Bitcoin Mining Pool Investigator

A Python tool that connects to Bitcoin mining pools via the Stratum protocol to investigate block templates and extract payout addresses from coinbase transactions.

Features

• 🔌 Stratum Protocol Support - Connects to mining pools using the standard Stratum v1 protocol
• 🔒 SSL/TLS Support - Works with both plain TCP and SSL-encrypted connections
• 📊 Coinbase Transaction Parsing - Decodes and analyzes the coinbase transaction from mining jobs
• 💰 Payout Address Extraction - Identifies all payout addresses and their allocation percentages
• 🏷️ Multiple Address Formats - Supports P2PKH, P2SH, P2WPKH, P2WSH, and P2TR (Taproot) addresses

How It Works

┌─────────────┐     Stratum Protocol      ┌─────────────┐
│   Pool      │◄─────────────────────────►│   Mining    │
│ Investigator│   1. mining.subscribe     │    Pool     │
│             │   2. mining.authorize     │             │
│             │   3. mining.notify (job)  │             │
└─────────────┘                           └─────────────┘
       │
       ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│              Coinbase Transaction                    │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  coinbase1 + extranonce1 + extranonce2 + coinbase2  │
│                        │                             │
│                        ▼                             │
│              Parse Transaction Outputs               │
│                        │                             │
│                        ▼                             │
│              Extract Payout Addresses                │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/WantClue/pool-investigator.git
cd pool-investigator

# No external dependencies required - uses only Python standard library
python3 investogator.py

Usage

Interactive Mode

Run the tool and follow the prompts:

python3 investogator.py

======================================================================
  Bitcoin Mining Pool Investigator
  Extracts payout addresses from pool block templates
======================================================================

Enter pool host/URL (supports stratum+tcp://, stratum+ssl://, stratum+tls://, or just hostname)
Examples:
  - stratum+tcp://pool.example.com
  - stratum+ssl://pool.example.com
  - stratum+tls://pool.example.com
  - pool.example.com
  - pool.example.com:3333 (with port)

Pool Host: stratum+tcp://74.207.253.18

Enter pool port (default: 3333)
Port [3333]: 3333

Enter worker name (usually your BTC address for anonymous mining pools)
Worker: bc1qyouraddresshere

Supported URL Formats

Format	Description
stratum+tcp://host:port	Plain TCP connection
stratum+ssl://host:port	SSL/TLS encrypted connection
stratum+tls://host:port	SSL/TLS encrypted connection (alias)
stratum://host:port	Plain TCP (alias)
host:port	Plain TCP
host	Plain TCP on default port 3333

Output

Console Output

The tool displays detailed progress and results:

[✓] Connected successfully!
[✓] Subscribed!
[✓] Authorized!
[✓] Found mining.notify job!

======================================================================
  PAYOUT ADDRESSES
======================================================================
  [0] 37iU9NjhdzGt8NbaKiTwvuh72HG
      Value: 0.03133846 BTC (1.00%)

  [1] bc1q99n5gtdzusnadbasdalywpmwzalyhhgzsgsa7w20d
      Value: 0.03133846 BTC (1.00%)

  [2] bc1q99n5gtdzusnadbasdalywpmwzalyhhgzsgsa7w20d
      Value: 3.07116908 BTC (98.00%)

JSON Output

Results are saved to pool_investigation.json:

{
  "pool_url": "stratum+tcp://120.120.120.120",
  "host": "120.120.120.120",
  "port": 54321,
  "ssl": false,
  "worker": "bc1q99n5gtdzusnadbasdalywpmwzalyhhgzsgsa7w20d",
  "connected": true,
  "subscribed": true,
  "authorized": true,
  "mining_job": {
    "job_id": "1",
    "prevhash": "...",
    "coinbase1": "...",
    "coinbase2": "...",
    "merkle_branches": [...],
    "version": "20000000",
    "nbits": "1701d936",
    "ntime": "692766b9",
    "clean_jobs": true
  },
  "coinbase_analysis": {
    "version": 2,
    "is_segwit": false,
    "output_count": 4,
    "outputs": [...],
    "total_output_btc": 3.133846
  },
  "payout_addresses": [
    {
      "address": "37iU9NjhdzGt8NbaKiTwvuh72HG",
      "value_btc": 0.03133846,
      "percentage": 1.0
    },
    {
      "address": "bc1q99n5gtdzusnadbasdalywpmwzalyhhgzsgsa7w20d",
      "value_btc": 3.10250754,
      "percentage": 99.0
    }
  ]
}

Understanding the Output

Payout Addresses

The coinbase transaction in a block template specifies where the block reward goes. Common scenarios:

Output Type	Description
Pool Fee Address	Usually a fixed address owned by the pool operator
Miner Reward Address	The worker address provided during authorization
OP_RETURN	Witness commitment data (non-spendable, 0 BTC)

Address Types Supported

Prefix	Type	Description
1...	P2PKH	Legacy Pay-to-Public-Key-Hash
3...	P2SH	Pay-to-Script-Hash
bc1q... (42 chars)	P2WPKH	Native SegWit
bc1q... (62 chars)	P2WSH	Native SegWit Script Hash
bc1p...	P2TR	Taproot
OP_RETURN:...	Null Data	Unspendable (witness commitment)

Technical Details

Stratum Protocol Flow

1. Connect - Establish TCP/SSL connection to the pool
2. Subscribe - mining.subscribe to receive job notifications
3. Authorize - mining.authorize with worker credentials
4. Receive Job - Pool sends mining.notify with block template
5. Parse Coinbase - Reconstruct and decode the coinbase transaction

Coinbase Transaction Structure

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                 Coinbase Transaction                  │
├──────────┬──────────┬───────────┬──────────┬────────┤
│ Version  │  Inputs  │  Outputs  │ Witness  │Locktime│
│ (4 bytes)│  (var)   │   (var)   │  (var)   │(4 bytes│
└──────────┴──────────┴───────────┴──────────┴────────┘
                            │
                            ▼
               ┌────────────────────────┐
               │    Each Output:        │
               │  • Value (8 bytes)     │
               │  • ScriptPubKey (var)  │
               │    └─► Bitcoin Address │
               └────────────────────────┘

Use Cases

• 🔍 Pool Analysis - Investigate how pools distribute block rewards
• 🧪 Protocol Testing - Test Stratum protocol implementations
• 📈 Fee Analysis - Understand pool fee structures
• 🔐 Security Research - Verify pool behavior and transparency

Requirements

• Python 3.6+
• No external dependencies (uses only standard library)

License

MIT License

Disclaimer

This tool is for educational and research purposes only. Always respect the terms of service of mining pools you connect to.