Simple Mining splits from Ocean pool over BIP-110 dispute

Simple Mining just proved that pool dominance isn't absolute in the bitcoin ecosystem. While the Ocean mining pool recently threw its weight behind BIP-110 by default, Simple Mining chose to actively reject the proposal while using Ocean's own infrastructure. It's a rare display of individual agency made possible by the pool's specific software, which grants miners the granular control to override collective decisions. By opting out, Simple Mining signaled that hardware operators won't always follow the lead of their coordination hubs. This move highlights a growing tension between pool operators who set the ideological agenda and the miners who actually provide the hashpower. Ocean’s transparent setup ironically gave its clients the exact tools they needed to revolt against the pool's default settings. Whether this defiance triggers a larger trend among smaller hashpower providers remains to be seen. Will other miners follow suit and start cherry-picking which protocols they actually want to support?