Pool vs hasher

⚠️ Time-sensitive — not re-verified since `asOf` (2026-07-22). The hasher/pool role distinction is structural and durable, but three adoption statements below are not: that Stratum V1 is still "the dominant" protocol, the ~75%-of-hashrate figure for pools joining the Stratum V2 working group (from a May 2026 report), and "major pools joining the effort through 2026." The entry's own instruction — "Adoption levels drift; date any percentage" — applies to its own numbers first. asOf records the last verification, not the last edit — any editing since then left the date unchanged because it added no re-verification of adoption levels. Re-verify against a primary source before quoting any percentage or asserting which template protocol is dominant.

"Miner" conflates two roles. Hashers own machines and sell hash attempts; pools aggregate hashers' work to smooth payout variance and, under the dominant Stratum V1 protocol, the pool constructs the block template — deciding which transactions the combined hashrate works on. Pool concentration charts therefore measure template control, not hardware ownership: the underlying machines are owned by many parties who can and do repoint to other pools quickly.

Nuance: This distinction cuts both ways in debates. Against "five pools control Bitcoin": hashers can leave a misbehaving pool in minutes, and a pool that attacked the chain would hemorrhage hashrate. Against complacency: while pointed at a pool, that pool does pick the transactions. Stratum V2's job declaration — adopted incrementally, with major pools joining the effort through 2026 — lets individual hashers construct their own templates within a pool, directly reducing template centralization. Adoption levels drift; date any percentage.

Common misstatements:

• "Foundry and AntPool control most of Bitcoin's mining." — They coordinate templates for hashrate they do not own; the control is real but shallow and revocable.
• "Pools own the hashrate." — Pools typically own little of it; they are coordination and payout services.
• "Pool concentration is the same as miner concentration." — Different measurements; hardware ownership is far more dispersed than template construction.