Developers behind the minority Bitcoin chain Bitcoin BLAKE2b plan to prevent miners from spending newly mined coins for 45 days, as the project’s token trades 84% below its all-time high.
The chain split from Bitcoin on 8 August 2026 and is known by several names, including BTCB2, Bitcoin BLAKE2b, Bitcoin BIP-110 and XBT on some trading platforms.
BTCB2 is not listed on a wide range of exchanges, while major market aggregators CoinGecko and CoinMarketCap do not currently include BTCB2 or XBT.
Bitcoin BLAKE2b emerged from supporters of BIP-110 and Bitcoin Knots who wanted to restrict substantial amounts of non-monetary data on the Bitcoin network. However, the proposal did not attract enough support on the main chain, leading to the fork at block height 961632.
The new network encountered immediate technical difficulties. It initially used Bitcoin’s mining difficulty, resulting in only about eight blocks being mined during its first 22 days before activity stalled.
The chain was subsequently revived through a proof-of-work change. Developers introduced the BLAKE2b hash function, altered the mining difficulty and reduced the block size.
The asset was later added to a small number of relatively unknown exchanges, giving it a market value. During the first week of September, BTCB2 rose to $1,799 per coin, but it has since fallen 84%.
The token’s value nevertheless attracted miners to the network. Developers, including Luke Dashjr, then accused some mining pools of becoming too powerful and “attacking” the chain.
A further change now appears likely. Five days ago, Dashjr submitted Bitcoin Knots pull request #419, which proposes extending the period miners must wait before spending newly derived coins.
Bitcoin currently requires 100 confirmations. Developers of Bitcoin BLAKE2b want the equivalent waiting period to be 45 days. Release notes for the proposed branch accuse “apathetic BLAKE2b incumbents” of attempting to profit from the network through “blind hashing instead of mining.”
BTCB2, also known as XBT on Neoxa Exchange, was trading at between $270 and $315 per unit in the hours before publication. The chain tip was close to 973228, with the proposed changes expected to take effect at block 973440.
Neoxa, one of the few trading platforms to list the forked asset, said on Sunday that it would support the upcoming soft fork.
The proposal has prompted renewed discussion within the crypto community about the asset created by the split from Bitcoin.
