Luke Dashjr launches Convoy chain after Ocean split
- Luke Dashjr left Ocean Mining to launch Convoy, a Blake2b alt-chain.
- Early Convoy trading showed weak demand while block production ran fast.
- Swedish regulators forced Peach Bitcoin to end its non-custodial trading escrow.
Bitcoin forks rarely survive their creators' ambition.
On September 6, 2026, Stacker News Live reported that developer Luke Dashjr officially parted ways with Ocean Mining, resigning as CTO and selling his equity back to the pool. Chairman Bob Burnett stepped in to direct Ocean while key investor Jack Dorsey remained aligned with the core pool. The split capped months of internal friction over transaction filtering and Dashjr’s failed attempt to rally miners behind BIP 110.
Dashjr did not walk away quietly.
Alongside developer Mechanic, Dashjr launched Convoy, a spin-off chain replacing Bitcoin's SHA-256 algorithm with Blake2b to render specialized ASIC hardware useless. Due to unadjusted mining difficulty, Convoy initially produced a block every minute. Stacker News Live host Carvin predicted the new network will eventually attempt deploying Layer-2 scaling solutions to attract users.
Markets greeted the fork with immediate skepticism. Niche exchanges listed Convoy tokens between $83 and $383, but real trading volume proved thin. Host Keon noted on the show that rogue developers rarely build viable monetary alternatives, though many eventually return to Bitcoin core development after independent projects stall.
The separation occurs alongside mounting pressure on non-custodial infrastructure. Swedish financial authorities forced peer-to-peer exchange Peach Bitcoin to dismantle its non-custodial trade escrow, requiring identity verification for dispute resolutions.
Keon pointed out that stripping dispute arbitration tools leaves peer-to-peer traders exposed to fraud unless they submit to full surveillance. European regulators continue targeting hybrid platforms that try to shield user identity while facilitating peer-to-peer trades.
Protocol purism meets market reality at the exit door.
Source Intelligence
- Deep dive into what was said in the episodes
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.