Stratum

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Revision as of 00:22, 8 April 2014 by Luke-jr (talk | contribs) (Rewrite to provide a proper article on the stratum protocol, with a bit more detail)
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Stratum is a proposal for an open source client-server "overlay" protocol that enables thin clients. It is currently used by Electrum. While originally announced right before 2012[1], the protocol has not yet been completed and proposed as a BIP for standardisation.

Mining extensions

The stratum protocol was extended to support pooled mining as a replacement for obsolete getwork protocol in late 2012. Developed behind closed doors, the mining service specification was initially announced via Slush's pool's website[2]. Shortly thereafter, alternative "cheat sheet" style documentation was provided by BTCGuild[3]. As the extension lacks a formal BIP describing an official standard, it has further developed only by discussion and implementation[4].

Software support

Tables showing miner/server support for Stratum mining protocol:

Pool support

Server get transactions dynamic difficulty job frequency resume
Bitminter No Yes 30s No
Slush's pool No Yes 30s No
BTCGuild No Yes 30s No
Eloipool Yes Yes 55s No
HHTT No No (User selected difficulty) 30s No
50BTC No No (User selected difficulty) 5s No
Ozcoin No Yes or user selected 30s No

References