An R&D division of mining giant Bitmain has launched a new pool.

Having mined its first block as part of a closed beta three months ago, BitmainTech Israel Ltd is now opening its ConnectBTC pool to global bitcoin miners, inviting them to run the software as a way to combine resources with other miners and better compete for bitcoin's rewards.

ConnectBTC manager Gadi Glikberg explained that the pool was written from scratch by a team independent from Bitmain's signature AntPool operation – a mining pool that's currently the leader in combined hashing power, according to data from Blockchain.

"We believe in this manner we can make sure we serve the mining community with the best possible products," Gilkberg said.

Notably, ConnectBTC appears to be operating slightly out of step with its parent company, which has been one of the more vocal proponents of the idea network participants should run alternative software versions that would expand the size of the transactions blocks it can process.

ConnectBTC, Glikberg said, is running the Bitcoin Core client, and noted that it's "not signaling" for either an upgrade to SegWit (the Core development team's preferred solution) or Bitcoin Unlimited (an alternative software Bitmain has said it intends to support).

Such public remarks have recently seen Bitmain reignite the long-standing debate on how bitcoin will increase its transaction capacity, while boosting concerns the network could potentially split into two competing blockchain networks.

Bitmain declined to offer additional comment.

Pool image via Shutterstock