Goodbye getblocktemplate: Bitcoin Core block templates over IPC (Cap'n Proto)

Sharing this month's work, leading with the Bitcoin Core part since that's the most relevant here.

Bitcoin Core mining over IPC

Bitcoin Core's multiprocess build exposes a mining interface over Cap'n Proto IPC. mkpool now has an optional path that uses it instead of polling getblocktemplate over JSON-RPC:

• Templates come straight from the node's Mining interface (createNewBlock / waitNext), so a new template arrives as soon as the node has one, with no GBT poll loop.
• Solved blocks go back through submitSolution, and I keep the classic submitblock path as a redundant, bounded fallback so a found block is never lost.

Lower template latency and a cleaner block-submit path than scraping JSON-RPC, and it lines up with where Core's mining interface is heading. This combined with Stratum V2 gives you the fastest possible low latency way to mine Bitcoin. You can try it out today on mkpool.

Also shipped this month

• Bidirectional Stratum V2 <-> V1 translator: point a Noise-encrypted SV2 ASIC like a Bitaxe at any plain V1 pool, or point plain V1 rigs at an SV2-only pool. Tested end to end on a real Bitaxe over Noise.
• Scale-out roles (proxy / redirector / passthrough / clustering node) for multi-region and HA setups.

It stays genuinely solo: your payout address is your username, the coinbase is rebuilt per session, and a found block pays straight to your wallet. No pool custody.

Public pool: https://mkpool.com/

Repo (GPLv3): https://github.com/Mecanik/mkpool

Benchmark writeup: https://mkpool.com/blog/mkpool-vs-ckpool-benchmark

Happy to answer technical questions, especially on the IPC side. Not selling anything; the engine is open source.