---
title: "Decentralizing the Dark Corner: Building an Open Mining Stack – Pod 256 #117"
source: podcast
podcast: Pod 256
episode: "117"
date: 2026-06-18
duration: "~1:01"
hosts: econoalchemist, skot9000, tylerkstevens
location: Bitcoin Park, Nashville TN
url: https://www.pod256.org/episodepage/117-decentralizing-the-dark-corner-building-an-open-mining-stack
tags: [bitcoin-mining, open-source, mining-stack, 256-foundation, bitaxe, osmu, braiins, braiinsforge, bitmain, whatsminer, mujina, firmware, asic, chip-access, canaan, proto, block, gridpool, decentralized-pool, stranded-energy, solar-mining, heat-reuse, home-mining, centralization, mining-education, bitdevs, oslo-freedom-forum, btc-prague, secure-boot, control-board, bm1370, difficulty, hashrate]
---

# Decentralizing the Dark Corner: Building an Open Mining Stack – Pod 256 #117

## Fő tézis
A Bitcoin mining a Bitcoin ökoszisztéma "sötét sarka" — kevés education, zárt forráskódú hardver és firmware, centralizált pool-ok. A 256 Foundation küldetése: open-source mining stack építése (hardver + firmware + community), hogy a mining újra a Bitcoin ethosznak megfelelően nyílt legyen.

## Kulcsszereplők
- **econoalchemist (Eco)** — host, 256 Foundation
- **skot9000 (Skot)** — host, BitAxe/OSMU creator
- **tylerkstevens (Tyler)** — host, 256 Foundation

## Tematikus pontok

### 1. Mining mint "dark corner"
- "Mining was this just like area in the corner of the room that was just darkened and no one was really talking about it"
- Protocol dev-ek nem tudják mennyire centralizált a mining: "Bitmain controls 80% of the hardware market" — core devs meglepődnek
- Bifurkáció: node protocol vs stratum protocol — a dev-ek "not my problem" mentalitása
- "There's no one that thinks about mining development" — se protocol dev, se mega miner

### 2. 256 Foundation küldetés
- "We need to build these open source building blocks for the mining stack. They don't exist in its current form"
- "The whole ecosystem is supposed to be open source. This is Bitcoin. Why is this part closed source?"
- "Once you see it, you can't unsee it"
- OSMU (Open Source Mining Unit) → BitAxe siker
- Eco tapasztalata: zárt hardverrel nem lehet kreatív modelleket építeni (heat reuse, solar, stranded energy)

### 3. "Gold rush era" vége
- "That era of just plugging them in to the grid... is just like done"
- Pubco-k: "figured out how to raise boatloads of money to build infrastructure"
- "They don't have any mining development staff on hand" — csak "give me the shoe boxes"
- Új korszak: stranded energy, intermittent power, heat reuse, creative models
- "You can't do it on closed source hardware or firmware"

### 4. BraiinsForge — Braiins visszatérés az open-source-hoz
- Jan (Braiins) bejelentés BTC Prague-n: Braiins forkolt hardware business → BraiinsForge
- "They are very dedicated to open source" — open-source hardware + firmware
- Braiins eredetileg open-source volt (első third-party firmware), aztán "rugged the community" — closed source
- "In no small part because of the BitAxe project and 256 Foundation, they've decided to jump back into open source"
- Braiins mini miner: BM1370 chip (ugyanaz mint BitAxe Gamma / Antminer S21 Pro)
- "They're mass producing stuff with unsoldered chips" — chip elérés valósága
- "Once the source code's out there, then it's out there. You can't take that back"

### 5. Chip elérhetőség és ASIC gyártók
- Bitmain 80% monopoly a hardver piacon
- Braiins is unsoldering chips — "this is not how it should be"
- Non-Bitmain gyártók: "picking up the phone for the first time ever"
- Canaan (Avalon) — NG akart open-source-olni eredetileg; most "tiptoeing around it" social media-n
- Proto (Block mining division) — "they totally get it", pledged support for BitAxe, chips, Bitcoin Park
- "Making an ASIC chip is insanely hard and takes a very long time. Very resource capital intensive"

### 6. GridPool és decentralizált pool-ok
- AgentP vendég volt az előző héten (Ep 116)
- GridPool.net — decentralizált pool protokoll
- "Nothing's stopping us from just redefining pool to be a protocol solution, not a company solution"
- "We can't have a million different pools... but we definitely need new ones"
- Status quo: "run authority" pool model — "complacency over the years has gotten us into a sticky situation"
- Ugyanaz a mentalitás ami Bitcoin-t létrehozta: "how could we do money differently?" → "how could we do mining differently?"

### 7. Mujina firmware és WhatsMiner
- Mujina: nyílt firmware, responsive solar mining-hoz
- WhatsMiner: Secure Boot implementáció — nehezebb crackelni mint Bitmain
- Bitmain Secure Boot: "implemented it really poorly so it's easy enough to exploit"
- Bitshoka (Gridless, Nairobi) — WhatsMiner chip-pel fejlesztett BitAxe variáns
- "Shoka" = axe in Swahili
- Ryan (256 Foundation) WhatsMiner + Mujina kombináción dolgozik

### 8. Konferenciák és community
- Oslo Freedom Forum — BitDevs "gigabrains in the room", core devs meglepődnek a mining centralizáción
- BTC Prague — home mining panel (Wonklue, Nacho, Braiins guy), BraiinsForge bejelentés
- Texas Energy and Mining Summit — "all the talks from large miners were about power purchase agreements"
- "There's a demand for [open source]" — piac validálja

## Megjegyzések
- S23 air cooled: Bitmain "never" — másodszor cancel-elve
- Difficulty leaderboard: "I don't think we've seen this change since the telehash"
- NG (Canaan) meghívás: "We gotta talk to NG. We'd love to have you on the pod"