Luke Dashjr, co-founder of the decentralized Bitcoin mining pool OCEAN, has left the company after reaching a mutual separation agreement with its parent, Mummolin Inc. According to a joint statement published August 29, Dashjr resigned as chairman, chief technology officer, and director — and Mummolin repurchased all of his equity, ending his ownership interest in the mining pool entirely.
A split over “different visions”
OCEAN and Dashjr attributed the separation to “different visions for the future of Bitcoin mining following the recent protocol developments.” The statement did not identify which developments caused the rift or explain the specific areas of disagreement.
That ambiguity matters. Dashjr has participated in public debates about transaction policies, mining decentralization, and alternative Bitcoin software implementations for years, and observers will inevitably connect his exit to those disputes. But the joint statement does not confirm that any single Bitcoin protocol proposal caused the split, and both parties declined to elaborate.
Neither side disclosed the value of the equity repurchase or Dashjr’s former ownership percentage. The company did not announce a replacement chairman or chief technology officer, and it provided no details about how Dashjr’s technical responsibilities will be distributed. Dashjr had already stepped back from his OCEAN responsibilities earlier in August, making the permanent departure the formal end of a gradual withdrawal.
Dashjr’s next move: CONVOY
Dashjr plans to create a new venture called CONVOY, which the joint statement said would continue his mission of decentralizing Bitcoin mining. At publication time, no official website, technical documentation, or launch schedule existed for the project, and the statement did not clarify whether CONVOY will operate a mining pool, develop mining software, or pursue another infrastructure model.
Dashjr is one of the longest-standing developers in the Bitcoin ecosystem. He previously founded Eligius, one of the earliest Bitcoin mining pools, before helping launch OCEAN in 2023. The new venture suggests he intends to pursue decentralization goals independently rather than retiring from the mining arena — though any claims about CONVOY’s architecture or commercial model remain unverified until the project publishes details.
OCEAN continues without its co-founder
OCEAN said it will keep serving miners through its transparent, non-custodial mining pool. Its model sends block rewards directly to participating miners instead of holding payouts in a pool-controlled account, and it gives miners greater visibility into block templates than traditional pools offer.
The company operates through Bitcoin Ocean LLC, a subsidiary of Wyoming-based Mummolin. It raised 6.2 million USD in a 2023 seed round led by Jack Dorsey and other investors to develop decentralized mining infrastructure.
OCEAN later introduced DATUM, a protocol intended to let individual miners construct their own block templates while still participating in pooled mining. The approach directly targets one of Bitcoin’s longest-standing centralization concerns: the control that large pool operators exercise over transaction selection. In April 2025, Tether committed mining hashrate to OCEAN, including capacity from its operations in Africa and other regions, and the company has not announced any change to that arrangement following Dashjr’s departure.
Why the split resonates beyond one company
The departure lands at a moment of broader tension in Bitcoin mining. As protocol debates intensify over transaction relay policies and block construction, mining pools have become arenas for ideological disagreements that used to play out only among developers. A high-profile co-founder exiting the industry’s most prominent decentralization-focused pool — citing diverging visions after recent protocol developments — illustrates how sharp those fault lines have become.
OCEAN itself was founded as a reaction against pool centralization, and its non-custodial payout model and DATUM protocol were designed to shift power from pool operators back to individual miners. Losing the technical architect behind those ideas raises real questions about whether the roadmap continues as planned.
For miners, the immediate practical impact appears limited. The joint statement said miners can continue using the pool, and there were no reports of service suspension, custody events, or changes to the payout system connected to the separation.
What to watch next
Three open questions define the aftermath. First, OCEAN must clarify its leadership structure and technical roadmap after losing its co-founder, chairman, and CTO in one stroke — no deadlines have been announced. Second, CONVOY’s first disclosures about its team, technology, and intended services will reveal whether Dashjr plans to compete directly with his former company. Third, the Bitcoin community will be watching for any confirmation of which “protocol developments” drove the split, which could foreshadow further fractures across the mining industry.
For now, one of Bitcoin’s most recognizable developers is back to building from scratch — and the industry’s decentralization experiment has split into two competing chapters.
guy maintained core patches for a decade and founded eligius back when pools were a hobby project. whatever CONVOY is, writing him off would be a mistake
zero docs, no website, no launch date for CONVOY. the guy founded eligius in 2012 though, he has earned the benefit of the doubt
dashjr walking away right after ‘recent protocol developments’ with zero explanation is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. just name the disagreement already
different visions over recent protocol developments is doing a lot of heavy lifting. everyone will project their favorite feud onto it
give it a week before someone pins the whole split on the mempool policy fights. he has been arguing transaction policy for years, everyone will just pick their favorite
mummolin buying back all his equity with no CTO replacement named says the split wasnt friendly friendly. wish him luck anyway
Mummolin buying back all his equity is the real story here. Clean exit with no remaining stake means CONVOY will compete head to head with OCEAN.
competing head to head with zero docs and no launch date is optimistic. hoping convoy ships something before the next difficulty adjustment drama
convoy vs ocean mining pool beef is gonna be entertaining at least lol
The guy maintained Bitcoin Core patches for years and now starts a second mining venture. He clearly has ideas the board did not want. Curious what CONVOY does differently.