Parasite Mining Pool Strikes Again, Uncovering Its Second Bitcoin Block

A pioneering bitcoin mining pool, designed to challenge traditional pay-per-share and pure lottery models, has achieved its second block. Parasite Pool, which rewards the block finder with 1 BTC and distributes the remaining 2.125 BTC plus fees among participants, mined block 945,601 on Friday. This block contained 7,398 transactions and 0.002 BTC in fees, with bitcoin trading at $76,213 at the time. The pool operates on a distinct hybrid model, where a winning miner receives 1 BTC, and the remaining rewards are distributed proportionally among all pool participants based on their shares submitted since the previous block. There are no fees to participate in this pool, and payouts are made through the Lightning Network. The reward for mining a block is currently 3.125 BTC plus transaction fees, worth around $238,000. The mining landscape is dominated by industrial operators with large-scale facilities, but Parasite targets home miners. Founded by ZK Shark, the creator of Ordinal Maxi Biz, an NFT collection on Bitcoin, Parasite aims to provide a more inclusive mining experience. Unlike pure solo pools, which pay the full block reward minus a fee to the finder, Parasite splits the difference, preserving the lottery aspect while ensuring participants receive satoshis between blocks. The pool's hashrate currently stands at 52 petahashes per second, down from a peak of 182 PH/s in June 2025. With two blocks mined, Parasite's model has been validated, and the pool's ability to retain hashrate during the 48-day gap between payouts is a significant achievement. A third block within the next two months would further solidify the case for Parasite's hybrid model.