Coins + Pools = New Currency?

[pcaston2]

Hello!

I found this a curiosity. The Bitcoin client is not helping to participate in maintaining the network as far as I can tell, you need to get a miner specifically for this.

Miners need access to the Bitcoin client, or at least need to know someone who does (pooling) in order to do any work. Why does the Bitcoin client not help doll out the workload? I suppose this adds some modularity between the client and the miners.

Bitcoin is a P2P network, and there are pools, such as P2Pool, which utilize P2P for joint mining.

So...

In a world where many are pooling, and the pools need to be maintained, and the pools get a cut, etc. Why isn't pooling built into the protocol?

If this were the case, you download the client, load the block, point your miner to a port on your client, and you start mining.

The Bitcoin protocol is pretty sound, I've looked into it, there's millions invested in it, I have confidence.

To achieve something of that genius is rare, I can't imagine all the issues that can arrive from a pooled mining system have been worked out.

So...

Let's say we were going to create a new currency, how do you implement p2p for mining?

My understanding is that clients do a batch of work, with a target difficulty lower then the solution. Once they've found these, they are passed around and other clients verify that they achieved success at their given difficulty, and track there work.

Someone who has found 5 solutions for a problem twice as hard as someone who has found 10 solutions would receive the same amount of compensation for sharing.

I am curious though how in a P2P situation does all this work get logged. Transactions are best effort, and can be left out of a block. Is it similar here? Could your work not be relayed throughout the network and as a result you don't get paid, because no one heard you working?

Thoughts, explanations?