Bitcoin mining company DEMAND announced today the launch of the world’s first Stratum V2 mining pool, built using the open-source Stratum Reference Implementation (SRI). This new pool seeks to improve security, flexibility, and performance in Bitcoin mining through the use of the updated protocol.
Enhancing Bitcoin Mining with Stratum V2
The Stratum V2 protocol offers a range of enhancements over the previous Stratum version, providing miners more control and helping decentralize Bitcoin mining. One notable feature of Stratum V2 is that it empowers individual miners to build their own block templates when mining Bitcoin.
“Stratum V2 gives the power of transaction selection back to the individual miners, to make the mining ecosystem more decentralized and Bitcoin more censorship resistant.” – Filippo Merli, DEMAND co-founder and SRI project lead
In the past, mining pool operators controlled transaction selection when creating blocks, which posed centralization risks. However, with Stratum V2, miners can now choose which transactions to include in blocks themselves.
Advantages and Incentives
To utilize the capabilities of Stratum V2, miners will need to run the proxy and set up a Bitcoin node for receiving transactions. DEMAND plans to incentivize miners to create their own block templates by lowering fees for these users, promoting more decentralized, full node Bitcoin mining.
Currently, DEMAND’s mining pool is focused on solo miners, allowing them to find blocks independently and receive the full mining reward. DEMAND also enables hash power resale through a marketplace, giving users the option to maximize profits by mining themselves or reselling hash power.
Looking forward, DEMAND intends to introduce pooled mining as well, enabling users to collaboratively mine and share profits.
The Importance of Stratum V2
The launch of DEMAND’s Stratum V2 mining pool comes at an opportune time for the Bitcoin mining industry. With mining becoming more centralized in large mining farms, Stratum V2 provides an opening to shift control and profits back into the hands of individual miners.
By allowing miners to build block templates and reducing reliance on pool operators, the protocol has the potential to reinvigorate participation in Bitcoin mining. It also addresses emerging threats like mining censorship.
DEMAND’s Stratum V2 pool offers a testing ground for improvements to the protocol as it aims to gain wider adoption. With miners increasingly seeking independence, the introduction of this first-of-its-kind pool could mark a turning point for the Bitcoin mining industry.
