Luke Dashjr exits Ocean pool after Blake2b hard fork fails
- Luke Dashjr parted ways with Ocean mining pool to launch Convoy, a Blake2b alternative chain.
- The hard fork replaces SHA-256 to brick ASIC miners but lacks backing from exchanges and pools.
- Breakaway tokens traded erratically between $83 and $383 on niche exchanges before falling flat.
The developer consensus shattered. Luke Dashjr has officially parted ways with Ocean mining pool to pursue his own breakaway blockchain.
Ocean repurchased Dashjr's equity after he resigned as chief technology officer, elevating Bob Burnett to chairman while primary backer Jack Dorsey remains aligned with the core pool. The split ends months of internal friction over transaction filtering and protocol updates, capped by Dashjr’s failed attempt to rally miners behind BIP 110.
Pivoting alongside developer Mechanic, Dashjr launched Convoy, a new mining venture running on an altered Blake2b hashing algorithm. The change explicitly targets Bitcoin's proof-of-work baseline, swapping out SHA-256 to brick specialized ASIC mining hardware and strip power from industrial mining farms. Unadjusted difficulty resets on the new chain currently yield a block every minute.
The breakaway attempt follows a string of rejected protocol proposals. On Ungovernable Misfits on September 1, 2026, host Q pointed out that major exchanges, mining pools, and Lightning network implementations completely ignored Dashjr’s release of Bitcoin Knots version 29.4.1, which marked his second failed fork attempt after Bit10 stalled.
By September 6, 2026, economic reality caught up with the spin-off. On Stacker News Live, hosts Keon and Carvin highlighted how rapidly the separation materialized, noting that early trading on niche exchanges saw the new token listed erratically between $83 and $383 as markets quickly rejected the alternate consensus rules.
Keon observed on Stacker News Live that rogue developers who split off rarely establish viable monetary alternatives, even if co-host Carr expects Convoy to eventually attempt Layer-2 scaling solutions. While Ocean stabilizes its core operations without transaction filtering controversies, Dashjr retains complete control over his bespoke mining architecture.
The market's cold shoulder underscores a fundamental reality of Bitcoin governance. Software ideology can alter hashing algorithms, but it cannot force economic consensus to follow.
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SNL #240: JOINT STATEMENT OF OCEAN AND LUKE DASHJR • Sep 6
- Luke Dashjr has parted ways with Ocean Mining, resigning as CTO and selling his equity back to the company. Luke Dashjr will launch a new mining venture named Convoy to continue his pursuit of decentralized mining.
- Luke Dashjr's spin-off chain uses the Blake2b hashing algorithm and is temporarily mining blocks every minute due to unadjusted difficulty. Carr predicts the chain will eventually attempt to deploy Layer-2 scaling solutions.
Also discussed on this episode: (8)
Privacy (1)
- Blindport offers a NAT hole-punching tunnel similar to Cloudflare but does not terminate TLS at its servers. Keyon explains this design prevents the provider from reading plain-text HTTPS requests, offering self-hosters a more private alternative.
Coding (2)
- Developer EK hosted a terminal-based Capture the Flag security contest run directly on a local laptop. The challenge awarded 20,000 satoshis to several winners and an additional 10,000 satoshis to another user for uncovering system flags.
- Open Agents launched Coder Terminal, a developer harness powered by Gemini 3.8 Flash. The harness bypasses the frequent permission prompts typical of tools like Claude, allowing autonomous local file system changes by default.
Regulation (1)
- Swedish regulators forced peer-to-peer Bitcoin platform Peach to suspend its KYC-free escrow service. Keyon argues that regulators have zero incentive to protect users from scams, preferring massive databases of private financial data to ease surveillance.
Models (1)
- An AI research paper shows that training an LLM harness yields significant performance gains across different models. Keyon defines a harness as the toolset chassis that translates local system capabilities and command-line utilities to the AI engine.
Adoption (1)
- Stacker News integrated Lightspark's Spark Wallet to lower the onboarding barrier for non-technical users. Keyon defends the integration against custodial critics, noting that training wheels are essential to scale Bitcoin adoption beyond the developer community.
Philosophy (1)
- Carr attributes the strong community backlash against Spark Wallet to personal animosity toward Lightspark CEO David Marcus. Marcus's previous leadership roles at Facebook's Libra project and PayPal fuel structural suspicion within the maximalist community.
Education (1)
- Discussing alternative learning methods, Keyon highlights hands-on initiatives like Bitcoin Shala, which teaches core network concepts entirely through the command line. This practical approach reflects a broader preference among developers for active immersion.
The AI-Pocalypse Continues | THE BITCOIN BRIEF 88 • Sep 1
- Luke Dashjr launched a hard fork on the Bitcoin Knots breakaway chain to swap the SHA-256 hashing algorithm for Blake2b. This change aims to eliminate the ASIC boost efficiency edge but lacks support from major exchanges or implementations.
Also discussed on this episode: (11)
Lightning (2)
- Core Lightning maintainers issued a two week embargo on a critical vulnerability, releasing version 26.06.7 as closed source signed binaries. Q criticizes this precedent, arguing motivated attackers can easily reverse engineer binaries to target unpatched nodes anyway.
- Eclair version 0.14.2 released a critical update to address security exploits from malicious nodes. Q suggests the vulnerability likely targets Eclair's remote procedure call connection with the Bitcoin daemon.
Protocol (1)
- Starkware researchers Avihu Levy and Tom Giladi mined the first quantum safe Bitcoin transaction on mainnet in block 964199. Using existing script opcodes without consensus changes, the transaction is five times larger and more expensive than standard transactions.
Custody (4)
- Coinbase partnered with Better Mortgage to offer bitcoin backed mortgages, allowing borrowers to pledge digital assets as collateral and bypass taxable selling events. Q notes that borrowers must surrender custody of their keys to high interest loans.
- Kraken accounts were frozen after receiving thousands of dust transfers from wallets tied to the sanctioned exchange HTX. While user access has been restored, Kraken continues to hold millions of dollars in funds categorized as tainted.
- Sparrow Wallet version 2.5.4 introduced mandatory anti klepto protection for BitBox02 hardware wallets. The protocol prevents compromised USB signing devices from secretly leaking private keys over time through transaction signatures.
- Envoy version 2.3.3 resolved Bluetooth pairing issues with Passport Prime hardware wallets. The update specifically corrects a clock drift defect on the Passport Prime that previously degraded connection stability.
Open Source (1)
- The Human Rights Foundation distributed development funds across sixteen global open source projects. Funded initiatives include the 256 Foundation, My First Bitcoin, and privacy tools like Wallet Scrutiny and Xerox Chat.
Regulation (1)
- Peach Bitcoin paused its peer to peer escrow model due to pressure from Swiss regulators seeking to reclassify the business. Without escrow protections, non-KYC sellers are limited to one active trade, and buyers face increased risk of counterparty rug pulls.
Coding (1)
- Developer GG built a MiniScript fork of SeedSigner along with a standalone bridge tool for Liana. The bridge allows users to scan QR codes and load file based PSBTs without requiring a complete rewrite of Liana desktop software.
Media (1)
- Q launched an interactive archive search feature on the Ungovernable Network website, organizing over 500 episodes into searchable topics with timestamped links. The release includes progressive web app support suggested by Jordan and mobile full screen video optimization.