Key Points
- Foundry, a leading Bitcoin mining pool, plans to implement “merge mining” to enhance Rootstock’s security.
- Merge mining will allow Foundry to mine Bitcoin and secure Rootstock simultaneously, improving efficiency and earnings.
Foundry, a top-ranking Bitcoin mining pool, has unveiled its intention to use “merge mining” to strengthen the security of Rootstock. This move will allow for additional computational power to be directed towards the Bitcoin layer-2 network without a corresponding increase in energy consumption.
Merge Mining: An Efficiency Boost
Merge mining is a method that permits miners to mine multiple cryptocurrencies simultaneously, given they share the same hashing algorithm. This means that Foundry can continue to secure the Bitcoin network while concurrently bolstering Rootstock’s security, enhancing overall efficiency and income without extra effort.
To make this possible, Foundry plans to inject 200 exahashes per second into Rootstock, raising its total throughput to 740 EH/s. This represents nearly 80% of the total computing power currently safeguarding the Bitcoin network. Foundry is confident that this strategy will make Rootstock transactions much more secure, mitigating risks such as cyberattacks or double spending.
A Mutually Beneficial Arrangement
This new arrangement is advantageous for both Rootstock and Foundry. Foundry may have unlocked a new revenue stream as miners who opt to merge mine with Rootstock receive 79% of Rootstock’s transaction fees in rBTC, Rootstock’s version of Bitcoin. The added income incurs no extra electricity costs as it is already running Bitcoin mining operations.
Rootstock, on the other hand, will utilize Foundry’s robust mining power to become a safer and more reliable platform for smart contracts. Foundry has broader ambitions linked to this decision to diversify its operations. Bitcoin layer-2s like Rootstock aim to extend Bitcoin’s utility beyond being a mere store of value.
With the added security from Foundry’s mining power, Rootstock is set to become a sturdier platform for financial applications, decentralized exchanges, and other blockchain-based services. This is because it merges the strong security of Bitcoin with smart contract functionality, thus bringing more use cases to the Bitcoin network.
Overall, this collaboration seems well-positioned to enhance Bitcoin’s ecosystem, especially in terms of security and scalability.
