{"id":1466,"date":"2024-05-01T16:02:42","date_gmt":"2024-05-01T16:02:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ci02dc512b800025ff"},"modified":"2024-05-01T16:02:42","modified_gmt":"2024-05-01T16:02:42","slug":"demand-pools-ceo-says-the-time-to-decentralize-bitcoin-mining-is-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/business\/demand-pools-ceo-says-the-time-to-decentralize-bitcoin-mining-is-now","title":{"rendered":"DEMAND Pool\u2019s CEO Says The Time To Decentralize Bitcoin Mining Is Now"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

Company Name:<\/strong> DEMAND<\/p>\n

Founders:<\/strong> Alejandro De La Torre and Filippo Merli<\/p>\n

Date Founded:<\/strong> 2023<\/p>\n

Location of Headquarters:<\/strong> Lisbon, Portugal and Florence, Italy<\/p>\n

Amount of Bitcoin in Treasury:<\/strong> \u201cCurrently being bootstrapped\u201d<\/p>\n

Number of Employees:<\/strong> 2<\/p>\n

Website:<\/strong> https:\/\/www.dmnd.work\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Public or Private?<\/strong> Private<\/p>\n

Alejandro De La Torre is deeply concerned that Bitcoin mining is too centralized, and he\u2019s on a mission to change that. This is why he started DEMAND<\/a>, a Bitcoin mining pool that puts power back in the hands of independent Bitcoin miners.<\/p>\n

Before getting into how DEMAND works, though, it\u2019s important to understand what De La Torre has learned from his time in the Bitcoin mining industry so as to better understand his motivation in starting DEMAND.<\/p>\n

De La Torre\u2019s History In The Bitcoin Mining Space<\/h2>\n

De La Torre has served as the VP of Poolin<\/a>, one of the largest Bitcoin and crypto mining pools in the world, as well as the VP of Business Operations for BTC.com<\/a>, 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 landscape.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe experience I had in the last pools made me realize that we needed a change in the mining pool industry and we needed it very, very quickly,\u201d De La Torre told Bitcoin Magazine. \u201cThere’s a very clear problem with centralization in mining pools today, and I was able to pinpoint that issue while working at BTC.com and Poolin.\u201d<\/p>\n

De La Torre went on to describe how many Bitcoin mining pools are now proxies for a larger pool, which he didn\u2019t mention by name (it\u2019s Antpool<\/a>), and explained that such centralization has the power to seriously damage Bitcoin.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe anchor pool is close to 50% of the network now. It allows for a 51% attack on the network, which would be catastrophic,\u201d said De La Torre.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think they would ever do it, but the possibility is there, which is already a huge red flag,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

De La Torre also pointed out that such levels of centralization pose risks when it comes to network censorship, highlighting that it wouldn\u2019t be difficult for this major pool to censor half of the transactions on the Bitcoin network.<\/p>\n

The potential for censorship and a 51% attack \u201care a very clear and present danger that we have in Bitcoin right now,\u201d according to De La Torre.<\/p>\n

Power To The Solo Miners<\/h2>\n

In reaction to this, De La Torre and his business partner, Filippo Merli, launched DEMAND Pool<\/a> in November 2023 with the intention of putting the power back in the hands of solo miners.<\/p>\n

DEMAND is the world\u2019s first Stratum V2<\/a> 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 templates.<\/p>\n

\u201cPools today are the ones who are in charge of building the blocks and adding the transactions into the blocks,\u201d said De La Torre. \u201cWith Stratum V2 \u2014 with DEMAND \u2014 the miners themselves will be able to build the blocks and add the transactions that they want.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most filtering in mining pools today is done at the pool level, not the individual miner level. De La Torre understands that, especially in the wake of the introductions of protocols like Ordinals and Runes, miners want more control over what types of transactions they include in their blocks. And De La Torre believes miners should have this power, because it adds to the ethos of decentralization. He also added that DEMAND will accept any blocks sent to the pool.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis gives me less power. That’s what I want. I don’t want the power. I’m done with that power,\u201d said De La Torre. \u201cI’ve had it before, and it’s too much power in the hands of too few. And that’s not what Bitcoin is. Bitcoin is decentralization, and this is furthering that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Incentivizing Solo Miners<\/h2>\n

De La Torre is aware that the odds of mining a block are against small-scale solo miners, but he doesn\u2019t think they shouldn\u2019t give finding one a shot, and he\u2019s also created other ways to incentivize solo miners to come online.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to heat up your home during winter, right? Why not just use a Bitcoin miner as a heater?\u201d said De La Torre.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re lucky, you hit a block and you just made your wife very happy,\u201d he added with a laugh.<\/p>\n

Solo miners who join DEMAND Pool will also have the option to sell the hash rate they produce on a marketplace, ensuring that they receive some income for their efforts. DEMAND has set up a deal with the hash rate marketplace Rigly<\/a> and plans to establish more partnerships.<\/p>\n

De La Torre also touched on how DEMAND payments will be done via the PPLNS (Pay Per Last N Share) system. With PPLNS, profits are allocated based on the number blocks a mining pool mines per day and payouts fluctuate based on the pool\u2019s luck in mining blocks.<\/p>\n

This system differs from the FPPS (Full Pay Per Share) system, which is commonly used in the major mining pools. With FPPS, the mining service charge and block reward are settled based on theoretical profit, and miners get paid whether the pool finds a block or not.<\/p>\n

De La Torre is aware that it may sound attractive to miners to get paid consistently with FPPS, but he was quick to point out that payouts through both PPLNS and FPPS are comparable over the long term.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people have some misunderstandings about PPLNS,\u201d said De La Torre.<\/p>\n

\u201cFPPS gives you constant payouts, which is fine. I understand why a miner would find FPPS. However, PPLNS over enough time averages out to about the same,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n

\u201cYes, you won’t have constant payouts, but you will have incorrect payouts according to how much hash rate DEMAND has \u2014 and we intend to have a good amount. You will still be getting a constant payout, or it would average out to more or less the same. So, there’s no real downside to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

De La Torre also pointed out that solo mining as part of DEMAND\u2019s pool is one of the best ways for Bitcoin enthusiasts to get their hands on non-KYC bitcoin.<\/p>\n

He also stressed the fact that solo miners\u2019 coming online will do something else that\u2019s vital to keeping Bitcoin decentralized \u2014 it will bring more nodes online.<\/p>\n

Send Nodes<\/h2>\n

To use DEMAND\u2019s block templates, miners have to run their own nodes. This means that solo miners would not only contribute to the decentralization of Bitcoin\u2019s hash rate but also to the decentralization of its governance.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only do we want the solo community and the home mining community to flourish and to make more money, but we also want node proliferation,\u201d said De La Torre.<\/p>\n

\u201cSolo miners will provide hash rate to secure the network and potentially make some bitcoin and also help with maintaining Bitcoin Core or whatever Bitcoin client they want. Nodes are good for the health of the system,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Looking Ahead<\/h2>\n

De La Torre also said that DEMAND is currently working on expanding its services to pooled mining, and that DEMAND will actively be looking for miners to come on board.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s vowed to make DEMAND a \u201cstable and trustworthy pool with transparent payouts,\u201d differentiating it from the \u201cblack box\u201d pools out there.<\/p>\n

De La Torre seems to be doing everythi
\nng in his power to bring more independent miners online, and as he laid out his plans for DEMAND in my conversation with him, there was a palpable sense of urgency in his voice.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe centralization of Bitcoin mining pools is becoming a very serious issue, and it’s up to us as the mining community to do something about it,\u201d said De La Torre. \u201cIf we don\u2019t, it\u2019s not good.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alejandro De La Torre believes Bitcoin mining is dangerously centralized and plans to put power back into the hands of solo miners with DEMAND.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2510,"featured_media":26659,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[719,564,189,718],"class_list":{"0":"post-1466","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-antpool","9":"tag-bitcoin-miner","10":"tag-bitcoin-mining","11":"tag-demand"},"author_data":{"id":2510,"name":"Frank Corva","nicename":"frank-corva","avatar_url":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Frank_Corva-1.jpg"},"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/demand_founders_article_preview-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2510"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}