NerdMiner – Taproot bc1p Address Rejected by Pool

Power on the NerdMiner and enter config mode. Hold BOOT while power-cycling (or BOOT+RESET on variants with both). Device should come up broadcasting `NerdMinerAP` WiFi. Connect your phone/laptop to that network, browse to `http://192.168.4.1`, locate the BTC Address field. Inspect the current value — the 4th character tells you everything: `q` = native SegWit (fine), `p` = Taproot (this is your bug). Delete the `bc1p` value entirely including trailing whitespace.

Generate a native SegWit (`bc1q`) receive address in a real wallet. Install Sparrow, Electrum, or Blue Wallet — all free and open-source. In Sparrow's new-wallet wizard, explicitly pick `Native Segwit (P2WPKH)` in the script-type dropdown. Write the seed on paper and store it offline. Go to Receive, copy the resulting address (should start `bc1q`). Verify at mempool.space — it should load an address page and report `v0_p2wpkh`.

Paste the fresh `bc1q...` address into NerdMiner's BTC Address field. Confirm the 4th character is `q`. Save / Apply. The device reboots and re-connects to the configured pool using the new stratum user. Within 30-90 seconds the display should flip to a live hashrate (50-80 kH/s typical on NerdMiner v2) and `Valid Shares` should begin incrementing from 0.

Cross-check on the pool-side dashboard. Browse to `https://web.public-pool.io/` or `https://solo.ckpool.org/`, paste your new `bc1q` address into the worker/address search box. Your NerdMiner should appear as an online worker reporting a hashrate figure. Bookmark this page — it's how you'll track lifetime share contribution and catch downtime early.

If display still reads 0 shares after the address swap, perform a full power-cycle (hold power 5+ seconds, release, plug back in). Give it 90 seconds. If still dead, the firmware's NVS may have cached the old bad value — jump to Tier 3 `esptool.py erase_flash`.

Attach a USB-to-serial capture. ESP32-S3 variants use `115200` baud; older WROOM builds may use `921600`. Open PuTTY / Tera Term / `screen` / `minicom`. Power-cycle the device and capture the boot log. Look for the `mining.subscribe` + `mining.authorize` JSON exchange with the pool. `"result": true` = authenticated; `"result": false, "error": [24, "Invalid wallet", null]` (or similar) = still rejected. This is definitive evidence for whether the address got through.

Validate the candidate address against two independent block explorers before trusting it in config. Paste into mempool.space — should load a valid address page (zero-balance is fine). Paste into blockstream.info as an independent cross-check. If either returns 404 or an error, the string is malformed (likely from a PDF / chat-app paste with hidden characters). Re-copy from wallet source and re-validate.

Test the address at the raw pool layer. From a laptop on the same LAN: `nc public-pool.io 21496` (macOS/Linux) or `Test-NetConnection public-pool.io -Port 21496` (Windows). Paste `{"id": 1, "method": "mining.subscribe", "params": ["NerdMinerTest"]}` then Enter, then `{"id": 2, "method": "mining.authorize", "params": ["YOUR_BC1Q_ADDRESS", "x"]}` then Enter. `"result": true` = address accepted by the pool; `"result": false` = pool rejects even a valid-looking bc1q, try a different pool for testing.

If you insist on Taproot for your mining payouts, try a pool that explicitly advertises bech32m support. Ocean pool and some newer ckpool forks accept `bc1p` in their stratum handlers. Swap Stratum URL/Port in NerdMiner config, keep the `bc1p` address, reboot, watch serial. If the device never even sends `mining.authorize` (firmware rejects locally before transmitting), no pool swap will help — the fix must be firmware-side.

Scan your config file for invisible garbage. Open `Config.json` (or your firmware's config path) in a monospace plaintext editor — VSCode, Notepad++, Sublime, `vim`. PDFs, Discord pastes, and screenshot-OCR sources embed zero-width spaces, curly quotes, and non-breaking hyphens that visually pass but break bech32 parsing. If suspect, retype the address by hand from your wallet's on-screen QR or display.

Build NerdMiner_v2 from source with verbose stratum logging. Clone `BitMaker-hub/NerdMiner_v2`, open `src/mining.cpp` and `src/stratum.cpp`, raise log level to DEBUG. In PlatformIO select the correct `env:` for your exact board variant (ESP32-S3, T-Display-S3, T-Dongle-S3, ESP32-WROOM-32) — flashing the wrong target bricks display and causes a boot loop. Flash via USB. Serial now shows every byte of the stratum exchange, including send and receive for `mining.authorize`.

Inspect the firmware's address validation in `src/mining.cpp`. Through 2025 most NerdMiner_v2 builds do a minimal check — length + lowercase + `bc` prefix — with no bech32m (BIP 350) checksum validator. Options: (a) accept the firmware will forward any plausibly-formatted string and let the pool reject, (b) add the bech32m validator so `bc1p` is flagged with a clear error at config time. The reference implementation is ~200 lines of C published by Pieter Wuille at `sipa/bech32` — prime low-stakes PR for a pleb with C skills.

Contribute upstream. Open an issue on `BitMaker-hub/NerdMiner_v2` titled `Firmware should validate or clearly reject bc1p / bech32m Taproot addresses at config time`. Include your config value, serial capture of the rejected `mining.authorize` exchange, and pool name. Attach the `sipa/bech32` reference C validator as a suggested implementation. This class of UX-trap fix is exactly what open-source firmware lives for — somebody will merge it if the ticket is clean.

Perform full flash erase if NVS cached a bad value. `esptool.py --chip esp32s3 --port /dev/ttyUSB0 erase_flash` (replace `esp32s3` with your exact chip and port accordingly). Then re-flash the NerdMiner_v2 firmware image for your board variant and reconfigure from scratch through NerdMinerAP. This resolves the edge case where the UI accepted a new address but the device kept authenticating with the old cached one.

Stop DIY and escalate: you validated a fresh wallet-generated `bc1q` on two block explorers, confirmed the pool accepts it via `nc` handshake, flashed known-good firmware, performed `erase_flash` — miner still won't authenticate. Open a D-Central support ticket at https://d-central.tech/contact/ with the full serial capture, firmware version string, pool hostname + port tested, and your exact board variant. This class of escalation is rare (~1/quarter across the Nerd family) and usually resolves to a damaged USB-serial bridge or a known-bad firmware build shipped briefly from a third-party reseller.

For D-Central-purchased Nerd-family devices, email a photo of your config screen to support@d-central.tech. D-Central pioneered the Bitaxe accessory ecosystem — original Bitaxe Mesh Stand, first Bitaxe and Bitaxe Hex heatsinks — and stocks the full Nerd family (NerdMiner, NerdAxe, NerdNOS, NerdQAxe, NerdQAxe++). We diagnose address-format mistakes in under 60 seconds, walk you through a `bc1q` generation in your specific wallet, and supply a known-good pool config. Free with any Nerd-family device purchased from us.