The First-Ever Bitcoin Telehash Fundraiser Actually Found a Block
Block 881,423, mined by Future Bit Apollo Solo for The 256 Foundation during the Telehash event, marks the first time a fundraiser has been conducted through Bitcoin hashrate, raising 3.146 BTC in rewards worth approximately $330,300.
- The 256 Foundation, a non-profit founded by econoalchemist and bitkite with a mission to advance free and open-source Bitcoin mining software, firmware, and hardware solutions, held its first annual fundraiser, The Telehash, to raise money for open-source mining development.
"We thought it would be appropriate to raise this money by having miners point their hashrate to our self-hosted node. Against incredible odds we actually solved a block," said econoalchemist on X.
The winning moment was captured during a live broadcast of the Telehash event at Bitcoin Park in Nashville.
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The moment event participants learned they mined a block. Source: BTCSpeedBoat.
- The event ran for almost 10 hours, and at one point, there was over 1.12 EH/s from approximately 350 different entities. At the time the block was found, about 881 PH/s was directed to The 256 Foundation's pool. The winning nonce came from one of Megawatt's miners.
"In total, we raised 3.146 BTC to support The 256 Foundation's projects. We wouldn't have been able to do this without an amazing community of people supporting us and our vision, we thank you. Special thanks to @OGBTC, @PlebSource, @FutureBit, @boerst, @notmandatory & @bitcoinpark," added econoalchemist.
- The 256 Foundation was formed in February 2024 and is on a mission to "dismantle the proprietary mining empire to make Bitcoin and freedom tech accessible to anyone."
- The organization supports projects such as:
- Ember One, a ~100 Watt hashboard standard that can support different ASICs.
- Libre Board, a versatile control board for Ember One and beyond.
- Mujina Firmware, a Linux based multi-driver compatible firmware with Stratum v2 client support.
- Hydra Pool, a one-click deployable mining pool package that removes the friction from spinning up a pool.
- Block Watcher, a bitcoin mining analytics platform to help inform smarter mining decisions.
- All of the projects from The 256 Foundation are open-source, either GPL 3.0 or CERN-OHL-S licensed. If you're a developer aligned with The 256 Foundation's mission, apply for funding here.
- You can support The 256 Foundation's work and projects here.
- In October 2024, a FutureBit user also solved block 867760 running a full node and Stratum solo server.
Announcement / Archive
The Miner Mag Post / Archive
The 256 Foundation Site
Block 881,423
The Telehash Broadcast
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