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Stratum V2 mines first block

Friday, June 26, 2026 · from 2 podcasts, 3 episodes
Rabbit Hole RecapTFTC
  • Stratum V2 mines first block, ending pool operators’ transaction monopoly.
  • Miners pivot to AI leases, unlocking 4x valuation jumps.
  • Fake wallet letters exploit shipping leaks to steal seed phrases.

The power balance in Bitcoin mining shifted overnight. On June 25, 2026, Demand Pool mined the first block using Stratum V2 - a protocol that lets individual miners build their own block templates instead of relying on centralized pool operators. This breaks the pool’s chokehold on transaction selection, a critical step toward censorship-resistant mining.

Stratum V2 also encrypts communications between miners and pools, preventing hash rate hijacking and surveillance. The protocol, years in development, is now battle-tested. According to Marty Bent and Matt Odell on Rabbit Hole Recap, it closes a long-standing attack vector where malicious actors could intercept and redirect mining work.

"Demand Pool mines the first block using the Stratum V2 protocol."

- Marty Bent, Rabbit Hole Recap

The same week, Brandon Bailey on TFTC explained how Bitcoin miners who secured gigawatts of power after the 2021 China ban are now pivoting to AI compute. Companies like Core Scientific have leased 590 megawatts to GPU firms like CoreWeave, transforming volatile mining operations into stable infrastructure plays. A 15-year lease with a hyperscaler can trigger a 4x valuation jump, moving miners from 4-6x EBITDA to data center-like 20-24x multiples.

This pivot isn’t just financial - it’s structural. AI demand forces miners to adopt industrial engineering standards: five-nines uptime, redundant cooling, and hardened facilities. Core Scientific has begun delivering, proving the model works. Smaller miners with 50 MW portfolios could see JV valuations exceed $1 million per megawatt, dwarfing current $200k-$400k rates.

"Bitcoin miners transitioned to AI compute because a 10-15 year hyperscaler lease offers guaranteed cash flow, unlike volatile mining income."

- Brandon Bailey, TFTC

Meanwhile, physical phishing scams are on the rise. Fake letters from Coin Kite and Ledger - complete with identical forged signatures - are being mailed to Bitcoiners, using 'quantum fear' to trick users into scanning QR codes that steal seed phrases. The scam likely exploits shipping data leaks from DHL or FedEx. The hosts advise using PO boxes or UPS stores for hardware deliveries.

The drop below $60,000 flushed out paper Bitcoin holders - investors in MicroStrategy shares or ETFs rather than self-custodied sats. As Odell noted, volatility separates real Bitcoin from debt-fueled proxies. Only actual keys survive the purge.

#Mining#Protocol#Censorship
Marty BentMatt OdellCoreWeaveSquareChina

Source Intelligence

- Deep dive into what was said in the episodes

Rabbit Hole Recap
Rabbit Hole Recap

RABBIT HOLE RECAP #415: AS IS TRADITION • Jun 25

Also from this episode: (18)

Other (18)

  • Marty noted a discrepancy on Clark's dashboard, showing the Liquid side chain with a deficit of 178.28 Bitcoin, while liquid.net network indicated all funds were accounted for.
  • Bitcoin's price fell below $60,000 to $59,570, validating an earlier market call by Luke Groman. Marty and Matt discussed potential further drops, possibly below a $1 trillion market cap.
  • MicroStrategy's stock (MSTR) dropped to $86.664, and Michael Saylor faces potential class-action lawsuits. Marty suggested Saylor could curb losses by addressing concerns about MicroStrategy's approximately 800,000 Bitcoin holdings.
  • The Bitcoin network is at block height 955,371, with the next difficulty adjustment estimated for Saturday, June 27th, 2026, anticipating a 6.6% upward adjustment.
  • Transaction fees remain low at two sats per vbyte for the next block, indicating reduced activity. Marty noted Clark's mempool recorded 2,559 transactions, while mempool.space showed 106,547.
  • Users received scam letters impersonating CoinKite, Cold Card's maker, attempting to trick recipients into entering seed words via QR codes, using 'quantum fear' tactics.
  • Matt noted that CoinKite, which deletes customer data after 120 days, suspects the scam letters originated from aggregated data leaks or shipping company compromises, citing identical signatures across scam letters from Ledger and CoinKite.
  • Matt advises against shipping Bitcoin-related items to a home address, recommending P.O. boxes or UPS stores for enhanced privacy and security, as data aggregation increases the risk of targeted scams.
  • Demand Pool successfully mined the first Stratum V2 block, with 'go mining' constructing the block template. This upgrade enhances miner privacy and security by encrypting data and allows miners to construct their own blocks.
  • Law enforcement and Catholic groups are lobbying against the Clarity Act's BRCA language (Section 604), arguing it creates crypto crime loopholes. The Clarity Act is slated for a vote on July 17th.
  • Matt criticized the Clarity Act's proposed language for inadequately protecting open-source developers from liability, creating subjective criteria based on 'knowledge' of potential criminal use.
  • Marty highlighted a case in India where Shiva's savings account was automatically frozen by the central bank after exceeding a threshold, underscoring the importance of Bitcoin for financial self-sovereignty.
  • The Tor Project is sunsetting version 0.4.8 and requires users to update to 0.4.9 by September to facilitate network improvements and reduce bandwidth usage.
  • Several Bitcoin ecosystem software updates were released: JoinMarket NG 0.33.0, Utreexo 0.18.0, and ASIC-RS 0.7.0. ASIC-RS, an open-source mining firmware, adds power limits and minor state messages, supported by the 256 Foundation.
  • A PNC Bank analysis for 2026 suggests lower-income households experienced improved spending and balance sheet trends, primarily from tax refunds and equity sales rather than depleted savings. This contrasts with concerns about a K-shaped economy.
  • Camp Nakamoto, a retreat focused on strong families and local communities, recently concluded in New Hampshire. Matt views such community building as the most bullish fundamental for Bitcoin.
  • The film "The $6 Billion Man" is premiering on Saturday, June 27th, with Bitcoin subsidizing its wide and cheap distribution. Separately, a zap mentioned June 27th, 2026, as a pivotal day for freedom of information.
  • Two upcoming events: Imagine If, focusing on AI, energy, and Bitcoin, will be in Nashville on October 5th-6th; Freedom Tech DC, a summit on money, speech, and intelligence, is in Washington D.C. on September 22nd-23rd.
#Mining#Protocol#BTC Markets#Adoption
TFTC: A Bitcoin Podcast
TFTC: A Bitcoin Podcast

Marty Bent

#762: July 2026 Is The Portal with Erin Redwing • Jun 24

  • Marty Bent reviews current Bitcoin network statistics, including a price of $90,820, a market cap of $1.81 trillion, and a block height of 930,595.
  • The next Bitcoin difficulty adjustment, estimated for January 8th, 2026, is 797 blocks away and currently projects a negative 1.1% change, with average block times at 10 minutes and 7 seconds.
  • Matt Odell states Silent Payments would significantly ease OpenSats' monthly payouts of approximately $1 million to 200 grantees by eliminating repetitive address verification.
  • Proposed by Ruben Thompson in March 2022, Silent Payments avoids BIP 47's notification transactions but necessitates more on-demand chain scanning and greater wallet support to overcome light client sync challenges, especially on iPhones.
  • Matt Odell advocates for major brokers and exchanges to adopt Payjoin devkit in 2026, foreseeing substantial fee reductions for both users and services, alongside a crucial normalization of the transaction type.
  • Matt Odell confirms the Fedi team will open-source their application on January 3rd, 2026, marking Bitcoin's 17th Genesis block anniversary, while the underlying Fedimint protocol remains open-source.
  • Marty Bent views ChomiMints (Cashew and Fedimint) as the embodiment of a free banking system on Bitcoin, offering significant privacy and low-fee benefits despite inherent third-party custody trade-offs.
  • Marty Bent and Matt Odell describe an ongoing DDoS attack on JoinMarket makers, where random Noster accounts overwhelm servers, causing log files to crash makers and potentially compromise anonymity.
Also from this episode: (8)

Culture (1)

  • Marty Bent notes RHR's birth date is August 22nd, 2018; this is episode #390, with #400 anticipated in 10 weeks, around mid-March.

Digital Sovereignty (2)

  • Marty Bent observes that recognizing systemic problems with centralized government control serves as effective marketing for Bitcoin.
  • Matt Odell highlights the Human Rights Foundation's (HRF) list of top freedom tech projects, including Maple AI, Cashew, Open Code, and expresses particular excitement for Silent Payments.

BTC Markets (3)

  • Bitcoin's price is approaching $91,000, up 3%; technical analysts suggest it needs to hold above $93,000 for a few days to signal a legitimate reversal.
  • Matt Odell characterizes 2025 as a strong year for Bitcoin, highlighting its yearly low of $76,329, which nearly doubled the 2024 low of $39,447, and notes legal issues for Samurai Wallet as the only significant negative event.
  • Matt Odell suggests the silver squeeze could preview a "real Bitcoin versus paper Bitcoin squeeze" scenario, highlighting shortcomings of trading physical metals at scale.

VC (1)

  • Matt Odell and Marty Bent joke that Brian Armstrong's $24 million investment in the "Up Only" reboot, which included acquiring Kobe's company, ironically coincided with a market peak.

Markets (1)

  • Marty Bent finds the ongoing silver squeeze exciting, particularly the global disconnect where physical silver reportedly trades for $120 in some places, while the paper price remains below $72.
#Corruption#Privacy#Macro#AI Infrastructure

#761: Miners Own The Power Gold Rush with Brandon Bailey • Jun 22

  • Brandon Bailey argues the 2021 China mining ban caused up to 30% of Bitcoin hash rate to relocate to the US, leading to a North American gold rush and the institutionalization of mining.
  • Bailey says Bitcoin mining companies like Marathon, Riot, and CleanSpark amassed gigawatts of power portfolios during the 2021 bull cycle because margins were incredible.
  • Bailey states Bitcoin miners transitioned to AI compute because a 10-15 year hyperscaler lease offers guaranteed cash flow, unlike volatile mining income.
  • He explains Bitcoin miners trade at 4-6 times EBITDA, while traditional data center players like Digital Realty and Equinix trade at 20-24 times EBITDA, creating a massive multiple expansion opportunity.
  • Bailey cites Core Scientific, HUT 8, Cypher, TerraWolf, and Applied Digital as pioneers successfully pivoting from mining to AI compute.
  • He notes Core Scientific has 590 megawatts of critical capacity leased to CoreWeave and has begun delivering.
  • Bailey describes a two-phase re-rating process for Bitcoin miners: signing a lease creates the first valuation pop, and financing and delivering construction removes the remaining execution discount.
  • He says smaller Bitcoin miners with 50 MW of power could contribute their assets into a JV at valuations over $1 million per megawatt, far above their current $200k-$400k valuations.
  • He concludes the AI compute rush will push Bitcoin mining towards stranded and distributed power sources, potentially creating a golden era of durable mining economics due to constrained ASIC supply and power availability.
Also from this episode: (6)

AI & Tech (3)

  • He argues AI compute demand is driven by nation-state game theory, with the US and China in an AI arms race, and by hyperscalers like Google, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft competing to protect their moats.
  • Bailey believes using LLMs is a learned skill akin to the internet age; laggard employees who don't adopt it will face a massive disadvantage.
  • He built Dimetrix.ai as a market intelligence tool for digital infrastructure investors, automating the extraction of granular site data like power capacity and lease details from SEC filings.

Politics (1)

  • Bailey observes political pushback against massive AI data centers is creating more demand for smaller 20-50 megawatt sites.

Big Tech (1)

  • Marty Bent notes Google raised $84.5 billion in an equity raise involving Berkshire Hathaway to fund AI CapEx, signaling a shift from stock buybacks to full growth mode.

AI Infrastructure (1)

  • Bailey argues counties that reject data centers miss the opportunity to bring new generation, capture capital for local investment, and potentially see lower power rates compared to anti-data center regions.
#Energy#Markets#Macro#Big Tech#AI Infrastructure

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