# Mining pools

`kaal:entity:mining-pools`

**Status.** derived

This node is assembled mechanically from the 5 claims that carry the concept tag `mining-pools`. It is a roster of what the corpus says under this term. It is **not** an adjudicated definition: no single statement here has been ruled canonical, and no first-appearance call has been made. Read the claims and judge for yourself.

## Every claim under this term

5 claims across 5 works, 2018 to 2021.

**2018**

- [3227933-019](https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3227933-019) [failure/argued] *(failure mode)* -- Most current blockchain applications lack complete decentralization: proof of work style validation has produced mining pools because of economies of scale and unbalanced reward structures.
  > For instance, the traditional mechanism for validating and verifying a new block of transactions – e.g., Bitcoin's proof of work protocol - has led to "mining pools" as a result of economies of scale and unbalanced reward structures.
  Mark Fenwick, Wulf A. Kaal, Erik P.M. Vermeulen, Why 'Blockchain' Will Disrupt Corporate Organizations (2018). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3227933
- [3227967-032](https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3227967-032) [failure/argued] *(failure mode)* -- Existing blockchains and DAOs still lack genuine decentralization, and there are currently no true DAOs: Bitcoin's proof of work protocol has produced mining pools because of economies of scale and unbalanced reward structures.
  > In our discussion, the following weaknesses were highlighted. There is still a lack of decentralization (there are currently no "true" DAOs). For instance, Bitcoin's proof of work protocol has led to "mining pools" because of economies of scale and unbalanced reward structures.
  Mark Fenwick, Wulf A. Kaal, Erik P.M. Vermeulen, Legal Education in a Digital Age Why 'Coding for Lawyers' Matters (2018). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3227967
- [3266953-024](https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3266953-024) [mechanism/argued] -- Because all fungible fees are already shared in proper proportion among Anchor holders, participants have less reason to join a mining pool, which makes the system more decentralized.
  > is less reason to join a mining pool, since all fungible fees are already shared in proper proportion, so it is more decentralized).
  Craig Calcaterra, Wulf A. Kaal, Gopinath Sivalingam, Reputation Protocol for the Internet of Trust - Conceptual Whitepaper (2018). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3266953

**2021**

- [3782193-027](https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3782193-027) [empirical/argued] *(failure mode)* -- Bitcoin does not refute the thesis that money centralizes decentralized projects: hashing power has slowly become concentrated in mining pools until the majority of that power resides in the single country of China.
  > Slowly, Bitcoin hashing power has become more concentrated in mining pools, until today the ma- jority of power resides in the single country of China.
  Craig Calcaterra, Wulf A. Kaal, Historical Sketches of Centralization vs. Decentralization (2021). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3782193
- [3808873-008](https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3808873-008) [mechanism/argued] *(failure mode)* -- Proof of Work block rewards structurally reintroduce centralization: the economic nature of mining rewards incentivizes degrees of centralization through collective action of nodes that share rewards as a group, that is, mining pools.
  > The economic nature of these rewards incentivizes degrees of centralization in collective action of nodes that share in the mining rewards as a group, so called mining pools.
  Wulf A. Kaal, Decentralization Neutralizers (2021). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3808873

## Verify

Every claim above resolves to a record carrying a verbatim source quote, the sha256 of the source PDF, and a preformatted citation. Nothing here asks to be taken on trust.

    curl -s https://wulfkaal.github.io/entities/mining-pools.md | sha256sum

**Canonical form.** This markdown file is the canonical hashed representation of this entity node. Its sha256 is the content hash.