Best Bitcoin Mining Pools

What is a Mining Pool?

A mining pool is a group of miners that have agreed to work together in exchange for a larger part of the block reward.

But even though most miners like mining pools because their payouts are consistent and predictable, they also have the unintended effect of putting all the power in the hands of the mining pool's owner.

But miners can always switch to a different mining pool and focus their hashing efforts there instead.

Finding an efficient mining pool might help you save a lot of money.

Pool Concentration in China

The vast majority of mining pools are located in China, so that's something to keep in mind before we get into the best mining pools to join. Some only have a Chinese-language website or support team.

Twenty large mining pools exist now. We estimate that Chinese pools control 65% of the network hash rate when broken down by the percentage of hash power held by a pool and the location of the corporation that controls the pool.

• China - 49%

• The United States - 31%

• Seychelles - 13%

• The Czech Republic - 4%

• Japan - 1%

Keep in mind that these figures only indicate the total hashing power of each pool. China has a high total since it is home to several pool companies' headquarters.

As of June 2021, these figures no longer accurately reflect the hashing rates in any nation. Because China outlawed Bitcoin mining, almost all of the mining farms in the area were forced to close.

Canada and the United States now host the majority of the world's hashing capacity. So, it's no longer safe to assume that a pool's headquarters, which represents its hashing power, is in China.

Bitcoin Wallets

Please consider the following points before deciding to join a mining pool:

A bitcoin wallet is required for this. Why?

This is because a Bitcoin address is required by all Bitcoin mining pools to receive your profits.

Current Mining Pools

The largest Bitcoin mining pools are listed below.

Joining Poolin or Slush Pool is a must for all new miners.

1. F2pool

Founded in 2012, F2Pool calls China home. About 15.6% of all blocks are mined with it.

2. Antpool

BitMain operates the Chinese mining pool Antpool. About 15% of all blocks are mined by Antpool.

3. ViaBTC

About a year has passed since ViaBTC's launch as a mining pool. About 10% of all blocks are mined using it, and it is aimed squarely at Chinese miners.

4. Poolin

About 11% of all blocks are mined by the public pool Poolin. They are really located in China, but their website is completely written in English for your convenience.

5. Binance Pool

The Binance exchange in Malta runs the rapidly expanding Binance Pool.

Binance, which is now the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, is moving quickly to expand its presence in the mining industry.

Binance accounts for approximately 11% of total block mining.

6. BTC.com

About 6.5% of all blocks are mined by the BTC.com public mining pool, which anybody may join. Instead, you could sign up for Slush Pool or Poolin.

7. Foundry USA

You guessed it: German blockchain business Foundry Digital has an American pool called Foundry USA. As a whole, they represent 17% of total hashing power.

8.Slush Pool

In terms of total blocks mined, Slush Pool is still in the lead, having mined approximately 6% of them as of this writing.

Slush is one of the best and most popular mining pools, even though it isn't one of the biggest.

9. SBI Crypto

Currently, 2.6% of all blocks are being mined by this Japanese pool.

A swimming pool's location is not very relevant. Even if the mining pool's headquarters are in China, you may still connect to a server in the United States or elsewhere.

Get Mining Hardware

What is mining hardware?

Hardware designed specifically for mining cryptocurrencies like bitcoins is known as "mining hardware." The more powerful and energy-efficient your gear is, the more bitcoins you can mine per unit of time.

Get a Bitcoin Wallet and Mining Software

You'll also need Bitcoin mining software and a Bitcoin wallet before you can join a mining pool. An ASIC miner is also highly recommended. Since GPU mining is unlikely to ever be viable again,

Mining Pools vs. Cloud Mining

A common misconception is that mining pools just distribute bitcoins to members. This is obviously not the case!Those who own mining gear may join a mining pool and divide the earnings.

Commonly, individuals will mistake mining pools for cloud mining. You may outsource your mining operations to a third-party service provider and keep the coins you mine.

Which Countries Mine the Most Bitcoins?

Countries with low power costs are a magnet for bitcoin miners.

Due to the centralized nature of Bitcoin mining, just a few organizations control the overwhelming bulk of the hash power on the network.

Since many of these firms are concentrated in the same nation, only a few nations mine and export a significant quantity of bitcoins.

China

Even though the technology used to mine bitcoins could be in any country, Chinese mining pools still make the most bitcoins.

Due to the country's inexpensive power, even mining gear was once based in China. So as not to let any energy go to waste, it was said that several Chinese power firms directed their surplus energy towards Bitcoin mining operations.

All of this is different now that China has outlawed cryptocurrency mining.

In spite of this, several of the most successful Bitcoin mining pools are headquartered in China:

there's F2Pool, AntPool, BTCC, and BW.

These pools are thought to control over 60% of Bitcoin's hash power, or the ability to generate new bitcoins.

Georgia

BitFury, a leading manufacturer of Bitcoin mining gear and chips, is headquartered in Georgia. Around 15% of all Bitcoins are now mined by BitFury.

Other Countries

About 80% of all bitcoins are mined in the aforementioned nations.

Distributed hash power is directed to smaller mining pools like Slush (Czech Republic) and Eligius (Spain) (US).

A Note on Pools

We can observe which mining pools have the most hash power, but it doesn't mean that all of that hash power belongs to those mining pools.

BitFury and KnCMiner are two examples of companies who manage their own mining operations but do not own their own mining pools.

Since it is simple for Bitcoin miners to switch mining pools by redirecting their hashing power to a new pool, the market share of individual pools is always fluctuating.

In order to determine the top 10 miners, we used BlockTrail.com data to look at the number of blocks mined over the last six months.

The aggregate hashrate of mining pools is dynamic. As much as possible, we will update this page.

Note:

If you mine in the cloud, you won't need to choose a pool since the service provider will handle it for you.

Why are Miners Important?

Bitcoin's network of miners is essential to the currency's integrity. The Bitcoin network would be very weak and simple to hack if not for the miners who secure it.

Check this out:

The vast majority of Bitcoin users do not participate in mining.

But miners are an interesting part of the Bitcoin ecosystem because they are the ones who create new bitcoins.

When it comes to mining, the days of the typical home computer are long gone. These days, huge, specialized warehouses with tremendous quantities of mining gear are where the majority of mining takes place.

The hashing power of these storage facilities is often channeled to mining pools.

Payout Schemes

How Do Pools Pay Members?

The payment process in a pool may seem mysterious.

Is it always like this?

I was wondering whether there was a standard method of payment in place across pools or if each one had its own system.

There are many methods by which your hashrate rewards might be determined after you join a mining pool. The word "share" is used across the various distribution strategies.

When a valid partial proof-of-work is turned in by a member of the mining pool, they get a "share" of the cryptocurrency.

To put it simply, your stake in the pool is directly proportional to the hashing power you supply.

Pay Per Share

Pay Per Share is the simplest payment method, and the miner is paid regardless of whether or not the pool discovers the next block. To figure out how much a share is worth, you divide the expected amount of hashing power needed to find a block by the reward for doing so.

For example, if the reward for finding a block is 6.25 BTC and 100 shares are required, then each share is worth.0625 BTC (6.25 / 100).

The payment is made out of the pool's current funds, and its size depends on the number of shares you own.

Each block in a PPS system is rewarded with a dividend.

Since payments are certain, the mining pool owner carries more of the inherent risk. As a result, the payments to the pool members are less than they would be if the pool was structured using Pay Per Last N Share.

The Pay Per Share pool operator also keeps the transaction fees from each block. In this pool, people are only paid for what they put in when a block gives them something.

Full Pay Per Share

Similar to Pay Per Share but with the addition of transaction fees to the pool members' share of the block reward, is Full Pay Per Share, or "Pay Per Share Plus."

Every block, FPPS schemes distribute funds from the block reward pool and the transaction fee pool.

Pay Per Last N Shares

The Pay Per Last N Shares payment structure is more complicated and costs pool participants more money, but the potential returns may be higher.

Members of the pool are compensated in P/L shares only once a block has been detected. Following the discovery of a block, the pool will examine your share contributions within the "time window" of all blocks in which the pool did not make a discovery. A "round" consists of all the individual blocks within a certain time limit. The pool will use these values to calculate the total number of shares you contributed during the round.

In PPLNS, the compensation methods do not cover each and every block.

If a pool contributes hashing power to the network for six blocks without discovering a block, for instance, the pool would be rewarded with 6.25 Bitcoins (not including transaction fees). If the total number of shares provided was 1000, then the payout would be.625 BTC, or.104 BTC per block.

The goal behind this payment structure is to eliminate the element of chance and instead compensate participants only for their relative contributions to the pool's real earnings. This system also provides users with an incentive to keep mining in the pool even when the relative profitability of mining cryptocurrencies increases. This is due to the fact that if you leave the pool before a block is located, you will get no rewards.

Pay Based on the Last NWhen calculating incentive payments, share pools may or may not include transaction costs; check with individual pools for more information.

Pool Overviews

What Makes Each Pool Unique?

Which swimming hole should you pick?

Let's review the most vital statistics for each of the swimming areas.

After reading this, you should have a good idea of which option is ideal for you.

Antpool Overview

A Mining Pool By the World's Biggest ASIC Producer

Antpool has been the biggest Bitcoin mining pool in terms of Bitcoin network hash rate, and that is still true despite the controversy it has recently attracted. About 15% of all Bitcoin hash rates are held by Antpool.

About Antpool

After Slushpool had been operating for around four years, Antpool mined its first block in March 2014.

Antpool is run by Bitmain Technologies Ltd., which makes the most Bitcoin mining hardware in the world. A big part of Antpool is powered by Bitmain's own mining rigs.

Antpool's global network of nodes allows for both p2pool and stratum mining modes, guaranteeing the network's reliability (US, Germany, China, etc.).

Considering that Antpool's parent firm makes most of its money from hardware sales, the software's interface is quite polished.

How to Join Antpool

There are no costs associated with joining the pool, and signing up takes only a few minutes.

You must first invest in Bitcoin mining gear. After that, you'll want to get some mining software. Have a look at our hardware and software guidelines if you're having trouble making up your mind.

The hardware you utilize matters since it impacts how much of a hash rate you can contribute to the pool as a whole. You need software in order to put your hardware's hashing power in the direction of your preferred pool. Choose wisely if you want to maximize your benefits.

What are Antpool’s Fees?

The currency you are mining in Antpool has a huge impact on the payment structure and percentages you get.

There is a 4% PPS+ price for Bitcoin transactions in addition to the standard 2% transaction fee, but you can avoid this by opting for PPLNs (which cost nothing) or SOLO (which cost 1%).

Bitmain's fees

Antpool does not collect any fees from users and does not share any information about the fees it receives from Bitcoin transactions. Customers are essentially kept in the dark. When Antpool detects a Bitcoin block, it gives you a portion of the 12.5 BTC reward.

However, Bitcoin transaction fees have been on the rise recently, and pools are now collecting an extra 1-2 BTC every block. Antpool does not yet distribute its 1–2 bitcoin transaction fee to miners that have their hashrate directed toward the pool.

It might be claimed that the high prices make the service unfeasible for both occasional and heavy users. Because of this, several bitcointalk.org members have said that they think it would be foolish to use the service right now because the costs are not clear.

What is the Payout Threshold?

There seems to be no minimum payment requirement, as payouts are made daily at 10 a.m. UTC.

Withdrawals start at 0.0005 Bitcoin (other sources say 0.001 BTC).

What is the controversy around Antpool?

Antpool used to block helpful Bitcoin updates for reasons that have since been shown to be false.

Segwit, a feature that could only be activated by miners, was at the center of the debate. Most Bitcoin users wanted this function enabled, but Antpool and other pools were trying to prevent it.

In the end, this caused Segwit to be turned on in Bitcoin and the Bitcoin Cash hard fork to happen.

Bitfury Overview

A Private Pool with its Own Hardware

Bitfury is the third biggest Bitcoin mining pool, and it is responsible for mining over 11% of all blocks, as reported by BlockTrail.

The fact that Bitfury is a closed network sets it apart from public pools.

Bitfury is a firm that develops and manages its own mining gear and pool. You can't join Bitfury if you're a home miner, unlike Slush and Antpool.

Bitfury 16nm ASIC Chip

Bitfury also offers a 16nm ASIC mining chip apart from its pool.

Bitfury is dedicated to fostering Bitcoin's decentralization, despite the fact that it controls a significant portion of the network's hash rate.

BitFury is dedicated to playing a positive role in the Bitcoin ecosystem, and we want to collaborate with all of our integrated partners and resellers to make our groundbreaking technology broadly accessible as we all move into the exahash future. BitFury CEO Valery Vavilov says

Slushpool Overview

The Very First Mining Pool

The moniker "slush pool" is one that appears often in discussions about mining pools. The purpose of today's lesson is to introduce you to it and assist you in choosing whether or not you should use it.

Slush Pool is one of the longest-running Bitcoin mining pools, having launched in 2010. Bitcoin Pooled Mining Server, or BPMS for short, was the initial name.

There have been some low points since the pool's debut, but things have been trending upward lately.

The Slush Pool is operated by Satoshi Labs. The Trezor Bitcoin hardware wallet and the Coinmap, a global map showing which businesses take Bitcoin, were both developed by Satoshi Labs, another name you may recognize. They also made the system for giving users rewards based on how much processing power (called "hash power") they give to the mining pool.

More than a million Bitcoins have been mined by Slush Pool's members over the last decade, utilizing the pool's services and software, BraiinsOS and BraiinsOS+.

If that doesn't blow your mind, think about this: in the last six months, Slush Pool has amassed more than 9 percent of all Bitcoins traded.

The percentage puts it in the top five largest Bitcoin mining pools online.

What Services does Slush Pool Offer?

We defined the slush pool and showed you how it operates. Now, let's have a look at what Slush Pool really offers its members in terms of mining services.

1. Fees and Payments

Slush Pool's fees are standard for the industry and comparable to those of other mining pools. They charge everyone who participates in the mining pool the same 2% fee. There's a minimum payout of 0.0002 BTC before the site can transfer your winnings.

In order to ensure that Bitcoin miners all get their share of the rewards, Slush Pool uses its well-known score-based mechanism of payouts.

2. Customer Service

The quality of customer service is excellent. Users may, of course, contact network administrators through email if they run into trouble. The average response time from a customer service representative is less than 24 hours.

If you have an urgent issue, though, you may contact customer service representatives right away. If you have any problems with your mining setup, your user account, or your prizes, you can talk to customer service through a special website that the company keeps up.

3. Security

Existing levels of safety are really encouraging. For critical situations, you have access to 2-factor authentication and wallet address locking. If someone tries to break into your account or steal your identity, the read-only token will let you get back in.

If you are concerned that someone is spying on your mining activity, you have the option of locking your address. The company also only uses the most secure servers, so your Bitcoin wallets will always be safe.

Slush Pool Pros and Cons

As promised, here is a rundown of the pros and cons of the world's oldest mining pool.

If you don't have time to read the full article, you can quickly determine if the pool is right for you by looking at the pros and cons.

Slush Pool Pros

• It has been operational longer than any other Bitcoin mining pool.

• In the past decade, the site has attracted hundreds of thousands of users.

• An attractive and intuitive UI makes it suitable for users of varying skill levels.

• You can avoid getting scammed by others because of the score-based mining it provides.

Slush Pool Cons

• The transaction cost is high compared to other high-quality websites.

• It doesn't take long for your user score to drop if you quit mining on this network.

Should You Use a Slush Pool or Not?

Is it really worth it to play Slush Pool? If you want to get into mining, Slush Pool is an excellent option. The ease of usage makes it ideal for novices. It also gives prizes to some of its most active users to thank them for their work.

Even veteran miners will be pleased. In terms of mining, the service never lags behind the times. Business leaders at the organization are always moving forward, offering new upgrades that keep their product on the cutting edge.

To rephrase, if you're looking for a mining pool, you can't go wrong with Shush Pool. Keep in mind that while being the longest running pool, Slush is neither the largest nor the cheapest, and therefore, minimizing mining expenses is essential for success.

F2pool Overview

An Innovative Mining Pool with Lots of Features

As of its first release in 2013, F2Pool was available only in Beijing. Since it was so well received, it quickly spread to other continents.

The program has expanded its reach and is now accessible in a variety of nations, including Russia, Canada, and the United States. Currently, F2Pool is the biggest Bitcoin mining pool, controlling 15% of the market.

This time last year, F2Pool was the second-largest mining pool. When compared to F2Pool's 85% market share, Poolin's current size is quite modest at roughly 13%. Another of the largest pools, Slush Pool, controls 5%, or a little more than a third of what F2Pool controls.

F2Pool miners may also mine for other cryptocurrencies, such as Litecoin and Ethereum. Collectively, this pool supports mining for over 40 different cryptocurrencies.

Although the website was first developed only for the Chinese market, an English-language version of the website is now available, and the interface is quite user-friendly for miners of all skill levels.

What Services does F2Pool Offer?

We have discussed how F2Pool operates and become acquainted with the company's inner workings. It is time to discuss some of its most important features and services. What separates a successful mining pool from a failure is, for most users, the quality of the services it provides.

1. Fees and Payments

F2Pool's cost is the service's main drawback. There is a hefty charge of 4% added to every single purchase. That's twice as much as slush fees, actually. The size of the pool, however, indicates that many miners believe the costs are justified. The data doesn't lie.

For instance, the firm will automatically deposit funds into your wallet whenever you have accumulated 0.001 Bitcoin. They use a PPS model, which means the most prolific miners on their network get the highest rewards.

2. Customer Service

The importance of quality assistance cannot be overstated, regardless of whether you are an established user or a newcomer. If you have questions or concerns about your account or payments, it's best to talk to a knowledgeable representative.

Those fortunate enough to have worked with F2Pool's customer support team may attest to their promptness and expertise. If you have any questions, they promise to get back to you within 24 hours. But if you have a genuine emergency, you may get in touch with them right away using their chat.

3. Security

If F2Pool didn't provide reliable security, it wouldn't be utilized by so many people. Using the HTTPS protocol and the wallet-lock function of the service, your funds are safe even if your account is compromised.

It's important to remember that once registered, you can't change your email address. Identity theft on the company's network is a security risk, so the company has put out a strict rule against it.

F2Pool Pros and Cons

At this point, you should have a firm grasp of the fundamentals of F2Pool, so we'll go through a comprehensive list of its advantages and disadvantages.

If you ever find yourself debating whether or not to utilize F2Pool but don't have time to read the post again, you may use this list as a quick reference.

F2Pool Pros

• Staff members at F2Pool have an average of nearly ten years of relevant experience.

• Easy to follow steps lead to a fast registration and verification process.

• Coins like Bitcoin, Litecoin, and ZCash may all be mined in this pool.

• The payment frequency is high, while the minimum required payout is minimal.

F2Pool Cons

• The 4% charge is double that of any competing pool.

• If your account has been dormant for a prolonged period of time, we reserve the right to delete it.

Should You Use F2Pool or Not?

After everything has been considered, what are our final suggestions? How important is it to utilize F2Pool? If you read the review, you already know the answer is yes.

At this point, seven years after its original release, F2Pool is not only one of the oldest mining pools still operating, but also one of the finest on the market.

The only real drawback to F2Pool is the hefty fees they charge compared to other mining pools.

The price may seem steep at first, but when weighed against the benefits and conveniences you get, it is reasonable. Once you've been mining for a few months and have turned a nice profit, you won't even notice the cost.

Poolin Overview

Multi-Currrency Mining Pool Company

Poolin is a multi-currency mining pool that contains popular and lucrative currencies like Bitcoin, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Zcoin.

It was created by the same creators as BTC.com, which was eventually bought by Bitmain. It is a Chinese-based mining pool with many miners from China, but it is available to everyone across the globe.

Poolin’s Features

In this part, we will take a high-level look at everything Poolin has to offer.

Poolin Smart Agent

To facilitate communication between miners and the pool, Poolin employs its own proprietary software. There will be less traffic on the network, and miners will be able to synchronize their settings, create separate accounts, and share the electrical burden. For Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Zcash users, this function is now accessible.

Pushtx

A so-called "transaction accelerator" that uses "fee bumping" to ease the backlog of pending transactions. It's beneficial to the Bitcoin network and gives pool miners an extra source of money.

Offline Keeper

The miners can be programmed to shut down in the event of a network outage, saving both hardware and electricity. This could be a great way to protect your investment in a field like mining where technology breaks down faster when it is used at full capacity.

Miner Box

Here you can find Poolin's bespoke miner monitoring software, which features bulk configuration changes. This is helpful for more extensive projects.

A Variety of Altcoins

Poolin allows users to mine a few experimental cryptocurrencies in addition to the popular coins that most miners focus on. Included in this group are Ravencoin, DASH, and Decred (DCR).

Ethereum Mining

The pool also facilitates Ethereum mining, so users can make some money off of their graphics cards if they so choose. Seeing how ASIC miners are tailored to Bitcoin and Bitcoin splits, you'll need dedicated hardware for this.

Merged Mining

Earning Vcash, Namecoin, and Dogecoin when mining Bitcoin, BCH, or BSV in merged mining mode is a bonus. Standard Bitcoin mining hash rates will not be impacted.

Getblocktemplate Support

This is the newest Bitcoin mining protocol. It makes Bitcoin mining less centralized, loosens restrictions on ASIC technology, and lets miners make their own blocks.

Hashrate Auto-Switch

Due to the similarity in their SHA256 algorithms, Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash may be easily swapped for the more lucrative option. Due to how volatile cryptocurrency markets are, this can help if one currency starts to gain more value than another.

Payout

Mining costs and payments are also currency-dependent, with a minimum payout of 0.001 Bitcoin. When paying with a Bixin or Mixin wallet, the lowest possible transaction fee is 0. The ability to do manual withdrawals is available to users upon request.

Poolin

Poolin’s Fees

• Bitcoin: 4% FPPS (Full Pay per share)

• Bitcoin Cash: 4% FPPS

• Bitcoin SV: 4% PPLNS (Pay per last n shares)

• Litecoin: 3% PPS (Pay per share)

• DASH: 2% PPS

• Ethereum: 3% PPS

• Zcash: 3% PPS

Who Runs Poolin?

As of right now, Beijing Satoshi Smart Co., Ltd. owns and operates Poolin, which was created by Kevin Pan, Christopher Zhu, and Tianzhao Li. Even though they were the original owners and founders of BTC.com, the company no longer has anything to do with Poolin's current projects.

Where are Poolin’s Servers located?

Since Poolin uses cloud servers to host its nodes, the specific server you connect to may vary. A centralized server setup, on the other hand, would have problems with low latency and security for everyone. This method, on the other hand, is decentralized.

One such IP address is "47.252.92.116," which is the address of the primary mining pool server at btc.ss.poolin.com. Alibaba's Cloud service maintains this at a data facility in San Mateo, California.

Conclusion

You can make a lot of money mining, but only if you use the appropriate software, join the right pool, get the proper ASIC mining gear, and locate an affordable source of electricity. Because of how difficult it is to master all of them, most people who don't make this their career will fall behind the competition. Although mining pools make it possible for smaller operations to "pool" their resources and compete more effectively, making a profit as a solo miner is still extremely challenging, if not impossible.

That's all for today, see ya tomorrow! If you want more, be sure to follow our Twitter (@croxroadnews)

DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.

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