This is such a powerful idea. It has captured my imagination for some time now.

Imagine a world where miners don't need mining pool accounts. In this system you hash block headers and get a steady stream of ecash in return. This ecash is not backed by bitcoin yet. It's kind of like proto-bitcoin. Let's call them hashtokens because who doesn't like a weed pun. When the pool finds a block these hashtokens can be redeemed for sats via the medium of your choosing: lightning, ecash, or an on-chain UTXO.

This model is ideal for pleb miners with low hashrate who would need to mine for a very long time to qualify for a payout from a traditional pool. In addition, everything the pool does is transparent and auditable thanks to the ecash proof of liabilities report published with each block. This is a dramatic departure from the opaque and sketchy mining pools that dominate the industry today. My sincere hope is that this new model can bring them to heel.

Now imagine you're not a miner but you are a privacy minded bitcoiner. You can buy these hashtokens from the miners directly and exchange them with the mining pool for a coinbase output with no KYC and no UTXO history. Truly clean corn. Would you be willing to pay a premium? My guess is yes. KYC-free exchanges regularly cost 1-5% more than spot bitcoin price.

The magic in this model is that it provides a way to deliver the privacy premium from peer-to-peer exchanges and mixing services directly to small miners, opening new privacy markets and driving hashrate higher which strengthens the whole bitcoin network. Over a long enough timeframe we might even be able to take down the antpool cartel. Probably not but a nym can dream, right?

This is a great use, that I've been thinking about for awhile myself. Thanks for putting it together!