093. Decentralize or Die: Open Miners, Pool Payouts, and the Certification Gauntlet

In this episode, we dive into Canaan’s surprising GitHub drop and what it could mean for open-source mining, license tangles and all. We unpack the inclusion of CGMiner, the BSD-3 vs GPLv3 conflict, and Canaan’s RISC-V K230 SDK. We also explore the Nano 3/Nano 3S design, home-mining momentum, and the practical realities of certification (FCC/UL/CE/RoHS) for miners and heater-integrations. From local vs remote control to insurance implications, we discuss the gauntlet that open hardware must run and why decentralization requires openness. We spotlight Intel BZM2 progress: Bitaxe Bonanza’s lessons, the new BIRDS dev board, nine-bit serial hurdles, and a call for builders to leverage upcoming chip availability. Hydra Pool hits a milestone with public Dockerized releases and coinbase payout flexibility, while we test live at test.hydropool.org (and note Bitmain firmware limits). We cover Pluto’s HRF grant for fleet management, ESPminer stewardship funding, and D++’s Lightning-powered gamification for community builds. We also discuss Support for the Samourai Wallet devs, including context around sentencing and broader implications for open-source freedom. We preview Bitcoin++ Durham on Nov 15, share updates on the Samurai Wallet developers’ impending sentencing, and talk product integrity, copying, and the push to re-shore manufacturing. Finally, we tee up HeatPunk Summit 2026; bringing HVAC pros and open-source miners together, and have fun with Lightning “thermo-zaps” for live heating control.