094. PPLNS, Pick-and-Place, and Pardon: A Deep Dive into Mining and Freedom Tech

In episode 94 of POD256, we cover a full slate of Bitcoin mining and freedom tech updates from Nashville to Denver. We recap the Bitcoin Veterans telehash fundraiser that briefly peaked near 98.5 PH, discuss PPLNS dynamics at Ocean and Slush/Brains, and explore Square’s new Lightning payments rollout. We share a field report from installing an immersion-based hashrate heating system on subsidized power in Buena Vista, the pros/cons of immersion (including an oil-leak mishap), and how recapturing heat favors small, distributed miners. We dive deep into 256 Foundation progress: Ember One hashboard prototyping on the pick-and-place, the Libre control board, Ant Hat and Edit boards, Hydra Pool’s PPLNS design with a public shares API, and the imminent open-sourcing of Mujina firmware. We also preview January’s Telehash at Bitcoin Park where we’ll “eat our own dog food” by running Ember One + Libre + Mujina against our self-hosted Hydra Pool instance. Finally, we break down the Samourai Wallet sentencing, why the “unlicensed money transmitter” framing is dangerous despite Samourai’s non-custodial design, the realities around “restricted markets,” and why broad community action (including a pardon push and better anonymity for devs) is critical. Plus: Start9 VPN tunneling in Alpha 12, packaging Hydra Pool for StartOS, and listener hash-rate shoutouts across Lincoin, Solo CK, Public Pool, and Ocean.