LibraryConsensus2017Design paperCorpus record
Reduced threshold Segwit MASF
BIP 91. James Hilliard.
BIP 91, Reduced threshold Segwit MASF. This document specifies a method to activate the existing BIP9 segwit deployment with a majority hashpower less than 95%.
Status in the source: Deployed. A reading of the public specification, not a copy of it and not a certification.
Reduced threshold Segwit MASF is worth reading for the rule it actually adds: This document specifies a method to activate the existing BIP9 segwit deployment with a majority hashpower less than 95%.
The five-minute read
The rule
This document specifies a method to activate the existing BIP9 segwit deployment with a majority hashpower less than 95%.
What was already failing
Bitcoin script and block validity only change when a soft fork says an old pattern is now invalid. Without that rule, every node is free to accept what this document wants to reject.
What the number does not mean
The source marks this deployed. That is a statement about the text, not a promise that every wallet or node has shipped it.
What a builder should be able to point at
An implementation either constrains BIP9, P2P, MASF or it is a different design.
One action, walked through
- Open BIP 91 and read the status line before the examples.
- Write down the rule in one sentence. A fair version of that sentence is: This document specifies a method to activate the existing BIP9 segwit deployment with a majority hashpower less than 95%.
- Name the object that changes: BIP9, P2P, MASF.
- Ask what an old client, an old contract, or an offline counterparty does. If the document is silent, the silence is part of the design.
The argument, unpacked
What the text is allowed to settle
Bitcoin Improvement Proposal 91 can settle the shape of Reduced threshold Segwit MASF. It cannot settle whether a later client, a later fork, or a later wallet still does this.
What this page will not pretend
There is no benchmark, no adoption number, and no claim that the mechanism is safe outside the assumptions written in the source.
What has to be true
- You are implementing BIP 91 at the status the text itself states: Deployed.
- The object that has to change is BIP9, P2P, MASF. A neighbouring document with a similar name is not this one.
- Activation is a separate mechanism from the opcode or the sighash. This page does not pick a height.
What happened after the paper
The source marks this deployed. That is a statement about the text, not a promise that every wallet or node has shipped it. Later documents can narrow, replace, or ignore this one. Cite the number you mean.
What to check before you use the idea
- Which bytes become invalid under Reduced threshold Segwit MASF, and which old transactions stay valid?
- Is enforcement in consensus, or only in the mempool policy of one client?
- Which of these objects does the text actually define: BIP9, P2P, MASF?
Terms
- BIP 91
- The public text titled Reduced threshold Segwit MASF.
- Deployed
- The document's own label for how finished the text is. It is not a market fact.
The problem the paper names
Bitcoin script and block validity only change when a soft fork says an old pattern is now invalid. Without that rule, every node is free to accept what this document wants to reject.
What the design proposes
- This document specifies a method to activate the existing BIP9 segwit deployment with a majority hashpower less than 95%.
- Segwit increases the blocksize, fixes transaction malleability, and makes scripting easier to upgrade as well as bringing many other [https://bitcoincore.org/en/2016/01/26/segwit-benefits/ benefits].
- This BIP provides a way for a simple majority of miners to coordinate activation of the existing segwit deployment with less than 95% hashpower.
How the mechanism is specified
- Taken from the specification, the next constraint is: Segwit increases the blocksize, fixes transaction malleability, and makes scripting easier to upgrade as well as bringing many other [https://bitcoincore.org/en/2016/01/26/segwit-benefits/ benefits].
- Locate BIP9, P2P, MASF in BIP 91 and apply it to one transaction or call.
- Then check the failure the class of rule always has: a node that did not upgrade, a reverted call, a replayed signature, or a peer that does not speak the message.
What this page does not treat as proven
- A soft fork does not bind a node that never upgrades. It binds the nodes that enforce the new rejection.
- Activation is a separate mechanism from the opcode or the sighash. This page does not pick a height.
- The source marks this deployed. That is a statement about the text, not a promise that every wallet or node has shipped it.
Why a venture studio still reads it
Use BIP 91 when a pitch says 'Reduced threshold Segwit MASF' without saying whether the rule is consensus, policy, or an interface. The number is the citation. The pitch is not.
This is Blockchain Lab's reading of a public design paper. It is not the paper, not a copy of it, and not an offer of tokens, equity, custody or a partnership. Later network behaviour can diverge from the text. Nothing here is investment, legal or technical advice.
Research status: Design paper. Last reviewed: 1 October 2026. This is a reading of a public paper, not investment, legal or security advice.
