Parasite Mining Pool Strikes Again, Uncovering Its Second Bitcoin Block

A groundbreaking Bitcoin mining pool, designed to challenge traditional models, has achieved a significant milestone by mining its second block. Parasite Pool, launched in April 2025, has now mined block 945,601, approximately 48 days after its first block at #938,713 in late February. 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 distinctive hybrid model, where the winning miner receives 1 BTC, and the remaining 2.125 BTC plus fees are distributed proportionally among all participants based on their shares submitted since the previous block. Notably, there are no fees to participate in this pool, and payouts are made through the Lightning Network. The concept of mining pools is to reduce the variance in block discovery, allowing participants to share the proceeds based on their contributions rather than relying on a winner-takes-all approach. Parasite Pool, founded by ZK Shark, the creator of the Ordinal Maxi Biz NFT collection on Bitcoin, specifically targets home miners. Unlike pure solo pools, which pay the full block reward minus a fee to the finder, Parasite's model splits the difference, preserving the lottery-style payday while ensuring participants receive satoshis between blocks. The mining landscape is dominated by industrial operators with large-scale facilities, but Parasite's approach offers an alternative. With a hashrate of 52 petahashes per second, the pool has retained its hashrate through the 48-day gap between payouts, validating its proportional distribution mechanics. The success of Parasite Pool's model could have significant implications for the future of Bitcoin mining, potentially attracting more home miners and small-scale operators to the network.