In many ways!
First, we are a non-custodial pool. Miners are paid directly by the Bitcoin network. Here is a block found by the pool in 2011 (under the name Eligius). The generation transaction contains over 900 outputs - this is the Bitcoin network paying miners directly. OCEAN uses the same transparent method. All OCEAN does is coordinate the correct split.
Second, we publish our block templates before solving them
. This transparency differs from other pools which do not permit their hashers to know what the block will look like until after/when/if it's irreversibly solved. It's vital for miners to know the details of the block they are working on beforehand so that they can withdraw their hashrate before contributing work toward a block they do not wish to see added to the blockchain.
Third, our reward system is a
Transparent Index of Distinct Extended Shares - TIDES - this gives miners the ability to verify that they are getting the exact reward that they should be as and when blocks are found. Any dishonesty by the pool would be immediately provable even before blocks are solved, thus minimizing the need for trust even further. Unlike PPLNS or FPPS,
TIDES does not merely approximate reward distributions, so miners are paid the full and exact pro rata portion of their contributed hashrate. More on TIDES below.
