First bitcoin mining pool adds Stratum V2 feature to circumvent Bitmain

Publicly accessible bitcoin mining pool DEMAND has become the first to offer support for Stratum V2 custom block templates, allowing miners to choose their own block templates instead of relying on allocations from Bitmain. This comes in response to concerns about Bitmain’s hidden efforts to control Bitcoin’s hash power. By using Stratum V2, miners can now select their own transactions, assemble their own blocks, and hash nonces appended to their blocks. This move towards decentralization is critical in countering Bitmain’s dominance in the mining industry. DEMAND’s initiative allows miners to cooperate and compete against Bitmain/Antpool miners, increasing their chances of success in winning Bitcoin’s coinbase reward. Stratum V2 also improves security, decentralization, and data transfer efficiency. With DEMAND supporting the custom block template feature of Stratum V2, miners can now work together without relying on Bitmain or its affiliated pools.