DMND and RootstockLabs announced a partnership to integrate Stratum V2 protocol into merge-mining operations, giving miners direct control over sidechain block selection.
Stratum V2 represents a significant upgrade to mining pool infrastructure. The protocol shifts power from pool operators to individual miners by allowing them to select transaction sets and construct their own blocks rather than accepting pre-built templates from pools. This decentralization of mining reduces pool operator control and strengthens Bitcoin's resistance to censorship.
Rootstock (RSK) is a Bitcoin sidechain secured through merge-mining, where Bitcoin miners simultaneously mine RSK blocks while working on Bitcoin's main chain. Currently, merge-mining operations lack the transparency and miner autonomy that Stratum V2 enables on Bitcoin itself. DMND's partnership with RootstockLabs addresses this gap.
The integration allows Rootstock merge-miners to apply Stratum V2's principles to sidechain operations. Miners gain the ability to choose which RSK transactions enter blocks they mine, matching the transparency and control they would have on Bitcoin's network. This eliminates intermediary control over merged-mined RSK block construction.
The move aligns with broader industry momentum around Stratum V2 adoption. Major mining pools and operations have begun implementing the protocol to satisfy regulatory requirements and institutional expectations around mining decentralization. The partnership demonstrates how Stratum V2 can scale beyond Bitcoin to secured sidechains and Layer 2 networks.
For Rootstock's ecosystem, this upgrade strengthens network security by ensuring merge-miners retain full transparency and control over their hash rate allocation. It also incentivizes continued RSK merge-mining participation by offering mining operators the same modern tooling available on Bitcoin's primary chain.
The partnership reflects the ongoing technical refinement of Bitcoin's mining layer and adjacent protocols. Stratum V2 implementation continues expanding across the mining industry, with this merge-mining use case representing practical adoption of the protocol's flexibility.