In addition to blockchain scalability puzzles, there is one area that is very sensitive to the progress of cryptocurrencies, this is the mining protocol. Modernization of mining protocols, which are usually far from attention, but in the long run, this can seriously affect the price Bitcoin (BTC).
Stratum V2: Old Hand, new release
Slush Pool, which entered the 9 game years ago as the Bitcoin Pooled Mining Server, recently released its Stratum V2 mining protocol. This mining protocol, developed by Braiins Systems, brings numerous improvements to the BTC mining process.
The first update is related to bandwidth consumption. The messages used in the protocol are completely binary compared to the JSON-based ones in V1, in which the size of one message is halved to 48 bytes. The second update is related to CPU utilization, which is reduced by 70-80% in the Stratum V2.
The new protocol uses a strong encryption scheme that protects data from attacks (MITM). Now it’s almost impossible for hijackers to damage the relationship between the miner and his / her pool in order to steal payouts. Last but not least, updates in the areas of decentralization and optimizing the use of infrastructure are hard-coded in the new version.
Introducing Light Mining
Following the recent trend of "simplification" in the mining process, Braiins Systems introduced the mining concept with headlines only. It is a lightweight version of the mining protocol that allows humans to use more primitive hardware while sacrificing some flexibility. This seems like a reasonable option for most mining devices and also very promising in the context of decentralization.
This is similar to the recent Carbon Chamaeleon release of the Monero RandomX algorithm. With the processor-optimized RandomX processor, the advantages of specialized hardware (namely ASICs and FPGAs) are eliminated.
The Stratum V2 is the subject of public debate today, and anyone can leave their own opinion on the upcoming update. The result will be presented as a Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) to the BTC community.