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.
работа bitcoin frontier ethereum bitcoin иконка bitcoin legal dat bitcoin bitcoin брокеры moon bitcoin ethereum addresses tether clockworkmod индекс bitcoin flappy bitcoin birds bitcoin bitcoin investment
bitcoin заработать
обмен ethereum bitcoin index android tether протокол bitcoin книга bitcoin алгоритм bitcoin bitcoin картинки bitcoin онлайн ethereum online вики bitcoin bitcoin хайпы collector bitcoin bitcoin 2017 difficulty bitcoin bitcoin parser bitcoin joker bitcoin protocol bitcoin blue прогноз ethereum bitcoin wordpress bitcoin 100 dog bitcoin bitcoin бесплатный bitcoin брокеры работа bitcoin bitcoin project topfan bitcoin киа bitcoin The bitcoin method of routinely using escrow has benefits over competitors like credit cards. The security of credit cards is not very good which results in higher costs overall and the possibility of payments being reversed for months afterwards. By contrast when bitcoins have been released to the seller from escrow, they cannot be reversed as the coins are truly in the seller's possession. The requirement to use real-life names for credit cards and PayPal also excludes unbanked people and those from countries with less developed financial infrastructure. There are also downsides like bitcoin is not yet as widely accepted as credit cards and is not a front for providing lines of credit.видео bitcoin ethereum статистика ethereum ubuntu
bitcoin 15 bitcoin avto wallets cryptocurrency bitcoin wallet bitcoin motherboard bitcoin работа
locate bitcoin bitcoin lottery bitcoin трейдинг
decred cryptocurrency
casper ethereum bitcoin россия stake bitcoin alpari bitcoin favicon bitcoin bitcoin flapper bitcoin boom bitcoin favicon cryptocurrency reddit
Bitcoin currently has notable transaction costs after being touted as ‘near free’ for the first few years of its existence.You don't need to provide all your personal details to use an Ethereum app. Ethereum is building an economy based on value, not surveillance.laundering bitcoin airbit bitcoin monero miner bitcoin fund bitcoin golden bitcoin анимация bitcoin wm хардфорк ethereum 2 bitcoin
bitcoin timer
monaco cryptocurrency bitcoin get bitcoin порт ubuntu ethereum bitcoin chart total cryptocurrency bitcoin конец bitcoin vk ethereum прогнозы bitcoin перевод lamborghini bitcoin bitcoin maps bitcoin пожертвование bitcoin rotators bitcoin рухнул bitcoin invest
bitcoin alert майнинг bitcoin truffle ethereum
bitcoin стоимость разработчик bitcoin hacking bitcoin продать monero
bitcoin индекс ico ethereum mine monero ethereum pool bitcoin loto usa bitcoin обменник ethereum
advcash bitcoin ethereum инвестинг kinolix bitcoin bitcoin mercado bitcoin расчет monero 1060 майнинга bitcoin bitcoin ann mine ethereum ninjatrader bitcoin Are easy to protect and hide. Can be stored on a phone, computer, encrypted on a paper backup or memorized in your head.Cryptocurrencies compensate miners based on a proof-of-work hashing algorithm. Solving the complex math built into cryptocurrency results in a miner discovering a 'solution.' Miners who discover the solution first are compensated with Litecoin, while those who were unable to come up with a solution have to try again with another block of transactions.Bitcoin doesn’t charge you with anything, unlike the bank which can cost you as much as a 10-pound fee for transfers internationally.bitcoin linux local ethereum xpub bitcoin
bitcoin конверт bitcoin суть bitcoin client ethereum метрополис заработать monero difficulty bitcoin instant bitcoin raiden ethereum cz bitcoin bitcoin alert майнеры bitcoin ethereum прогнозы wild bitcoin
bitcoin mine bitcoin pools linux bitcoin блок bitcoin bitcoin chains poloniex monero erc20 ethereum bitcoin film bitcoin novosti nubits cryptocurrency bitcoin exchanges bitcoin картинка карты bitcoin why cryptocurrency bitcoin fan bitcoin qazanmaq bitcoin сети bitcoin central p2pool monero mindgate bitcoin bitcoin hunter хайпы bitcoin бизнес bitcoin Get Bitcoinкредиты bitcoin bitcoin clock bitcoin auto bitcoin проверить bitcoin com bitcoin cms bitcoin телефон reddit bitcoin bitcoin zona bitcoin значок bitcoin main hashrate ethereum карты bitcoin bitcoin expanse cold bitcoin ethereum ios bitcoin stellar ethereum кошельки bitcoin security bitcoin python
bitcoin комбайн bitcoin wm bitcoin onecoin cryptocurrency arbitrage bitcoin анимация программа tether xronos cryptocurrency ethereum coins ethereum хешрейт
bitcoin ledger coingecko ethereum bitcoin fun monero майнить hub bitcoin yota tether блокчейн bitcoin bitcoin компьютер зарегистрировать bitcoin
перспективы ethereum кошелек bitcoin ethereum course bitcoin now продать monero bitcoin frog
nodes bitcoin ethereum проблемы шифрование bitcoin взлом bitcoin Consзарегистрировать bitcoin bitcoin daily bitcoin тинькофф elysium bitcoin Understanding Hot Walletsmonero алгоритм блок bitcoin account bitcoin With blockchain, anyone can verify the authenticity or status of a product being deliveredbitcoin даром bitcoin skrill рост bitcoin bitcoin знак bitcoin торговля bitcoin пополнить bitcoin валюта bitcoin cash bitcoin double alliance bitcoin bitcoin hunter bitcoin paw сети ethereum bitcoin cryptocurrency ethereum studio
bitcoin exe bitcoin бизнес bitcoin registration bitcoin nodes
bitcoin алгоритм bitcoin rub delphi bitcoin
иконка bitcoin monero cpuminer casinos bitcoin bitcoin cash kaspersky bitcoin bounty bitcoin bitcoin nyse
claim bitcoin testnet bitcoin bitcoin 10000 bitcoin rotators подтверждение bitcoin monero usd blog bitcoin bitcoin cz bitcoin fake monero майнить bitcoin окупаемость erc20 ethereum bitcoin get обмен ethereum bitcoin delphi bitcoin tools credit bitcoin ccminer monero bitcoin заработок хардфорк bitcoin криптовалюты bitcoin bitcoin безопасность bitcoin go bitcoin converter ethereum ubuntu комиссия bitcoin bitcoin landing bitcoin пирамиды rx470 monero ethereum gas store bitcoin
click bitcoin ethereum стоимость 10 bitcoin Benefits of working open allocationbitcoin ann bitcoin ann bitcoin rotator дешевеет bitcoin система bitcoin bitcoin price анонимность bitcoin доходность ethereum bitcoin презентация bitcoin шахта ethereum habrahabr bitcoin wsj project ethereum
hit bitcoin bitcoin nachrichten ethereum mining bitcoin 2048 go bitcoin
bitcoin аналоги ethereum бесплатно bitcoin masternode bitcoin net monero кран simple bitcoin эпоха ethereum cryptocurrency calendar electrum ethereum plus500 bitcoin bitcoin network bitcoin cracker пополнить bitcoin ethereum homestead bitcoin planet
monero пул adc bitcoin ethereum wikipedia ios bitcoin казино ethereum joker bitcoin collector bitcoin solo bitcoin лото bitcoin bitcoin project bitcoin биткоин
куплю ethereum
3.3 The blockchainbitcoin neteller bitcoin lurkmore NEO price prediction 2021: what's the forecast for NEO coin? All you need to know in one place - Complete NEO price prediction guide.bitcoin коды mail bitcoin bitcoin script
programming bitcoin системе bitcoin erc20 ethereum bitcoin парад bitcoin 20 bitcoin обналичить bitcoin мошенничество coinder bitcoin p2pool bitcoin ethereum contracts bitcoin конец mine ethereum ethereum com bitcoin trojan bitcoin 1000
moneypolo bitcoin battle bitcoin
bitcoin history картинки bitcoin bitcoin nodes favicon bitcoin tether usd
my ethereum компания bitcoin bitcoin count bitcoin play btc bitcoin bitcoin дешевеет ethereum code stealer bitcoin котировки ethereum сбербанк bitcoin bitcoin aliexpress ethereum рост claim bitcoin ethereum рост bitcoin news frog bitcoin monero price difficulty bitcoin картинки bitcoin bitcoin advcash top cryptocurrency casinos bitcoin 6000 bitcoin btc bitcoin bitcoin lucky bitcoin сатоши bitcoin like bitcoin registration amazon bitcoin monero обмен okpay bitcoin ledger bitcoin отзыв bitcoin банк bitcoin
bitcoin primedice nonce bitcoin decred cryptocurrency добыча bitcoin 6000 bitcoin bitcoin token sgminer monero cryptocurrency logo monero криптовалюта
monero miner ethereum telegram ethereum рост bitcoin database apple bitcoin ethereum info location bitcoin bitcoin фильм bitcoin rt ethereum course ethereum dao ethereum rotator
tether addon ethereum coingecko fpga ethereum
bitcoin статья
ethereum metropolis ethereum bonus
bitcoin иконка статистика ethereum
bitcoin анализ bitcoin бесплатный monero rub monero форк The algorithm proof-of-work, first put into action by Bitcoin, is what keeps these far-flung nodes in sync. In Ethereum, the state is made up of objects called 'accounts', with each account having a 20-byte address and state transitions being direct transfers of value and information between accounts. An Ethereum account contains four fields:red bitcoin
ethereum клиент bitcoin отследить проверка bitcoin bitcoin coin кран ethereum bitcoin рухнул bitcoin foundation bitcoin easy bitcoin доходность цена bitcoin bitcoin скрипт mercado bitcoin bitcoin surf
nicehash bitcoin bitcoin wikileaks miner bitcoin daily bitcoin monero ann oil bitcoin ethereum coins bitcoin 100 bitcoin cli установка bitcoin bitcoin rbc mooning bitcoin пожертвование bitcoin best bitcoin store bitcoin bitcoin froggy проверка bitcoin bitcoin fake
bitcoin advcash bitcoin daemon bitcoin betting bitcoin взлом pos bitcoin 16 bitcoin Not all network operators are intentional scammers. For a new network, conscious choices which limit network growth may simply be a sign that the team is not confident in the network’s longevity. Thus, it can be easy to spot poor quality projects by their reliance on short-sighted tactics. While there is no firm litmus test for the viability of a project, the following characteristics can be considered red flags:If Bitcoin reaches a six figure price level with 19 million coins in total, that would put its market cap at just under $2 trillion or more, above the largest mega-cap companies in the world today. It would, however, still be a small fraction of 1% of global net worth, and about a fifth of gold’s estimated market capitalization (roughly $10 trillion, back-of-the-envelope), so it’s not unfathomable for Bitcoin to eventually reach that height if there is enough sustained demand for it. During the late-2017 cryptocurrency mania, the total market capitalization of the cryptocurrency space reached over $800 billion, although as previously mentioned, Bitcoin’s share of that briefly fell to under 40% of the asset class, so it peaked at just over $300 billion.bitcoin инструкция bitcoin рухнул
bitcoin kurs bitcoin department платформа bitcoin bitcoin maps почему bitcoin bitcoin nodes bitcoin testnet payza bitcoin пицца bitcoin ethereum blockchain
bitcoin презентация
bitcoin графики truffle ethereum spots cryptocurrency bitcoin bux mainer bitcoin ethereum os ccminer monero падение bitcoin bitcoin passphrase bitcoin математика bitcoin vizit tether clockworkmod bitcoin traffic analysis bitcoin
терминал bitcoin bitcoin ticker bitcoin hunter bitcoin баланс bitcoin motherboard bitcoin сложность bitcoin 10 сложность bitcoin ethereum курсы bitcoin программирование ethereum сайт терминалы bitcoin bitcoin пополнить reverse tether 2018 bitcoin ethereum swarm bitcoin автоматически bitcoin passphrase exmo bitcoin bitcoin multiplier bitcoin etf ethereum web3 polkadot блог bitcoin dogecoin unconfirmed monero bitcoin all unconfirmed bitcoin These ideas would come to crystallize the hacker approach to building software.webmoney bitcoin bitcoin кредиты Does management have an effective system in place to model, manage, and balance risks and opportunity cost?bitcoin transaction bitcoin 50000 bitcoin 3 etf bitcoin tether обмен
bitcoin knots monero bitcointalk
bitcoin instagram bitcoin статья bitcoin info bitcoin вложения bitcoin trading ethereum cryptocurrency win bitcoin arbitrage cryptocurrency bitcoin value antminer bitcoin bitcoin ваучер change bitcoin bitcoin start вход bitcoin bitcoin review bank bitcoin bitcoin exe торги bitcoin price bitcoin reward bitcoin
nanopool monero майнинг bitcoin обменять ethereum проект bitcoin ethereum mining bitcoin займ bitcoin poker bitcoin microsoft
bitcoin de tether ico solo bitcoin bitcoin start
bitcoin purchase ethereum classic sec bitcoin fenix bitcoin forum cryptocurrency difficulty ethereum microsoft ethereum bitcoin eobot habrahabr bitcoin bio bitcoin bitcoin россия card bitcoin coindesk bitcoin space bitcoin box bitcoin ethereum online bitcoin руб ethereum токены bitcoin electrum bitcoin de bitcoin etf mine ethereum криптовалют ethereum ethereum gas monero bitcoin vizit l bitcoin bitcoin advcash
daily bitcoin bitcoin вирус bitcoin генераторы
bitcoin slots locate bitcoin bitcoin youtube bitcoin cgminer debian bitcoin bitcoin cap owned primarily as stores of value. Or consider the empty NYC apartment that is owned by abitcoin generate bitcoin курсы polkadot stingray No non-mining full nodes exist.ethereum 4pda claim bitcoin bitcoin visa bitcoin bitcoin обменники map bitcoin
bitcoin fpga bitcoin куплю bitcoin анализ рост bitcoin bitcoin информация people bitcoin security bitcoin bitcoin казахстан bitcoin инвестирование bitcoin london bitcoin ocean multibit bitcoin ethereum rig
bitcoin faucet bitcoin usa gadget bitcoin bitcoin кран bitcoin elena
bitcoin group обменники bitcoin заработать monero ethereum пулы
bitcoin математика bitfenix bitcoin обмен tether bitcoin россия
ledger bitcoin geth ethereum bitcoin hype bitcoin change bitcoin vector lootool bitcoin parity ethereum
100 bitcoin bitcoin database
ethereum mist перспективы bitcoin cryptocurrency ethereum bitcoin youtube tether верификация If two different instructions for changing the ownership of the same cryptographic units are simultaneously entered, the system performs at most one of them.tether usdt bitcoin stiller ethereum contracts coffee bitcoin drip bitcoin bitcoin сатоши ethereum 1070 c bitcoin bitcoin genesis exchange ethereum bitcoin hesaplama
bitcoin бесплатные lurkmore bitcoin платформа ethereum clicker bitcoin bitcoin игры bitcoin mining пузырь bitcoin
bitcoin banking bitcoin заработка testnet ethereum bitcoin wm hashrate ethereum bitcoin приложение
индекс bitcoin tether обменник фарм bitcoin spots cryptocurrency bitcoin markets bitcoin разделился
ethereum обменники ethereum логотип auction bitcoin bitcoin автокран bitcoin x ethereum farm ethereum контракт card bitcoin bitcoin бонус bitcoin картинка space bitcoin bitcoin sec bitcoin оборудование bitcoin ico bitcoin pools майнинг bitcoin
bitcoin сети зарегистрировать bitcoin
unconfirmed bitcoin bitcoin бесплатные доходность ethereum bitcoin динамика bitcoin luxury bitcoin скрипт bitcoin китай ethereum прогноз bitcoin клиент
java bitcoin bitcoin loan Image for postmoon bitcoin
bitcoin приложение
bitcoin hack
monero майнинг bitcoin maps live bitcoin zebra bitcoin ru bitcoin 16 bitcoin cryptocurrency law bitcoin frog bitcoin команды daily bitcoin bitcoin развод ethereum blockchain bitcoin generate калькулятор ethereum monero logo заработай bitcoin polkadot stingray bitcoin часы bitcoin foundation
bitcoin бонусы bitcoin background bitcoin оборот
рубли bitcoin bitcoin qazanmaq happy bitcoin the ethereum tether приложения top tether bitcoin пул monster bitcoin вывести bitcoin monero hardware bitcoin icons bitcoin anonymous bitcoin обзор bitcoin пополнить bitcoin investing ethereum видеокарты куплю ethereum view bitcoin карты bitcoin биржи ethereum bitcoin окупаемость
ethereum asic buy ethereum
machines bitcoin bitcoin 99 bitcoin бонус bitcoin wm ethereum история bitcoin комиссия 16 bitcoin bitcoin алгоритм разделение ethereum ethereum клиент bitcoin валюта monero difficulty кости bitcoin maps bitcoin валюта tether dwarfpool monero
lootool bitcoin monero прогноз
p2pool monero metal bitcoin ethereum pow bitcoin generator bitcoinwisdom ethereum ico bitcoin