Bitcoin startup Mummolin has raised $6.2 million in seed funding led by Jack Dorsey and others, with the goal of providing miners with more control over their block rewards from the network.
The funds will support the launch of a decentralized mining pool called OCEAN. This unique non-custodial pool will directly pay miners their block rewards, eliminating the involvement of a centralized entity, in contrast to traditional mining pools.
Luke Dashjr, a long-time Bitcoin core developer and co-founder of Mummolin, emphasized OCEAN’s transparency and non-custodial nature. He stated, “We are launching as the most transparent pool and the only non-custodial pool where miners are the recipients of new block rewards directly from Bitcoin.”
In traditional mining pools, operators work together to confirm transactions on the Bitcoin network and then distribute the rewards among miners. However, these pools can act as centralized entities, holding custody of the rewards and potentially having the power to withhold payments from individual miners.
OCEAN’s non-custodial approach aims to remove this risk and undue influence over miners. The new mining pool has received praise from industry observers for its focus on decentralization, which aligns with the principles of the Bitcoin network.
Mark Artymko, co-founder and president of Mummolin, highlighted the significance of OCEAN’s direct payouts to miners from the block reward, emphasizing the elimination of undue influence by the pool over miners.
OCEAN’s launch represents a restart of Dashjr’s previous zero-fee pool, Eligius, with updated code and support for the latest Bitcoin addresses and mining machines.
Barefoot Mining is the first customer of OCEAN, and the pool plans to introduce further phases of decentralization improvements and upgrades in 2024.
The seed funding round was led by Jack Dorsey and included participation from Accomplice, Barefoot Bitcoin Fund, MoonKite, NewLayer Capital, the Bitcoin Opportunity Fund, and other strategic partners.
OCEAN’s launch is significant in light of recent controversies involving legacy mining pools accused of censoring certain transactions. Censorship resistance is considered a fundamental principle of the Bitcoin network, and OCEAN aims to address concerns related to centralization in mining pools.
Jack Dorsey expressed his support for OCEAN and addressing centralization in mining pools. He sees OCEAN as a solution to the risk of further centralization in Bitcoin mining, which could jeopardize key attributes of the network that Bitcoin supporters value.
