carries the same guardrail captions you will meet in this series.
Sources
This series restates the project's BIP-110 technical walkthrough (research snapshot 2026-07-13, pinned to block 957,808), which is itself drawn from the BIP-110 text, the standalone v0.4.1 activation client, and Bitcoin Knots v29.3.knots20260508. Current-state figures are refreshed separately and dated on each page.