Seven major Bitcoin mining pools embrace Stratum V2 upgrade

Seven major Bitcoin mining pools are adopting Stratum V2, a protocol upgrade that boosts miner profitability, decentralizes block construction, and enhances security amid rising mining difficulty.

Seven major Bitcoin mining pools—Antpool, F2pool, Foundry, Block Inc., MARA Foundation, Spiderpool, and DMND—have joined the Stratum V2 Working Group to advance a new open protocol standard for mining. Stratum V2 is designed to replace the older Stratum V1 protocol, promising up to 7.4% higher miner profitability through lower latency and improved fee capture. The protocol introduces end-to-end encryption, reduces bandwidth usage, and enables miners to construct their own block templates, increasing both autonomy and decentralization. This upgrade addresses previous centralization and security concerns, as Stratum V1 allowed pools to control transaction selection and operated in plaintext. Meanwhile, the industry faces rising challenges: Bitcoin mining difficulty is projected to increase from 132.47 T to 135.64 T in May, and up to 20% of miners are reportedly operating at a loss due to market conditions and higher energy costs. The adoption of Stratum V2 is expected to improve efficiency, privacy, and security, potentially encouraging other pools to follow suit.