21 BTCStratum V2
Stratum V2 is the newer protocol between miners and pools. It encrypts the connection, uses compact binary messages and, optionally, lets the miner rather than the pool choose which transactions go into a block.
Why a new protocol
Stratum V1 sends work as plain JSON. Without encryption, hashrate can be hijacked by swapping credentials in transit, and the pool alone decides block contents. V2 adds authenticated encryption (Noise, with the pool's key in the URL) and binary framing that uses less bandwidth.
Sub-protocols
- Mining Protocol: the core miner ↔ pool channel.
- Job Declaration: the miner declares its own block template to the pool.
- Template Distribution: a Template Provider feeds templates from Bitcoin Core (Core 30 added an experimental IPC mining interface for this).
- Translator Proxy: lets stock Stratum V1 firmware talk to a V2 pool.
Adoption (October 2026)
Braiins Pool, a co-author of the protocol, runs a public V2 endpoint. DMND is built on V2; block 955,318 (late June 2026) was the first mainnet block from a miner-declared template via Job Declaration. Foundry, AntPool, F2Pool, SpiderPool, MARA and Block joined the SV2 Working Group on 7 May 2026, which means contributing, not a public endpoint. OCEAN's DATUM reaches the same goal of miner-built templates by a different route. For home miners, Bitaxe firmware has a native V2 client since v2.14.0.
See also
- Mining poolA mining pool combines the hashrate of many miners so they get small, regular payouts instead of waiting years for a whole block.
- Pool payout schemes (PPS, PPLNS, FPPS, TIDES)A payout scheme is how a mining pool shares block rewards among its miners. The main question is who carries the luck: the pool (steady pay, higher fee) or the miners (variable pay, lower fee).
- MiningMining is the work that adds new blocks to Bitcoin. Miners run special computers (ASICs) that guess numbers; the winner of each round earns the block subsidy and the fees.
- Bitcoin CoreBitcoin Core is the main software that runs the Bitcoin network, the direct descendant of Satoshi's original program. It is free and open source, maintained by volunteers and grant-funded developers.
References
- stratumprotocol.org stratumprotocol.org
- SV2 specification github.com
- Braiins Academy: Stratum V2 manual academy.braiins.com
- SV2 Working Group: new members (7 May 2026) stratumprotocol.org
- OCEAN: DATUM docs ocean.xyz
- Bitaxe ESP-Miner releases github.com