Blockstream CEO Adam Back has rejected viral claims that the Bitcoin (BTC) network will “fire the miners” in August 2026. He says developer Luke Dashjr is simply preparing a new coin that would run on different mining rules.
The claim spread across X this week. Back made clear that Bitcoin itself stays untouched, and that the project amounts to a spin-off coin rather than a shutdown of Bitcoin mining.
Why ‘Fire the Miners’ Talk Spread
Posts circulating on social media claimed Dashjr was “getting ready to fire the miners.” However, Back pushed back in a post on X and called that framing misleading.
The confusion comes from a heated debate about BIP-110. This proposal, backed by Dashjr’s camp, wants to limit how much non-financial data, such as images, people can store on Bitcoin. Its deadline arrives in early August 2026, yet very few miners and node operators support it.
Bitcoin runs on special mining computers built for one specific puzzle-solving method. If someone changed that method, every existing machine would become worthless overnight. Therefore, critics jumped on the idea that Dashjr wanted to push the whole mining industry out.
Earlier in June, Back issued a BTC fork risk warning, saying the dispute could split off a small rival chain. Michael Saylor previously called the proposal a BTC protocol threat, showing how nervous big investors have become.
Back Compares the Project to Bitcoin Gold
According to Back, the plan resembles Bitcoin Gold (BTG). That coin copied Bitcoin’s code in 2017 and switched to mining on ordinary graphics cards. Despite big promises, it never came close to the original. In Back’s view, a copy without Bitcoin’s enormous mining power offers far weaker protection.
Dashjr, meanwhile, has pushed for new mining rules for years. He argues that one company, Bitmain, builds most of the machines securing Bitcoin today. In his eyes, that puts too much power in too few hands.
The timing makes the dispute even more sensitive. Mining has become less profitable this year, and mining difficulty fell sharply in March as struggling operators switched to AI business. Ongoing bitcoin price weakness has squeezed their earnings further.
The open question now becomes whether anyone follows Dashjr to his new coin. Historically, similar Bitcoin copies have faded fast instead of becoming real rivals. The weeks before the August deadline should show whether this attempt fares any better. For now, Bitcoin’s miners keep working exactly as before.