Got a minimal DATUM “pool” talking to datum_gateway (interop demo)
TL;DR: datum_gateway being open source is enough to build your own pool. EGPOOL is a minimal proof — not production.
Datum_gateway is open source and the protocol is right there in the code. My take: if you can read the protocol, you can build your own pool.
Before arguing, I wanted to try it. So I hacked together a tiny Python prototype called EGPOOL. It speaks the DATUM protocol and can handshake, push CONFIG, and round-trip shares with the gateway — no Ocean pool code involved.
What I proved (all from the public datum gateway code):
• Framing: 4-byte XOR’d header + payload
• Handshake:
- proto=1 HELLO: sealed to pool LT X25519, signed by client LT Ed25519
- proto=2 RESP: sealed to client SESSION X25519, signed by pool LT Ed25519
• Channel (cmd=5):
- Box(serverSessSK, clientSessPK) w/ 24-byte nonce from nk + client session pk
- Nonces increment per message (LE 6×u32)
• CONFIG 0x99: signed by pool SESSION key, applied by gateway
• Share submit 0x27 ↔ response 0x8F: round-trip works
My test setup
EGPOOL pool server <-> DATUM GATEWAY -> Bitcoin node
I connected a bitaxe miner to DATUM Gateway.
I saw gateway handshake with pool server and accepting shares from miner.
Datum Gateway logs from my run:
Handshake response received.
DATUM Server MOTD: Welcome to Python DATUM Prime (prototype)
client configuration cmd received from DATUM server
DATUM Pool Coinbase Tag: "EGPOOL"
DATUM Pool Prime ID: a1b2c3d4
DATUM Pool Min Diff: 65536
Starting Stratum v1 server
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quick disclaimer — this is a test rig, not a real pool
This is just an interop demo to show the protocol surface is enough.
A production pool still needs all the boring-but-critical stuff: reliable networking & reconnects, user/worker auth, proper vardiff and duplicate detection, real accept/reject plumbing, accounting backed by a DB, coinbaser v2 with real splits, the 0x50 validation path (stxids → by-id → full set), signature discipline (LT vs session), rate limiting/DoS guards, key management/rotation, metrics/alerts, etc
Want to understand more about the protocol?
check my GitHub
https://github.com/electricalgrade/sv2/blob/main/doc/Datum_Protocol_Spec.md
#Bitcoin #Mining #DATUM
