Ocean Miner Sparks Censorship Dispute Over Block Fees

Bitcoin mining pool Ocean has faced transaction censorship allegations after developer Kruw accused an individual miner of excluding his transaction from block 973,817, leaving transaction fees 7.68% below an expected template. According to CryptoNews, Kruw raised the complaint in an Oct. 30 exchange on X, stating that miner Powre excluded his consolidation transaction.

Fee Shortfall and Block Comparison

A comparison shared by Kruw showed an expected block containing 3,580 transactions against an actual block containing 1,698. Displayed block weight fell from approximately 3.99 million weight units to 2.93 million, while rounded transaction fees were 0.017 BTC and 0.016 BTC, respectively. The fee comparison indicated a 7.68% shortfall, which Kruw argued hurt other miners participating in the pool.

The transaction highlighted carried a fee of 223 satoshis and a displayed fee rate of 0.15 satoshis per virtual byte. Kruw argued that Ocean should reject work that deliberately sacrifices participants' fee income and suggested the pool could refuse work carrying fewer fees than acceptable.

Ocean DATUM Defense

Coinjoined Chris defended miners' control over transaction selection through Ocean's DATUM setup, which lets miners construct their own block templates. While Chris stated that leaving transaction fees uncollected was economically questionable, he opposed using pool payouts to control individual miners' choices.

Chris argued that imposing a pool-level selection policy would undermine the control DATUM gives miners. He added that a block earning 7.68% less than a hypothetical maximum is not by itself proof of censorship, noting that different nodes receive transactions at different times and apply different relay policies.

Key facts

• Developer Kruw accused Ocean miner Powre of excluding a consolidation transaction from block 973,817.
• A shared block comparison showed transaction fees 7.68% below the expected template.
• Coinjoined Chris defended Ocean's DATUM setup, allowing miners to construct their own block templates.
• Chris argued against enforcing pool-level transaction selection policies through payment decisions.