04-15-2025, 03:15 AM
Tether partners with OCEAN mining pool to decentralize Bitcoin block-building
<p style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 15px; width:240px;"><img src="https://images.cointelegraph.com/images/840_aHR0cHM6Ly9zMy5jb2ludGVsZWdyYXBoLmNvbS91cGxvYWRzLzIwMjUtMDQvMDE5NjM2NTktNDA1Zi03M2VlLTg2ZTctYmMyYmZlNGI4MmI5.jpg"></p><p><p style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 15px; width:240px;"><img src="https://images.cointelegraph.com/images/840_aHR0cHM6Ly9zMy5jb2ludGVsZWdyYXBoLmNvbS91cGxvYWRzLzIwMjUtMDQvMDE5NjM2NTktNDA1Zi03M2VlLTg2ZTctYmMyYmZlNGI4MmI5.jpg" alt="Tether partners with OCEAN mining pool to decentralize Bitcoin block-building"></p><p>Stablecoin issuer Tether has announced it intends to deploy its existing and future Bitcoin hashrate to OCEAN’s Bitcoin mining pool in an effort to strengthen the network’s decentralization.<p>“Deploying hashrate to OCEAN aligns with both our mining investments and our broader mission to fortify Bitcoin against centralizing forces,” Tether’s CEO Paolo Ardoino <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://tether.io/news/tether-to-deploy-hashrate-on-ocean-advancing-decentralized-bitcoin-mining-infrastructure/" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">said</a> in an April 15 statement.</p><figure><img src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2025-04/019636d1-3feb-79f8-82bc-f04358aa70a7" title="" alt="Tether partners with OCEAN mining pool to decentralize Bitcoin block-building"><figcaption style="text-align: center;"><p><em>Source: </em><a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://x.com/ocean_mining/status/1911774879008927944" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null"><em>OCEAN Mining</em></a></p></figcaption></figure><p>While Bitcoin hashrate is decentralized, the block-building process conducted by mining pools is mostly centralized by a few dominant actors — most notably Foundry USA, AntPool and ViaBTC.</p><p>The OCEAN protocol attempts to decentralize this process by empowering miners to build their own block templates using their open-source DATUM protocol, reducing dependency on centralized intermediaries and enhancing censorship resistance, Tether said.</p><p>Tether’s deployment would leverage OCEAN’s DATUM software across all of its mining operations worldwide, including in rural areas in Africa. </p><p>“By enabling on-site generation of unique block templates and aggregating thousands of rig connections with low-latency performance, DATUM ensures global competitiveness while promoting geographic and operational diversity,” Tether said.</p><p><em><strong>Related: </strong></em><a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/podcasts/decentralize-with-cointelegraph/inside-the-trump-backed-bitcoin-mining-mega-deal-with-hut-8" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null"><em><strong>Inside the Trump-backed Bitcoin mining mega-deal with Hut 8</strong></em></a></p><p>Tether currently deploys Bitcoin hashrate at sites in Uruguay, Paraguay and El Salvador, where the $144 billion stablecoin issuer is also headquartered.</p><p>Those initiatives emerged around the time Tether announced it would invest <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/tether-plans-major-expansion-btc-bitcoin-cryptocurrency-mining-500-m-investment-report" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">$500 million into Bitcoin mining</a> in late 2023.</p><p>OCEAN was created by Bitcoin core developer Luke Dashjr in 2023 and has been backed by the likes of Block CEO Jack Dorsey. OCEAN also <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/jack-dorsey-backed-ocean-mining-hq-el-salvador" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">relocated its headquarters</a> to El Salvador in May 2024.</p><p>Dashjr sparked controversy in December 2023 when he slammed <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/explained/what-are-bitcoin-ordinals" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">Bitcoin Ordinals users</a> for clogging the network with “spam.” However, <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/ocean-mining-pool-censor-bitcoin-transactions" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">he refuted claims</a> that OCEAN censored the non-fungible token-like transactions.</p><h2>OCEAN still has a lot of market share to capture</h2><p>The OCEAN protocol currently mines between 0.2% to 1% of Bitcoin blocks, <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://mempool.space/mining/pool/ocean" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">according</a> to mempool.space data.</p><p>It has mined nine blocks over the last week, including two in a row at 892342 and 892343 on April 14.</p><p>However, OCEAN’s output remains a fraction of that seen by Foundry USA, AntPool and ViaBTC, which have mined 331, 199 and 161 Bitcoin blocks, respectively, over the same timeframe — accounting for over 66% of all blocks.</p><p>The Tether partnership would likely provide a much-needed boost to <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/explained/what-is-bitcoin-hash-rate-and-why-does-it-matter" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">OCEAN’s hashrate,</a> which has amounted to 18.3 exahashes per second (EH/s) over the last 24 hours.</p><figure><img src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2025-04/019636d1-460e-7484-9f71-77a8dc9b0e62" title="" alt="Tether partners with OCEAN mining pool to decentralize Bitcoin block-building"><figcaption style="text-align: center;"><p><em>OCEAN protocol’s Bitcoin mining statistics. Source: </em><a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://mempool.space/mining/pool/ocean" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null"><em>mempool.space</em></a></p></figcaption></figure><p>By comparison, Foundry USA’s hashrate over the same timeframe has exceeded 298 EH/s, leveraging hashrate from the likes of Bitcoin mining firms Hut 8, Bitdeer and Bitfarms.</p><p><em><strong>Magazine: </strong></em><a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/financial-nihilism-crypto-over-dream-big-again/" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null"><em><strong>Financial nihilism in crypto is over — It’s time to dream big again</strong></em></a></p><template data-name="subscription_form" data-type="markets_outlook" label="Subscription Form: Markets Outlook"></template></p>
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https://cointelegraph.com/news/tether-pa...er_inbound
<p style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 15px; width:240px;"><img src="https://images.cointelegraph.com/images/840_aHR0cHM6Ly9zMy5jb2ludGVsZWdyYXBoLmNvbS91cGxvYWRzLzIwMjUtMDQvMDE5NjM2NTktNDA1Zi03M2VlLTg2ZTctYmMyYmZlNGI4MmI5.jpg"></p><p><p style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 15px; width:240px;"><img src="https://images.cointelegraph.com/images/840_aHR0cHM6Ly9zMy5jb2ludGVsZWdyYXBoLmNvbS91cGxvYWRzLzIwMjUtMDQvMDE5NjM2NTktNDA1Zi03M2VlLTg2ZTctYmMyYmZlNGI4MmI5.jpg" alt="Tether partners with OCEAN mining pool to decentralize Bitcoin block-building"></p><p>Stablecoin issuer Tether has announced it intends to deploy its existing and future Bitcoin hashrate to OCEAN’s Bitcoin mining pool in an effort to strengthen the network’s decentralization.<p>“Deploying hashrate to OCEAN aligns with both our mining investments and our broader mission to fortify Bitcoin against centralizing forces,” Tether’s CEO Paolo Ardoino <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://tether.io/news/tether-to-deploy-hashrate-on-ocean-advancing-decentralized-bitcoin-mining-infrastructure/" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">said</a> in an April 15 statement.</p><figure><img src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2025-04/019636d1-3feb-79f8-82bc-f04358aa70a7" title="" alt="Tether partners with OCEAN mining pool to decentralize Bitcoin block-building"><figcaption style="text-align: center;"><p><em>Source: </em><a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://x.com/ocean_mining/status/1911774879008927944" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null"><em>OCEAN Mining</em></a></p></figcaption></figure><p>While Bitcoin hashrate is decentralized, the block-building process conducted by mining pools is mostly centralized by a few dominant actors — most notably Foundry USA, AntPool and ViaBTC.</p><p>The OCEAN protocol attempts to decentralize this process by empowering miners to build their own block templates using their open-source DATUM protocol, reducing dependency on centralized intermediaries and enhancing censorship resistance, Tether said.</p><p>Tether’s deployment would leverage OCEAN’s DATUM software across all of its mining operations worldwide, including in rural areas in Africa. </p><p>“By enabling on-site generation of unique block templates and aggregating thousands of rig connections with low-latency performance, DATUM ensures global competitiveness while promoting geographic and operational diversity,” Tether said.</p><p><em><strong>Related: </strong></em><a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/podcasts/decentralize-with-cointelegraph/inside-the-trump-backed-bitcoin-mining-mega-deal-with-hut-8" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null"><em><strong>Inside the Trump-backed Bitcoin mining mega-deal with Hut 8</strong></em></a></p><p>Tether currently deploys Bitcoin hashrate at sites in Uruguay, Paraguay and El Salvador, where the $144 billion stablecoin issuer is also headquartered.</p><p>Those initiatives emerged around the time Tether announced it would invest <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/tether-plans-major-expansion-btc-bitcoin-cryptocurrency-mining-500-m-investment-report" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">$500 million into Bitcoin mining</a> in late 2023.</p><p>OCEAN was created by Bitcoin core developer Luke Dashjr in 2023 and has been backed by the likes of Block CEO Jack Dorsey. OCEAN also <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/jack-dorsey-backed-ocean-mining-hq-el-salvador" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">relocated its headquarters</a> to El Salvador in May 2024.</p><p>Dashjr sparked controversy in December 2023 when he slammed <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/explained/what-are-bitcoin-ordinals" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">Bitcoin Ordinals users</a> for clogging the network with “spam.” However, <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/ocean-mining-pool-censor-bitcoin-transactions" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">he refuted claims</a> that OCEAN censored the non-fungible token-like transactions.</p><h2>OCEAN still has a lot of market share to capture</h2><p>The OCEAN protocol currently mines between 0.2% to 1% of Bitcoin blocks, <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://mempool.space/mining/pool/ocean" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">according</a> to mempool.space data.</p><p>It has mined nine blocks over the last week, including two in a row at 892342 and 892343 on April 14.</p><p>However, OCEAN’s output remains a fraction of that seen by Foundry USA, AntPool and ViaBTC, which have mined 331, 199 and 161 Bitcoin blocks, respectively, over the same timeframe — accounting for over 66% of all blocks.</p><p>The Tether partnership would likely provide a much-needed boost to <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/explained/what-is-bitcoin-hash-rate-and-why-does-it-matter" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">OCEAN’s hashrate,</a> which has amounted to 18.3 exahashes per second (EH/s) over the last 24 hours.</p><figure><img src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2025-04/019636d1-460e-7484-9f71-77a8dc9b0e62" title="" alt="Tether partners with OCEAN mining pool to decentralize Bitcoin block-building"><figcaption style="text-align: center;"><p><em>OCEAN protocol’s Bitcoin mining statistics. Source: </em><a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://mempool.space/mining/pool/ocean" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null"><em>mempool.space</em></a></p></figcaption></figure><p>By comparison, Foundry USA’s hashrate over the same timeframe has exceeded 298 EH/s, leveraging hashrate from the likes of Bitcoin mining firms Hut 8, Bitdeer and Bitfarms.</p><p><em><strong>Magazine: </strong></em><a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/financial-nihilism-crypto-over-dream-big-again/" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null"><em><strong>Financial nihilism in crypto is over — It’s time to dream big again</strong></em></a></p><template data-name="subscription_form" data-type="markets_outlook" label="Subscription Form: Markets Outlook"></template></p>
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https://cointelegraph.com/news/tether-pa...er_inbound