OCEAN Refunds Miners After 18-Hour Blockchain Mishap

Bitcoin mining pool OCEAN has pledged to refund miners after a configuration issue led some operators to unknowingly mine on the stalled BIP-110 chain for approximately 18 hours. The incident occurred due to a Stratum configuration flaw that caused miners using OCEAN's default templates to direct their hashpower towards the minority chain instead of the main chain.

OCEAN has confirmed that it will issue direct BTC rebate payments to match the rewards miners would have earned on the main chain during this period. The pool estimates that approximately 0.3 BTC will be distributed, with payments completed within the next 72 hours.

The incident has sparked debate over how mining pools handle default configurations during contentious network splits. Critics, including Bitcoin developer Peter Todd, have alleged that OCEAN's default DATUM settings automatically routed unassigned hashpower towards the BIP-110 minority chain.