TLDR:
- Luke Dashjr exits OCEAN after the BIP-110 dispute, with Mummolin buying back all of his company equity.
- BIP-110 miner signaling peaked near 2.6%, far below the proposal’s targeted 55% hashrate support threshold.
- OCEAN produced about 2.88% of Bitcoin blocks over the past week, with hashrate estimated at 25.33 EH/s.
- Dashjr is moving to CONVOY, while OCEAN continues its non-custodial pool without naming his replacements.
Luke Dashjr has left OCEAN Mining after resigning as chairman, chief technology officer, and director, ending both his leadership and ownership roles. Mummolin Inc., OCEAN’s parent company, repurchased all his equity under a separation described by both sides as mutually agreed.
The split follows a turbulent period around BIP-110, which sought temporary consensus restrictions on certain non-financial data embedded in Bitcoin transactions. Neither side specifically linked the departure to that proposal, but both cited different visions for Bitcoin mining following recent protocol developments.
Luke Dashjr’s Exit Follows OCEAN’s BIP-110 Mining Fallout
Those differences emerged more clearly during the BIP-110 debate. The proposal sought one-year restrictions on methods used to place images, text, and other non-financial data into Bitcoin transactions. However, the proposal failed to attract broad miner support, with signaling peaking at roughly 2.6% of network hashrate.
That figure remained far below the 55% threshold sought by supporters. The disagreement became more visible when enforcing nodes began rejecting non-signaling blocks at height 961,632. The minority branch subsequently produced only two blocks before effectively stalling.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s dominant chain continued producing blocks normally, demonstrating the proposal’s limited mining support. OCEAN supported BIP-110 by default, yet its Decentralized Alternative Templates for Universal Mining protocol gave individual miners control over their block templates.
Known as DATUM, the system allowed miners to make transaction-selection decisions independently from the pool’s default policy. That structure became important when Simple Mining produced block 961,634 without signaling support for BIP-110. The event demonstrated that miners connected to the Bitcoin pool could reject its preferred policy while remaining within its shared payout structure.
Consequently, the episode highlighted a central governance tension surrounding mining pools. Operators can establish default policies, while technologies such as DATUM can return significant block-construction authority to individual miners.
Dashjr later announced a sabbatical from his chairman and CTO responsibilities. Around the same period, he was removed as a Bitcoin Improvement Proposal repository editor amid disagreements over BIP-110 and editorial governance.
OCEAN Keeps Mining at 25.33 EH/s as Dashjr Moves to CONVOY
Despite the leadership change, OCEAN said its transparent, non-custodial mining model will continue operating. The company, however, has not announced replacements for Dashjr’s executive or board positions.
The Bitcoin pool launched in November 2023 after Mummolin raised $6.2 million in seed funding led by Jack Dorsey. Accomplice and Barefoot Bitcoin Fund were also among the investors. From the outset, OCEAN was positioned as a successor to the Eligius mining pool, with direct payouts designed to reduce operator control over miners’ block rewards.
That infrastructure remains active following the equity buyback and management change. According to Mempool.space data, OCEAN accounted for approximately 2.88% of Bitcoin blocks over the trailing week. In addition, its hashrate for the week beginning Aug. 24 was estimated at about 25.33 exahashes per second.
While OCEAN continues operating, Dashjr is moving ahead with CONVOY, a separate venture focused on decentralizing Bitcoin mining. However, details about its infrastructure, fees, participating miners, and launch schedule have not yet been disclosed.
As a result, the separation ends Dashjr’s ownership and leadership roles without disrupting OCEAN’s existing mining operations. At the same time, it represents the most significant organizational change following the BIP-110 dispute, which failed to attract substantial miner support.
