Why “top 3 = 66%” scares people
If a small set of pools reliably produces templates, regulatory pressure or selfish mining dynamics could affect transaction inclusion. Bitcoin’s mitigation history includes Stratum v2, solo mining culture, and geographic distribution — none are perfect.
Don’t confuse pools with single owners
Pools aggregate independent miners. A pool’s brand is not a monolith; hashrate can leave after policy changes. Track actual block builders where data allows.
Links to fees and mempool politics
When mempools are full, template policies decide which transactions confirm first — another reason Bitcoin users should run nodes and understand relay norms.
Compare with miner economics after halving.