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DMND and RootstockLabs are pleased to reveal a recent feature enhancement aimed at advancing the decentralization of Bitcoin mining operations. This new capability leverages Stratum V2 to empower miners within a pool, enabling them to independently construct block templates and subsequently manage the selection and integration of merge-mined block commitments from the Rootstock (RSK) sidechain.
Merge-mining represents a mechanism whereby multiple blockchains can share the same Proof-of-Work (POW) from a collective group of miners. In this setup, a child chain modifies its block headers to incorporate those of the parent chain. Essentially, the hash of the child chain’s block header is embedded within a parent chain block, typically in the coinbase transaction. The software for the child chain is designed to recognize and validate portions of the parent chain’s blocks during its own block verification process.
This facilitates the simultaneous mining of multiple blockchains by parent chain miners. They achieve this by simply including block header commitments in their coinbase transaction and then proceeding to mine blocks for the primary blockchain. The discovery of a block on the parent chain automatically results in the successful mining of blocks for all associated child chains.
DMND’s integration facilitates the direct reception of sidechain rewards in rBTC (Rootstock’s bitcoin-pegged token, backed by reserves overseen by the sidechain’s operating federation) by miners on the sidechain itself, bypassing any revenue-sharing agreements or reliance on intermediary pool custody.
While such a dynamic could potentially yield contrary effects on decentralization, it undeniably marks a significant advancement that will subject these very questions to real-world scrutiny.
Alejandro De La Torre, CEO and Co-Founder of DMND, commented: “The miner retains control over merge-mining, and the miner is compensated for merge-mining. Our core support for the increased decentralization of the Bitcoin ecosystem lies in delegating more control to miners.”
According to the portal: bitcoinmagazine.com