Svmuu reports that AntPool, Foundry, F2Pool, SpiderPool, DMND, MARA Foundation, and Block Inc, seven major Bitcoin mining pools, have joined the Stratum V2 working group to jointly develop an open mining pool communication protocol standard for the industry.
Public data shows that Foundry currently controls approximately 30% of the global Bitcoin mining pool hashrate, while AntPool accounts for about 17.7%. Stratum V2 stated that establishing open standards not controlled by a single mining pool will help enhance miners' flexibility in independently selecting block templates and improve the increasing centralization in the current Bitcoin mining industry.
Additionally, CoinWarz predicts that Bitcoin mining difficulty will rise again in mid-May, while CoinShares pointed out that under the current market and energy cost environment, approximately 20% of miners are already in a state of unprofitability. (Cointelegraph)