Bitcoin Ordinals Founder Says Antpool Proxies Infested Decentralized BTC Mining

After the Bitcoin halving occurred last Friday, there has been much debate regarding the current situation of Bitcoin miners. Large-scale miners with substantial resources are able to purchase new mining equipment, while smaller miners face significant challenges due to reward reductions by half. Furthermore, the founder of Bitcoin Ordinals highlighted concerns about the state of decentralized mining, which appears to be malfunctioning at present.

Antpool Proxies Dominate Decentralized Mining

Casey, the creator of Bitcoin Ordinals, highlights the essential appeal of Bitcoin. He stresses that this uniqueness lies in its resistance to censorship, which is made possible by decentralized miners competing to add new blocks to the chain.

Concerned about Bitcoin mining decentralization, Casey paints a disappointing picture. He points out that several large mining pools, previously thought to run autonomously, now seem to act as representatives for AntPool. They have started making identical transaction choices.

In the Bitcoin mining sector, a small number of major companies hold significant power. This trend also applies to providers of Bitcoin mining chips, with Bitmain leading the pack and controlling a large portion of the market.

Jack Dorsey’s Block Inc. recently announced that they have successfully developed Bitcoin mining chips, benefiting miners of all scales. These chips are essential for building sophisticated computers, and the three-nanometer chip may hold great importance in the expanding mining industry.

Stratum V2 Comes To the Rescue

Casey, the founder of Bitcoin Ordinals, unveiled an enhanced edition of Bitcoin’s pooled mining protocol called Stratum V2. In contrast to its former version, this new iteration grants miners the power to decide which transactions are incorporated into each block, rather than relying on the pools they work for to make that choice.

With the upcoming completion of Stratum V2, miners will have the opportunity to join a mining pool while still maintaining the power to construct blocks on their own. This innovative advancement has been undergoing extensive development and is now in the process of undergoing rigorous testing.

Casey encouraged miners to set aside funds for trying out Stratum V2, guiding them towards the mining pool @DEMAND_POOL, which is based on Stratum V2 technology. Miners were asked to assess its performance and share any problems they came across.

In simpler terms, the unique selling point of Bitcoin relies on its resistance to censorship, a feature that is ensured through the competition among decentralized miners who verify and add transactions to the blockchain.

Unfortunately, the degree of decentralization in Bitcoin mining isn’t ideal at the moment. A significant number of large mining pools, which were once believed to add diversity, now dominate the scene.

— Casey (@rodarmor) April 24, 2024

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2024-04-25 11:19