Alejandro De La Torre and DEMAND
Alejandro De La Torre founded DEMAND, a private Bitcoin mining pool based in Lisbon, Portugal and Florence, Italy. Previously, he served as VP at mining pools Poolin and BTC.com. De La Torre recognized the problems of centralized mining activities and their risks to the Bitcoin network.
DEMAND and the solution
DEMAND uses Stratum V2, an open source protocol, to facilitate communication between miners and pools. This allows miners to choose their transaction templates independently, putting control over block construction and transactions with the miners, not the pools.
The incentives for solo miners
DEMAND offers solo miners various incentives, such as using Bitcoin mining as a source of heat in the winter and the ability to sell hash rate on a marketplace. Payments are made through the PPLNS system, which adjusts to miners' contributions.
Outlook and goals
De La Torre aims to expand DEMAND's services to include pool mining and differentiate from less transparent competitors through stable, transparent payouts. His efforts are aimed at preserving mining decentralization and preventing centralizing forces in the Bitcoin infrastructure.