Contents
Key facts:
Stratum V2 is the first update to the protocol of mining pooled Bitcoin.V2 offers greater decentralization, performance, and safety to both the miners comoa pools.The mining group Bitcoin is about to face one of its more radical changes with the launch of Stratum V2. The project, designed by Pavel Moravec and Jan Čapek, introduced improvements to the current protocol of mining clustered using the pools of Bitcoin; proposing a working system that is more decentralized, efficient and secure.Stratum V2 was presented for the first time in the month of July at the Mining Conference Disruptive held in Miami. Representatives of Braiins, company in charge of the development of Stratum V2 and the operations of the group Slash Pool , pointed out at this new event protocol “revolutionize” the way of mining in a group.The idea of the developers was to update features and to correct vulnerabilities of the current protocol, Stratum V1. In addition, the project would be based on the proposal BetterHash, introduced last year by Matt Corallo, which allows the miners choose which transactions you want to validate. That is to say, proposes a way of mining in a group in a more decentralized and whose governance not only focuses on operators of pools.The changes of Stratum V2 are many and could generate a paradigmatic transformation in the mining of Bitcoin. In this article we will explore what new features proposed by the update, and what feature discards the current Stratum V1:
Work more fast and economic
The developers of Stratum V2 have planned to improve the performance of mining clustered in Bitcoin. For this reason, they have made a group of updates that optimizes the consumption of bandwidth, lowers the cost of operations and accelerates the mining process.Because of that Stratum V2 is completely binary, the devices of mining can process your data more efficiently. V1 generate readable messages to miners and operators, but that feature required a more data traffic between those instances.Image by asophoto / stock.adobe.comStratum V2 has a better performance than the protocol predecessor. Because of this, it is expected that both individual miners as operators have the possibility to work faster and less expensive.Stratum V2 also improves the efficiency of the mining jobs, decreasing how much computational power you need a device of mining to get the solution of the block. The new protocol works with three communication channels wide, which allow the operators of the pool store in the cache data as the root of Merkle. This data in specific contains the transaction coinbase, which has the reward of the block and is necessary to carry out the mining process.Thanks to what above described, the miner does not have to calculate the root of a Merkle each time you go to work in a block. The operator of the pool provides this data at the time of sending a proposal for a block (template) to undermine; saving computational power that you can use to get the solution of that block faster.The new protocol also supports directly the native version (BIP310) of Bitcoin, which has gained popularity among the miners of the ecosystem. In like manner, introduces a method of mining more simple and with less bandwidth, which allows you to mine at a higher speed and a more economical way.
Fewer connections and multiple messages
The different channels of communication developed for Stratum V2 also improve the connections between miners and operators of the pool in comparison with Stratum V1. For example, in the new protocol has a built-in function of multiplexed (multiplexing), a way of sending multiple signals or streams of information through a communications link at the same time, in the form of a single, complex signal. This allows you to operate several mining equipment with a single connection. In this case, the receiver recovers the separate signals by a process called demultiplexing.The devices of mining have to be connected to the computer of an operator of pool to be able to get a job and start mining the blocks. In the current protocol, Stratum V1, the users have to make a connection to the pool for each team that they have.The function of multiplexing also allows a single connection to the owners of the miners (hashers) can bring to their devices to undermine different cryptocurrencies. In this way, for example, can be overcome with different teams to Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin by using a single connection.The different channels that you use Stratum V2 allow the protocol to separate the various messages sent by the operator of the pool and the miners. Thanks to this, you can minimize the possibility of mining empty blocks of transactions, as it is equally cost-effective and fast to mine an empty block to a normal one.The separation of messages also makes it possible for operators of pool to submit in advance work on future blocks to the miners. While a device of mining is solving the block, the operator of the pool may submit a proposal for a work of a block future to streamline the work. This way, when the miner will be able to make with the solution of your work, you only have to send the solution and immediately begin working on the following proposal for a block in waiting.
Protected from kidnapping of hashrate
In terms of safety, Stratum V2 is also an improved version of the current protocol. The miners use Stratum V1 are not protected against a hijacking attacks hashrate. This vulnerability allows a third party malware can intercept the communication between the device and mining the operator of the pool to steal solutions (shares) and claim them as their own. In this way, the hacker would be stealing money out to individual miners for the work they performed in the network.The security enhancements of Stratum V2 cover both individual miners and operators of the pool of losses at the hands of hackers. Image by vectorfusionart / stock.adobe.comEl current protocol is also vulnerable to the espionage of transfers of information or the theft of metadata, point out developers. Because of this, Stratum V2 works with a system of encryption authenticated with associated data (AEAD) that guarantees the confidentiality of the data. The new system maintains the shared data unreadable to third parties potentially hazardous, protecting the information of the miners.
Mining solo 2.0
Stratum V2 introduces the possibility of decentralizing the mining group of Bitcoin with an optional feature that redistributes the work proposals. Now the individual miners can choose what transactions they want to mine and proponerselas to the operator of the pool, an entity that will decide if it is mined or not. This new way of working is a far cry from the current, where it is the operator who decides which group of transactions to be mined.Any update that encourages decentralization in the mining of Bitcoin in turn contributes to strengthening the security of the blockchain and governance community. Image by Nuthawut / stock.adobe.comStratum V2 makes it possible for this function thanks to two sub-protocols based on the proposal BetterHash Matt Corallo. The protocol of distribution of labour negotiation allows a miner particular can negotiate the mining of a template block is specified, which includes a set of transactions that were previously selected. The protocol of distribution of work, on the other hand, allows you to send the work has just negotiated to a node. In this way, the proxy server devices or mining may start working and find the solution of the block selected by the hasher.These sub-protocols in Stratum V2 are optional and work as separate parts of the original protocol. Because of this, operators may provide it as a service to a third party. In the case of not incorporating the upgrade of mining decentralized, the pools that use Stratum V2 will distribute the work to the miners directly as is done in the current protocol.Because it is an update that could dramatically change the way that mine Bitcoin, operators and individual miners will have the last word. The success of Stratum V2 will depend on whether its functions come to be sufficiently beneficial to the industry. If true, the community will have to migrate progressively from a protocol to another until the adoption is inescapable.