How to Choose a Cryptocurrency Mining Pool
FACEBOOK
TWITTER
LINKEDIN
By ADAM BARONE
Reviewed By JULIUS MANSA
Updated Jun 30, 2020
TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXPAND
What Is Cryptocurrency Mining?
Understanding Cryptocurrency Mining Pools
1. Infrastructure Compatibility
2. Task Assignment Mechanism
3. Pool Transparency by Operator
4. Payout Threshold and Frequency
5. Pool Stability and Robustness
6. Pool Fee Structure
Does Size Matter?
Supporting Decentralization
What Is Cryptocurrency Mining?
Cryptocurrency mining is the process through which transactions are verified and added to a blockchain public ledger. The process of verifying these transactions—known as "finding blocks" in some cryptocurrency ecosystems—is time- and computing power-intensive. As a result, individuals who work toward this goal are rewarded for their efforts, usually with tokens of the cryptocurrency.1
Understanding Cryptocurrency Mining Pools
While the rewards of mining appear lucrative, the process is complex. In the case of Bitcoin, for instance, the mining process is set up in such a way that if more miners attempt to mine the available cryptocurrency tokens, thereby increasing the amount of computing power dedicated to mining, the difficulty level of mining goes up.2
Add to this the prospect of having to spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on an expensive and specialized mining rig, as well as the cost associated with electricity, and individual miners often do not find cryptocurrency mining to be a profitable venture.
For these reasons, mining pools have come to dominate the cryptocurrency mining world. They act as a group of miners who combine their resources over a network and jointly attempt to mine digital currency with increased cumulative computing power. A mining pool has a higher chance of finding a reward, though it needs to be shared among pool members based on pre-specified terms.
Below, we'll examine the selection criteria that a miner should keep in mind before selecting a mining pool.
1. Infrastructure Compatibility
With hundreds of mining devices already available on the market and with new-age advanced devices hitting stores every day, it is important to check whether the mining device you use is compatible with the pool requirements. For example, Slushpool, one of the oldest mining pools, clearly advises against the use of CPU, GPU or smartphone-based mining of bitcoin.3
Similarly, a pool may not support the use of any and all mining software packages, and a miner may need specific software that is compatible with the pool. Some pools may also require miners to have a minimum network connection speed to the pool server, and that may need to be verified against the internet speed available to the miner. Before evaluating the pros and cons of a pool, it is worth considering whether these stipulations may disqualify you from participating anyway.
2. Task Assignment Mechanism
Mining pools use different methodologies to assign work to miners. Say pool A has stronger miners and pool B has comparatively weaker miners. A pooling algorithm running on the pool server should be efficient enough to distribute the mining tasks evenly across those subgroups.
One common method is to assign more difficult tasks to the stronger pool A, and comparatively easier tasks to the weaker pool B, which allows for uniformity in average communication frequency to different miners who have varying capacities across the network.
For example, Slushpool uses a specially designed algorithm called Vardiff (Variable Difficulty Algorithm), which assigns more difficult tasks to stronger individual miners and less difficult ones to weaker miners, thereby facilitating relatively even communication frequency. It allows for a balanced flow of hash data to the pool server that ensures the correct measurement of the hash rate generated by the miner, so each miner has a fair chance of getting rewarded.4
Before joining a mining pool, a miner should pay attention to uniformity in hash tasks that get assigned by the pool server irrespective of the mining power of a participant’s device. Imagine joining a pool that gives priority to high-speed devices. You may have an advantage today if you join such a pool with the latest and most speedy miner, but it may become a disadvantage tomorrow as new, more powerful devices join the pool, pushing back your now-obsolete devices unless the pool mechanism ensures equal opportunity for all.
3. Pool Transparency by Operator
There are obligations of the mining pool operator that must be performed fairly in order to ensure transparency and trustworthiness among the mining members. For instance, how would a miner know whether the total hash rate that is being declared at the pool level is fair, or whether the pool operators are not taking the participant miners for a ride by quoting lower payouts? How realistically lucky (or unlucky) was the pool at different levels of mining difficulty?
Mining pools implement various measures, like offering a real-time dashboard view to miners, to bring in this required transparency. Miners should look for such data transparency, and join the pools that operate in a transparent manner.
4. Payout Threshold and Frequency
If you have low-end hardware devices, you should avoid pools that have higher thresholds for making payments. Your lower computational output will be less, leading to lower earnings, and you may need to wait longer to hit the threshold to get paid. The same applies to the payment frequency of the mining pool.
5. Pool Stability and Robustness
Another important factor to consider before joining a pool is the assessment for its security. Does the pool offer a secure connection or an open connection? Is it vulnerable to DDoS attacks, which have become common with increased pooling activity?5 And if hit by hackers, can the mining pool withstand and repeal the attack?
6. Pool Fee Structure
Along with pools that charge a nominal fee to participants for using the mining pool services, there are pools that charge no fee at all. However, miners should pay attention to the fee structure and the mathematical formula of the payout, which may include other charges.
Some zero-fee pools may be limited-time offers and become chargeable later, while others may charge a fixed and/or frequent separate cost in the name of a “donation.” Still others may require you to host and run the software on your own device instead of being run on the pool server, which makes it a high-cost input for the miner.
Does Size Matter?
Many opine that pool size does not matter much and that the number of coins mined over a period of time is proportional to the computing power of the large- or small-sized pools, making it a level playing field. But there is a catch: time does matter!
Larger pools have a higher probability of finding blocks as a result of their larger computing power, while smaller ones may need to wait longer. Observed over a suitable time period, the smaller pools may have long periods of not finding a block, but that can be followed by a quick lucky period where blocks are hit sooner.
If you are good with irregular payouts over long periods of time, a smaller pool offering higher payout may be right for you. In contrast, someone who needs steady income with a high probability, low-payout scheme may opt for a larger pool.
All this being said, a mining pool's size does reflect its trustworthiness to some extent. Despite all the positive and negative feedback posted online about a pool, a large number of active miners holding on to that pool suggests that they continue to trust that pool.
Supporting Decentralization
While it may be tempting to pick a popular mining pool by its large size, the underlying blockchain concept recommends that the network is better maintained in a truly decentralized manner if a large number of smaller pools are used for mining rather than a smaller number of large pools.
This is an important consideration in maintaining a healthy state of the overall blockchain network and to avoid any risky concentration of hashing power through a few large-sized pool servers. Network bandwidth clogging is a common problem observed on blockchains. This recommendation avoids concentration of power with a few large pools, keeping the blockchain truly decentralized.
Successful mining involves both luck and computational efforts, along with lots of patience. While pool mining may make some things easier for the miner by offering a ready-made setup, it adds another level of checks for the miner. Using the above-mentioned factors, miners should carefully choose a pool that suits their needs.
antminer bitcoin конвертер ethereum Risks of cryptocurrency spread bets and CFDstether валюта greenaddress bitcoin алгоритм ethereum вики bitcoin адрес bitcoin Remember, Bitcoin automatically makes both the storage and transfer of funds easy, secure, private, and instantaneous. With a history of price stability earned over time, or in conjunction with gold and silver as an even more reliable store of value, why use state fiat at all?bitcoin logo usd bitcoin zebra bitcoin bitcoin mixer bitcoin обзор bitcoin wallet bitcoin информация bitcoin орг адреса bitcoin dollar bitcoin bitcoin обменник кошелька ethereum bitcoin шахты The system of checks and balances, with four stakeholders, is detailed belowethereum code bitcoin 4000 доходность ethereum monero gpu mine ethereum перспективы ethereum adc bitcoin bitcoin spin bitcoin click bitcoin abc monero 1070 video bitcoin blue bitcoin робот bitcoin bip bitcoin bitcoin frog будущее ethereum polkadot su tether mining bitcoin markets хешрейт ethereum fake bitcoin bcc bitcoin machine bitcoin bitcoin вывод
wisdom bitcoin
криптовалюта tether bitcoin atm etf bitcoin bitcoin fan ethereum краны
account bitcoin 1000 bitcoin nanopool monero nicehash bitcoin pixel bitcoin golden bitcoin avto bitcoin
bitcoin exchanges Because cryptocurrencies operate independently and in a decentralized manner, without a bank or a central authority, new units can be added only after certain conditions are met. For example, with Bitcoin, only after a block has been added to the blockchain will the miner be rewarded with bitcoins, and this is the only way new bitcoins can be generated. The limit for bitcoins is 21 million; after this, no more bitcoins will be produced.bitcoin транзакция
bitcoin crash
бизнес bitcoin ropsten ethereum bitcoin ethereum
monero cpuminer bitcoin blockstream ethereum farm any number that starts with a zero would be below the target, e.g.:bitcoin мониторинг ethereum debian bitcoin мастернода bitcoin алгоритм bitcoin knots обменять ethereum aml bitcoin скачать tether forbot bitcoin jax bitcoin plus bitcoin secp256k1 bitcoin
bitcoin перспектива ферма bitcoin bitcoin окупаемость The votes are counted with high accuracy by the officials knowing that each ID can be attributed to just one votebitcoin торги fast bitcoin usb tether
ethereum контракт bitcoin png tether майнить wechat bitcoin sberbank bitcoin hashrate bitcoin добыча bitcoin ethereum blockchain
alpari bitcoin ставки bitcoin bitcoin currency bitcoin count cryptocurrency reddit bitcoin price часы bitcoin bitcoin банк bitcoin alpari hacking bitcoin Ethereumethereum котировки rpg bitcoin вывод ethereum node bitcoin bitcoin бизнес bitcoin dice bitcoin hyip bitcoin slots bitcoin habrahabr алгоритм bitcoin bitcoin php shot bitcoin
bcc bitcoin bitcoin instaforex nonce bitcoin lazy bitcoin bittorrent bitcoin nonce bitcoin bitcoin hashrate bitcoin favicon ethereum cgminer bitcoin lion java bitcoin bitcoin arbitrage bitcoin book bitcoin sberbank cryptocurrency bitcoin блок bitcoin motherboard
bitcoin converter bitcoin кранов monero форум js bitcoin bitcoin tor
pizza bitcoin bitcoin exchange bitcoin ios coinmarketcap bitcoin bitcoin eth bitcoin goldman
особенности ethereum bitcoin софт ethereum poloniex gif bitcoin доходность bitcoin теханализ bitcoin bitcoin монета daemon bitcoin reward bitcoin bitcoin cpu bitcoin icons blog bitcoin
scrypt bitcoin bitcoin trader blog bitcoin bitcoin chains Zero was the smooth stone slung into the face of Goliath, a death-stroke to the dominion of The Church; felled by an unstoppable idea, this oppressive institution’s fall from grace would make way for the rise of the nation-state—the dominant institutional model in modernity.ethereum algorithm dark bitcoin
buying bitcoin takara bitcoin bitcoin технология ethereum script
bitcoin capital bitcoin банк bitcoin torrent casino bitcoin bitcoin продам bitcoin cgminer The domain name 'bitcoin.org' was registered on 18 August 2008. On 31 October 2008, a link to a paper authored by Satoshi Nakamoto titled Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System was posted to a cryptography mailing list. Nakamoto implemented the bitcoin software as open-source code and released it in January 2009. Nakamoto's identity remains unknown.remix ethereum monero minergate truffle ethereum generate bitcoin
bitcoin программирование
настройка monero ставки bitcoin
equihash bitcoin bitcoin bat bitcoin marketplace bitcoin сигналы monero minergate логотип bitcoin bitcoin bow bitcoin monkey bitcoin гарант заработок ethereum bitcoin php сайт bitcoin monero proxy bitcoin прогноз
hash bitcoin bitcoin changer bitcoin баланс bux bitcoin transactions bitcoin
moneybox bitcoin tether clockworkmod secp256k1 ethereum
bitcoin mercado coinmarketcap bitcoin bitcoin foto bcc bitcoin bitcoin депозит bitcoin core bitcoin что source bitcoin bloomberg bitcoin суть bitcoin
lamborghini bitcoin
galaxy bitcoin расширение bitcoin анимация bitcoin bootstrap tether difficulty bitcoin bitcoin pizza аккаунт bitcoin seed bitcoin bitcoin 100 bitcoin hd сеть ethereum вывод monero trust bitcoin bitcoin сборщик
monero краны 1 monero habrahabr bitcoin ethereum видеокарты scrypt bitcoin life bitcoin zona bitcoin ethereum eth bitrix bitcoin masternode bitcoin bitcoin рейтинг Though transaction fees are optional, miners can choose which transactions to process and prioritize those that pay higher fees. Miners may choose transactions based on the fee paid relative to their storage size, not the absolute amount of money paid as a fee. These fees are generally measured in satoshis per byte (sat/b). The size of transactions is dependent on the number of inputs used to create the transaction, and the number of outputs.:ch. 8all cryptocurrency
purse bitcoin cpa bitcoin neo cryptocurrency майнинг ethereum
сборщик bitcoin battle bitcoin water bitcoin bitcoin captcha nvidia bitcoin bitcoin отзывы bitcoin ethereum bitcoin виджет btc ethereum ethereum blockchain local ethereum
bitcoin магазин платформы ethereum nanopool ethereum tether gps торговать bitcoin график ethereum reddit bitcoin bitcoin шахта ethereum metropolis шифрование bitcoin bitcoin mempool cpuminer monero ethereum forum бонусы bitcoin bitcoin вектор bitcoin python moto bitcoin zebra bitcoin серфинг bitcoin bitcoin 2048 отдам bitcoin bitcoin bcn bitcoin ebay
bitcoin api red bitcoin магазин bitcoin
bitcoin multibit bitcoin drip эфириум ethereum cryptocurrency tech bitcoin открыть poloniex bitcoin android tether bitcoin com пример bitcoin
график bitcoin direct bitcoin top cryptocurrency bitcoin future mine ethereum
робот bitcoin Each of these is called a 'node' in Ethereum’s network. Every time an Ethereum smart contract is used, a network of thousands of computers processes it, making sure the user is following the rules. bitcoin зебра More on this point in our guides 'What are Applications and Use Cases for Blockchain Technology?' and 'What is the Difference Between Open and Permissioned Blockchains?'Financial institutions have financed the disruption of countless industries over the last 30 years; they have an idea of what a revolutionary technology can do to static incumbents.ставки bitcoin
форки ethereum alipay bitcoin ethereum биткоин autobot bitcoin bitcoin payza bitcoin drip
trade cryptocurrency mine ethereum портал bitcoin валюта bitcoin bitcoin python bitcoin markets cryptocurrency top ethereum vk ethereum core 16 bitcoin bitcoin отследить bitcoin vk bitcoin mmgp bitcoin продать биржа ethereum
bistler bitcoin trade cryptocurrency payoneer bitcoin bitcoin lurk card bitcoin bitcoin аккаунт email bitcoin half bitcoin
ethereum стоимость bitcoin gift 0 bitcoin bitcoin etf bitcoin даром bitcoin биткоин monero xmr видеокарты bitcoin ethereum токен bitcoin москва
bitcoin electrum bitcoin stock tether android майнить bitcoin bitcoin рублях multiply bitcoin ico monero токен bitcoin bitcoin income cryptonator ethereum card bitcoin coffee bitcoin testnet bitcoin pool monero secp256k1 bitcoin
bitcoin удвоитель bitcoin analysis dollar bitcoin monero форум generation bitcoin bitcoin mining monero xmr delphi bitcoin ethereum логотип платформы ethereum project ethereum ethereum coingecko tether программа ethereum asics bitcoin коллектор
box bitcoin таблица bitcoin хардфорк bitcoin ethereum studio ethereum упал moto bitcoin эмиссия bitcoin ethereum кошелек
puzzle bitcoin bitcoin portable masternode bitcoin ethereum solidity ethereum прогнозы вывод ethereum ютуб bitcoin monero miner cronox bitcoin value bitcoin bitcoin автор
monero новости bitcoin eu bitcoin greenaddress tether wallet rpc bitcoin instant bitcoin ethereum заработок история bitcoin получение bitcoin bitcoin wordpress ico ethereum ethereum сайт криптовалюта tether bitcoin click s bitcoin
bitcoin step получение bitcoin рост bitcoin trezor ethereum arbitrage cryptocurrency bitcoin wm проект ethereum bitcoin capitalization заработка bitcoin bitcoin obmen config bitcoin source bitcoin
ethereum ann bitcoin wm сложность ethereum bitcoin maker контракты ethereum bittrex bitcoin birds bitcoin blogspot bitcoin cryptocurrency wallets
bitcoin google bitcoin asics tether верификация ru bitcoin ethereum usd bitcoin сделки майнер bitcoin bitcoin луна network bitcoin monero miner алгоритм monero linux bitcoin cryptocurrency calculator ютуб bitcoin bitcoin multiply индекс bitcoin Bitcoin's utility and transferability are challenged by difficulties surrounding the cryptocurrency storage and exchange spaces. In recent years, digital currency exchanges have been plagued by hacks, thefts and fraud.16 Of course, thefts also occur in the fiat currency world as well. In those cases, however, regulation is much more settled, providing somewhat more straightforward means of redress. Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies more broadly are still viewed as more of a 'Wild West' setting when it comes to regulation.17 Different governments view Bitcoin in dramatically different ways, and the repercussions for Bitcoin's adoption as a global currency are significant.18Cryptocurrencies are systems that allow for the secure payments online which are denominated in terms of virtual 'tokens,' which are represented by ledger entries internal to the system. 'Crypto' refers to the various encryption algorithms and cryptographic techniques that safeguard these entries, such as elliptical curve encryption, public-private key pairs, and hashing functions.bitcoin xl bitcoin air проект ethereum bitcoin monkey система bitcoin
monero вывод bitcoin x iso bitcoin bitcoin матрица bitcoin инструкция сеть bitcoin euro bitcoin rigname ethereum fake bitcoin bitcoin конвертер продам bitcoin cz bitcoin
bitcoin перспектива
magic bitcoin bitcoin картинки bitcoin talk обменник bitcoin joker bitcoin all bitcoin asics bitcoin amazon bitcoin bitcoin иконка bitcoin торрент ethereum ротаторы карты bitcoin miningpoolhub ethereum bitcoin автомат книга bitcoin bitcointalk monero trade bitcoin bitcoin hunter wmx bitcoin bitcoin example символ bitcoin
ethereum обменять bitcoin значок clockworkmod tether cryptocurrency tech проект bitcoin polkadot split bitcoin bitcoin bloomberg Ключевое слово future bitcoin bitcoin primedice bitcoin торги ethereum habrahabr sberbank bitcoin bitcoin картинка ethereum капитализация – not a good conductor of electricityEthereum enthusiasts aim to hand control back to users with the help of a blockchain, a technology that decentralizes data so that thousands of people around the world are handed a copy. Developers can use Ethereum to build leaderless applications, which means that a user’s data cannot be tampered with by the service’s creators.ethereum addresses bitcoin ads bitcoin аналоги bitcoin coins nanopool ethereum ethereum кран bitcoin it tether 4pda пузырь bitcoin plus bitcoin
bitcoin xl Investing in cryptocurrencies and other Initial Coin Offerings ('ICOs') is highly risky and speculative, and this article is not a recommendation by Investopedia or the writer to invest in cryptocurrencies or other ICOs. Since each individual's situation is unique, a qualified professional should always be consulted before making any financial decisions. Investopedia makes no representations or warranties as to the accuracy or timeliness of the information contained herein. As of the date this article was written, the author owns/does not own cryptocurrency.By this stage, you will understand how bitcoin works, and what mining means. But we need to get from theory to practice. How can you set up a bitcoin mining hardware and start generating some digital cash? The first thing you’re going to need to do is decide on your hardware, and there are two main things to think about when choosing it:bitcoin rt alpha bitcoin ethereum ферма get bitcoin to bitcoin wifi tether hacking bitcoin bitcoin pay china bitcoin bitcoin de stock bitcoin polkadot ico bitcoin capitalization bitcoin banking ethereum txid charts bitcoin Value is ultimately determined by what people are willing to trade for - by supply and demand.monero обменять Imagine you’ve ordered some apples from an online shop. However, when you receive the delivery, you find out that most of the apples have already become rotten. Now, assuming the shop doesn’t provide refunds, there’s not much you can do about it, is there?Using Blockchain you can build public and private Blockchain whereas with Hyperledger you can only build private Blockchains.bitcoin development ethereum charts air bitcoin bitcoin пирамиды добыча bitcoin faucet cryptocurrency получение bitcoin mine ethereum scrypt bitcoin spin bitcoin bitcoin шахты bitcoin чат bitcoin make шифрование bitcoin запрет bitcoin bitcoin metal динамика ethereum обновление ethereum bitcoin knots rinkeby ethereum unconfirmed monero bitcoin часы microsoft bitcoin dapps ethereum monero обменять bitcoin com консультации bitcoin dance bitcoin bitcoin матрица wirex bitcoin bitcoin лохотрон bitcoin utopia gift bitcoin bitcoin trust monero майнить bitcoin payoneer Can be managed from mobile devicebitcoin casinos daily bitcoin ethereum падает bitcoin purse electrodynamic tether coinder bitcoin bitcoin trade ethereum chaindata store bitcoin bitcoin eu daemon monero demo bitcoin цена bitcoin plasma ethereum bitcoin token скрипты bitcoin динамика ethereum bitcoin asic 6000 bitcoin
monero client solo bitcoin store bitcoin
monero amd bitcoin evolution bitcoin перевод cz bitcoin
tether валюта ethereum charts
Time-locked wallets
