Company Name: Requests
Founders: Alejandro de la Torre and Filippo Merli
Date of Establishment: 2023
Headquarters location: Lisbon, Portugal and Florence, Italy
Amount of Bitcoin in the treasury: “Currently being booted”
Number of Employees: 2
website: https://www.dmnd.work/
Public or private? private
Alejandro de la Torre is deeply concerned that Bitcoin mining is too centralized, and he is on a mission to change that. That's why he started Requestsa Bitcoin mining pool that puts power back into the hands of independent Bitcoin miners.
Before getting into how DEMAND works, it is important to understand what De La Torre has learned from his time in the Bitcoin mining industry so that we can better understand his motivations for starting DEMAND.
De La Torre's history in Bitcoin mining
De La Torre served as vice president Swimming poolone of the largest Bitcoin and cryptocurrency mining pools in the world, as well as Vice President of Business Operations for BTC.com, which also operated its own Bitcoin mining pool. What he saw during his time in these two roles made him realize that there was little time to waste in decentralizing the Bitcoin mining scene.
“The experience I had in recent pools made me realize that we needed a change in the mining pool industry and we needed it very, very quickly,” de la Torre told Bitcoin Magazine. “There is a very clear problem with centralization in mining pools today, and I was able to identify this problem while working at BTC.com and Poolin.”
De la Torre went on to describe the number of Bitcoin mining pools that are now agents for a larger group, which he did not mention by name (it AntipollHe explained that such centralization has the potential to cause serious damage to Bitcoin.
“The anchor pool is approaching 50% of the network now. It allows a 51% attack on the network, which would be catastrophic,” De La Torre said.
He added: “I don't think they will ever do that, but the possibility is there, and it's really a big red flag.”
De la Torre also noted that such levels of centralization pose risks when it comes to network censorship, highlighting that it would not be difficult for this major pool to censor half of the transactions on the Bitcoin network.
According to De La Torre, the potential for censorship and a 51% attack “represents a clear and present risk to Bitcoin right now.”
Power to solo miners
In response, De La Torre and his business partner, Felippo Merli, launched DEMAND Pool in November 2023 with the aim of putting power back into the hands of solo miners.
The order is the first in the world Class V2 Mining pool. Stratum V2 is an open source messaging protocol that enables miners and pools to communicate directly with each other, reducing mining infrastructure requirements compared to its previous iteration, and enabling solo miners to choose their own mining blocks. This last ability is one of the key features that sets Stratum V2 apart from other mining pool protocols.
“Today’s pools are responsible for building blocks and adding transactions to blocks,” de la Torre said. “With Stratum V2 – with DEMAND – miners themselves will be able to build the blocks and add the transactions they want.”
Most liquidations in mining pools today are done at the pool level, not at the individual miner level. De La Torre realizes that especially in the wake of the introduction of protocols like Ordinals and Runes, miners want more control over the types of transactions they include in their blocks. De la Torre believes that miners should have this power, because it adds to the spirit of decentralization.
“This gives me less power. This is what I want. I don't want power. I'm done with that power,” De La Torre said. “I've had it before, and there's too much power in too few hands. This is not what Bitcoin is. Bitcoin is decentralized, and this reinforces that.”
In efforts to help miners with liquidation, DEMAND has created a series of mining templates that miners can easily use in their operations.
Motivating solo miners
De La Torre recognizes that the odds of mining a block are stacked against small-scale solo miners, but he doesn't think they should give a chance to find one, and he has also devised other ways to incentivize solo miners to come online.
“You have to heat your house during the winter, right? Why don't we just use the Bitcoin miner as a heater?,” De La Torre said.
“If you're lucky, you hit a block and it makes your wife very happy,” he added with a laugh.
Solo miners who join the DEMAND Pool will also have the option to sell the hashrate they produce on the market, ensuring they receive some income for their efforts. DEMAND has entered into a deal with the hash rate market Wrigley And plans to establish more partnerships.
De La Torre also touched on how order payments are made via the PPLNS (Pay Per Last N Post) system. With PPLNS, profits are allocated based on the number of mining blocks mined daily and payouts fluctuate based on the pool's luck in mining blocks.
This system differs from the FPPS (fee payment per share) system, which is commonly used in major mining pools. With FPPS, miners charge a service fee based on theoretical profit, and miners get paid whether the pool finds a block or not.
De La Torre recognizes that it may seem attractive to miners to get paid consistently through FPPS, but he is quick to point out that payouts through both PPLNS and FPPS are comparable over the long term.
“A lot of people have some misunderstandings about PPLNS,” De La Torre said.
“FPPS gives you fixed payouts, which is good. I understand why a miner would find FPPS. However, the average PPLNS over enough time reaches about the same level.
“Yes, you won't have fixed payouts, but you will have incorrect payouts based on the hash rate of the order – and we intend to get a good amount. You will still get a fixed payout, or it will average around the same level. So, there's no real downside to that.” “
De La Torre also pointed out that solo mining as part of the DEMAND pool is one of the best ways for Bitcoin enthusiasts to obtain Bitcoin that is KYC-free.
He also emphasized the fact that access to the Internet for solo miners will do something else vital to keeping Bitcoin decentralized – it will bring more nodes online.
Submit the contract
To use DEMAND block templates, miners have to run their own nodes. This means that solo miners will not only contribute to the decentralization of the Bitcoin hash rate but also to the decentralization of its management.
“Not only do we want the individual mining community and the home mining community to thrive and make more money, but we also want the nodes to spread,” De La Torre said.
“The solo miners will provide a hash rate to secure the network and potentially make some bitcoins and also help maintain Bitcoin Core or whatever Bitcoin client they want. Nodes are beneficial to the integrity of the system,” he added.
I look forward
De La Torre also said that DEMAND is currently expanding its services to include pooled mining, and that DEMAND will be actively looking for miners to join it.
He pledged to make DEMAND a “stable and trustworthy pool with transparent payments,” setting it apart from the “black box” pools out there.
De La Torre seems to be doing everything he can to bring more independent miners online, and when he laid out his plans for the order in my conversation with him, there was a definite sense of urgency in his voice.
“Centralization of Bitcoin mining pools has become a very serious problem, and it is up to us as the mining community to do something about it,” De La Torre said. “If we don't do that, it's not good.”