As much as some wish it were so, changes to the Bitcoin protocol do not happen by decree.

There is no CEO to call, no board to lobby, no Vitalik to arbitrarily change the path forward. There is only signaling, the slow, public process by which holders, node runners, and miners decide what it becomes.

This week, the largest mining pool in the United States put that process in motion. Foundry USA is asking its miners to vote on whether the pool should signal support for BIP-110, weighted by ten-day average hashrate. Whatever the majority decides, Foundry will signal.

BIP-110, the Reduced Data Temporary Soft Fork, is a proposal supporters call spam defense and critics call censorship risk.

Soft forks live or die on miner signaling, and right now only 0.6% of blocks over the past 60 days have signaled support for BIP-110.

And while Bitcoin is certainly not a democracy, for the first time in years, a major protocol change is being put to a real, measurable vote.

Bitcoin governance is slow by design. Consensus across the network is hard to achieve. But this week America’s largest mining pool is giving customers a direct role in Bitcoin’s most closely watched governance debate since the Blocksize Wars.

Other top stories from the week include:

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With so much Bitcoin financialization happening lately, its fundamental properties can easily be overlooked, if not forgotten, by the mainstream.

That may be because the way people use Bitcoin often depends on where they live. In some jurisdictions, it functions as money for everyday payments. In others, it is treated primarily as long-term savings. Living in Europe, my experience has mostly been the latter.

But let’s get back to basics.

One of Bitcoin’s most powerful properties is its censorship resistance. When used as money, no bank, payment processor, or government can simply deny you access to your funds or prevent you from transacting.

That’s easy to forget while living in comfortable, stable environments. Until one day, that assumption no longer holds.

This post from Isa hits hard.  It’s 2026, Bitcoin is becoming increasingly financialized, yet she says she was just banned by Wise, seemingly because of her association with Bitcoin.

That is why Bitcoin matters, and why its adoption remains so important. Whether by encouraging more businesses to accept it or building tools that interoperate with it, every step strengthens an open monetary network.

At its core, this is about freedom. In an increasingly digital world, losing access to banking is not a minor inconvenience. It can mean losing the ability to fully participate in society.

Now imagine how much more consequential that becomes in a world of expanded digital surveillance and a central bank digital euro.

Europe has repeatedly shown us that voting alone may not be enough. Measures can still move forward despite widespread public opposition.

As the saying goes: you cannot vote your way out of tyranny.

So what can we do?

Start preparing. Learn to hold your own money. Support businesses that accept Bitcoin. Use tools that reduce your dependence on permission.

In short: become more sovereign.

Keep stacking.
- Bam