Mark Erhardt Proposes Luke Dashjr's Removal from Bitcoin BIP Editors Following BIP-110 Fail

Mark “Murch” Erhardt, a Bitcoin Core developer, has made a formal recommendation to remove Luke Dashjr from the group of editors overseeing Bitcoin Improvement Proposals (BIPs). This recommendation follows the failure of BIP-110, which aimed to regulate data embedding in Bitcoin transactions and reportedly led to a chainsplit.

Background on BIP-110

BIP-110 was designed as a consensus soft fork proposal to impose temporary limits on data storage within Bitcoin transactions, with the intent to preserve Bitcoin’s core function as sound money. The proposal's mandatory signaling began on August 9, but despite a low miner support threshold of 55%, it failed to gain traction and caused a chainsplit.

Concerns Over Editorial Practices

Erhardt's concerns focus on Dashjr’s editorial handling of BIP-110, claiming he assigned a BIP number prematurely and merged a related pull request without adequate coordination or review. Dashjr has been a BIP Editor since at least 2011 and has been vocal against the use of Bitcoin block space for non-monetary data.

Implications for Bitcoin Governance

The current BIP Editors include Erhardt, Dashjr, and others, with a multi-editor system introduced in 2024 to address concentrated authority. The failure of BIP-110 raises questions about the effectiveness of this system and whether additional safeguards are needed to prevent unilateral actions on controversial proposals.

Community Response and Next Steps

Removing a BIP Editor is not straightforward, as the BIP process lacks a clear mechanism for such actions. The community will need to reach a consensus on how to proceed, which could involve discussions about increasing the number of editors or implementing formal review periods.