Stratum V2: Major Bitcoin Pools Join Encrypted Block Building

Seven major mining pools—AntPool, Block Inc., F2Pool, Foundry, MARA Foundation, SpiderPool, and DMND—have joined the Stratum V2 working group to upgrade mining pool-to-miner communication. Stratum V2 replaces Stratum V1 and introduces end-to-end encryption plus more efficient fleet management. The key change is that miners can build their own block templates, shifting control away from pool operators. The working group, founded in 2022 by Braiins and Spiral (Block Inc.’s Bitcoin development arm), targets a vendor-neutral open standard. Efficiency and profitability: the announcement claims up to a 7.4% improvement in miner economics from reduced latency and better data handling. With Foundry and AntPool among the largest pools, the group’s hashrate footprint is material (Foundry ~30%, AntPool ~17.7% cited). Block’s involvement is also notable because Spiral helped launch the effort and Block manufactures mining hardware. Trading context: this is a mining-ops and decentralization signal, not a Bitcoin consensus change. Still, margin relief for listed miners is a plausible downstream effect if the 7.4% benefit holds. Separately, traders should note near-term mining pressure: the next Bitcoin difficulty adjustment is estimated for May 15, 2026, rising from about 132.47T to 135.64T. CoinShares also flags that up to 20% of miners may become unprofitable under current market and energy conditions, with Hashprice near breakeven ($36–$38 per PH/s-day).