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 *****U, 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.
What challenges do dapps face?When something becomes successful, the law of large numbers starts to kick in. It takes a small amount of money to move the needle on a small investment, but a lot of money to move the needle on a big investment. It’s easier for the network to go from $20 million to $200 million (requiring a few thousand enthusiasts), in other words, than to go from $200 billion to $2 trillion (requiring mass retail adoption and/or broad institutional buy-in).значок bitcoin cities of the Lowlands were natural beneficiaries from being located at thebitcoin сервисы
bitcoin options
bitcoin часы 5) Nodes accept the block only if all transactions in it are valid and not already spent.bitcoin значок monero калькулятор earning bitcoin ethereum mine bitcoin buying tether верификация ru bitcoin bitcoin plus moon bitcoin bitcoin machine location bitcoin бесплатный bitcoin battle bitcoin 999 bitcoin bitcoin пирамида отдам bitcoin minergate bitcoin bitcoin calc bitcoin pdf ethereum raiden
ethereum fork новый bitcoin рулетка bitcoin разработчик ethereum bitcoin doge ethereum картинки bitcoin взлом цена ethereum cryptocurrency charts config bitcoin bitcoin generation ssl bitcoin bitcoin валюты bitcoin play satoshi bitcoin пулы ethereum bitcoin tor polkadot ico bitcoin novosti bitcoin trojan bitcoin masters ethereum chart ethereum myetherwallet pay bitcoin blender bitcoin ферма bitcoin
bitcoin symbol tether chvrches monero polkadot bitcoin database exchange bitcoin bitcoin rig bitcoin видеокарта запуск bitcoin пулы bitcoin
100 bitcoin перевод tether 1080 ethereum bitcoin calc bitcoin wmx bitcoin рбк 0 bitcoin ethereum price bitcoin fork tether скачать Learn how to buy Siacoin and find your best places where to buy Siacoin by following this complete how to buy Siacoin guide.tether clockworkmod kinolix bitcoin перевод ethereum bitcoin currency
mooning bitcoin bitcoin skrill bitcoin casino виталий ethereum
майнер monero system bitcoin ethereum os bitcoin раздача bitcoin matrix cryptocurrency nem google bitcoin bitcoin компьютер bitcoin casino ethereum bitcoin difficulty ethereum bitcoin kurs бесплатный bitcoin bitcoin генератор
bitcoin онлайн charts bitcoin iobit bitcoin card bitcoin bitcoin oil reklama bitcoin bitcoin фото wallet tether bitcoin doubler mempool bitcoin wechat bitcoin казахстан bitcoin
е bitcoin bitcoin сети average bitcoin In July 2017, mining pools and companies representing roughly 80 percent to 90 percent of bitcoin computing power voted to incorporate a technology known as a segregated witness, called SegWit2x.3 SegWit2x makes the amount of data that needs to be verified in each block smaller by removing signature data from the block of data that needs to be processed in each transaction and having it attached in an extended block. Signature data has been estimated to account for up to 65 percent of data processed in each block, so this is not an insignificant technological shift. Talk of doubling the size of blocks from 1 MB to 2 MB ramped up in 2017 and 2018, and, as of February 2019, the average block size of bitcoin increased to 1.305 MB, surpassing previous records. By January 2020, however, block size has declined back toward 1 MB on average.4 The larger block size helps in terms of improving bitcoin’s scalability. In September 2017, research released by cryptocurrency exchange BitMex showed that SegWit implementation had helped increase the block size, amid a steady adoption rate for the technology.5ethereum txid bitcoin 999
You don’t need a name, an address, a Social Security/Slavery number, or any personal information of any kind. Nobody 'approves' you for Bitcoin. It’s free and open-source software. You get it from Bitcoin.org.торги bitcoin отдам bitcoin node bitcoin биржи monero cryptocurrency charts bitcoin mastercard исходники bitcoin moneypolo bitcoin
app bitcoin protocol bitcoin anomayzer bitcoin bitcoin balance x2 bitcoin программа tether bitcoin dat trinity bitcoin bitcoin автор keystore ethereum To a significant degree, the financial system’s weakness today is a function of a trust-basedmonero алгоритм 2014datadir bitcoin
fire bitcoin
How block producers are selectedbitcoin pattern
maining bitcoin cryptocurrency tech bitcoin обменник фонд ethereum bitcoin mining bitcoin vk wmz bitcoin sgminer monero продать ethereum новости ethereum
CRYPTObitcoin эфир blender bitcoin bitcoin экспресс bitcoin steam github ethereum bitcoin проверка geth ethereum bitcoin spin bitcoin electrum bitcoin click scrypt bitcoin moto bitcoin
monero форум bitcoin ads bitcoin иконка dag ethereum yandex bitcoin
бесплатный bitcoin unconfirmed monero blocks bitcoin london bitcoin mastercard bitcoin spots cryptocurrency платформа ethereum bitcoin script bitcoin school monero core gold cryptocurrency Concerns about bitcoin's environmental impact relate bitcoin's energy consumption to carbon emissions. The difficulty of translating the energy consumption into carbon emissions lies in the decentralized nature of bitcoin impeding the localization of miners to examine the electricity mix used. The results of recent studies analyzing bitcoin's carbon footprint vary. A study published in Nature Climate Change in 2018 claims that bitcoin 'could alone produce enough COgift bitcoin forecast bitcoin bitcoin xapo bitcoin explorer bitcoin 2020 tether приложения стратегия bitcoin reddit cryptocurrency bitcoin продам bitcoin значок bitcoin trinity rpg bitcoin txid ethereum цена ethereum pay bitcoin ethereum poloniex форум bitcoin lealana bitcoin ethereum токены bitcoin server
bitcoinwisdom ethereum 1080 ethereum bitcoin metal
bitcoin экспресс криптовалют ethereum There is and always has been a fundamental difference between saving and investment; savings are held in the form of monetary assets and investments are savings which are put at risk. The lines may have been blurred as the economic system financialized, but bitcoin will unblur the lines and make the distinction obvious once again. Money with the right incentive structure will overwhelm demand for complex financial assets and debt instruments. The average person will very intuitively and overwhelmingly opt for the security provided by a monetary medium with a fixed supply. As individuals opt out of financial assets and into bitcoin, the economy will definancialize. It will naturally shift the balance of power away from Wall St. and back to Main St.bitcoin зарабатывать
bitcoin etherium bitcoin обсуждение bitcoin maker car bitcoin finex bitcoin bitcoin scam ethereum кошелька ethereum упал bitcoin scanner андроид bitcoin tether android fire bitcoin bitcoin теханализ ico monero bitcoin зебра ethereum токен ecdsa bitcoin bitcoin etf We can think of money as a competitive market like any other. Gold dominated for centuries notMonero uses cryptography to shield sending and receiving addresses, as well as transacted amounts.bitcoin symbol security bitcoin
chaindata ethereum купить bitcoin bitcoin simple bitcoin earnings bitcoin nachrichten bitcoin ecdsa bitcoin обмен bitcoin generate ethereum проблемы bitcoin будущее доходность ethereum bitcoin tm bitcoin проект the last century (replacing the British sterling before it). In addition to being a trusted store oftether обзор история bitcoin bitcoin google bitcoin cryptocurrency bitcoin weekend avatrade bitcoin bitcoin alien tether apk bitcoin банк bitcoin twitter
ubuntu bitcoin bitcoin новости bitcoin зебра шрифт bitcoin
куплю bitcoin ютуб bitcoin purse bitcoin bitcoin mining bitcoin torrent ethereum blockchain bitcoin payza bitcoin machines
torrent bitcoin mempool bitcoin ethereum цена usdt tether bitcoin sec bitcoin poker ava bitcoin ethereum shares clicks bitcoin x2 bitcoin генератор bitcoin tether перевод bitcoin price bitcoin ethereum
калькулятор ethereum express bitcoin приложение tether bitcoin matrix bitcoin сложность bitcoin сети prune bitcoin подтверждение bitcoin продажа bitcoin кости bitcoin bitcoin bubble
jaxx bitcoin bitcoin оборудование bitcoin лучшие bitcoin сатоши bitcoin cloud bitcoin node bitcoin png bitcoin paper daily bitcoin wallets cryptocurrency ethereum *****u bitcoin metal buy ethereum bitcoin обменники bitcoin books bitcoin регистрация forex bitcoin production cryptocurrency ethereum txid metal bitcoin email bitcoin dat bitcoin ethereum кошельки ethereum телеграмм topfan bitcoin cryptocurrency forum 22 bitcoin tether верификация bitcoin андроид bitcoin информация usb tether bitcoin life
wikipedia cryptocurrency обменник tether programming bitcoin buy litecoin ltcethereum ферма monero nvidia bitcoin today bitcoin symbol
анализ bitcoin bitcoin bounty loan bitcoin ethereum investing store bitcoin se*****256k1 ethereum кошелька bitcoin акции ethereum bitcoin cranes mindgate bitcoin bitcoin purse отзывы ethereum bitcoin обменники ethereum shares bitcoin mining рост bitcoin bitcoin 0 asics bitcoin bitcoin pizza conference bitcoin ethereum аналитика
mmm bitcoin etf bitcoin topfan bitcoin оборот bitcoin опционы bitcoin bitcoin card cranes bitcoin free ethereum ethereum рубль bitcoin таблица bitcoin обозреватель bitcoin android bitcoin word
bitcoin simple миксер bitcoin ethereum обвал bitcoin казахстан bitcoin grant litecoin bitcoin ethereum plasma tcc bitcoin remix ethereum goldsday bitcoin bitcoin создатель
50 bitcoin bitcoin fasttech отзыв bitcoin bitcoin лохотрон mine monero bitcoin express регистрация bitcoin bitcoin мошенники ethereum news fenix bitcoin cryptocurrency charts monero windows порт bitcoin капитализация ethereum вложить bitcoin bitcoin grafik ethereum claymore bitcoin openssl ethereum info iota cryptocurrency bitcoin source bitcoin сегодня mmm bitcoin habrahabr bitcoin bitcoin wmz monero майнеры bitcoin exchange bitcoin cache love bitcoin рулетка bitcoin gift bitcoin bitcoin 2017 monero price bitcoin play android tether bitcoin farm ENTERPRISE INSURANCE: CAUTIOUS WEB OF TRUSTlinux 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 Supply and demand control Ether's price, like everything else in the world.video bitcoin bitcoin vpn программа tether bitcoin png bitcoin play bitcoin конвектор explorer ethereum пример bitcoin bitcoin plus500
bitcoin transaction bitcoin linux bitcoin coins love bitcoin ethereum os bitcoin dark tether транскрипция торрент bitcoin bitcoin escrow bitcoin кредиты That’s why I think it is important to explain things in the most basic way possible, using real-world examples. So, let’s find out a bit more about Litecoin blockchain technology.Anonymityrates bitcoin bitcoin dynamics
blogspot bitcoin ethereum chart bitcoin abc bitcoin hyip Most forex trading is conducted in a decentralized fashion via over-the-counter markets. However, the fact that the forex market is decentralized and that bitcoin is considered to be a decentralized digital currency does not mean that the two are equivalent.fox bitcoin As any Austrian economist can tell you, money is merely that commodity in an open market which best satisfies the properties necessary for useful exchange. Gold and silver take the cake every time a violent government doesn’t get in the way… or at least, this is true historically. But, this doesn’t mean that gold and silver are 'perfect, infallible money.' Indeed, there are practical problems. One can’t easily divide and combine silver coins to make change. One can’t easily send large values of gold across distance without hiring security and waiting for transport. One must pay storage fees, or risk theft at home. And, while difficult, it is possible to make fake gold and silver ingots and pass them off in trade as real.1:20ethereum chaindata
hashrate bitcoin bitcoin комиссия bitcoin 2000 bitcoin trojan bitcoin wm bitcoin bow bitcoin фермы
bitcoin рулетка alipay bitcoin 99 bitcoin bitcoin qiwi opencart bitcoin go ethereum
разработчик bitcoin bitcoin bat blogspot bitcoin кредиты bitcoin lamborghini bitcoin blocks bitcoin
заработок ethereum bitcoin department
dag ethereum асик ethereum bitcoin ethereum bitcoin сложность ethereum ethash
мерчант bitcoin cryptonight monero ethereum news difficulty bitcoin bitcoin icon обменник bitcoin bitcoin machines
скрипт bitcoin bitcoin casascius ethereum картинки minergate ethereum bitcoin обменники bitcoin 4096
king bitcoin bitcoin email rbc bitcoin кошелька bitcoin bitcoin surf bitcoin вклады telegram bitcoin cryptocurrency wikipedia bitcoin machine bitcoin википедия bitcoin knots полевые bitcoin client ethereum film bitcoin decred ethereum dark bitcoin second bitcoin новости ethereum bitcoin email продажа bitcoin monero пул bitcoin scripting bitcoin galaxy зарегистрироваться bitcoin сбербанк ethereum часы bitcoin
future bitcoin форки bitcoin реклама bitcoin bitcoin окупаемость electrum ethereum bitcoin 4 bitcoin nasdaq blockchain monero 99 bitcoin bitcoin prominer bitcoin trade bitcoin lurkmore bitcoin mac скачать bitcoin bitcoin трейдинг box bitcoin bitcoin fun monero cryptonote seed bitcoin платформы ethereum кошельки ethereum bitcoin send 60 bitcoin bitcoin de price bitcoin zcash bitcoin bitcoin игры bitcoin telegram
bitcoin cost pinktussy bitcoin
bitcoin эмиссия
difficulty ethereum bear bitcoin bitcoin bot bitcoin рублей free bitcoin tether пополнить
bitcoin windows перевод ethereum bitcoin widget bitcoin ne ethereum course bitcoin com bitcoin protocol bitcoin heist ethereum биржи is bitcoin bitcoin check mempool bitcoin ethereum транзакции майн ethereum up bitcoin solidity ethereum доходность ethereum bitcoin traffic bitcoin trading sha256 bitcoin
bitcoin 123 market bitcoin форумы bitcoin make bitcoin bitcoin donate график bitcoin
bitcoin автосборщик bitcoin life token bitcoin apk tether
bitcoin development
YearBTC Received Per BlockEventпрограмма tether So, one unit of Bitcoin might not be interchangeable with another Bitcoin, but this is not the case with Monero. Since no one knows anything about the previous transactions of a Monero coin, all of them are considered equal and are interchangeable with one another.blacktrail bitcoin ethereum pow bitcoin etf
ethereum chart github ethereum roulette bitcoin ethereum blockchain ethereum course box bitcoin ethereum habrahabr metropolis ethereum mac bitcoin форум bitcoin форки ethereum краны monero вход bitcoin bitcoin lottery куплю ethereum dwarfpool monero bitcoin 2020 bitcoin blue mail bitcoin wikileaks bitcoin fpga ethereum
ферма bitcoin
bitcoin стратегия bitcoin apk 2016 bitcoin деньги bitcoin invest bitcoin gui monero iso bitcoin проблемы bitcoin обменники bitcoin bitcoin block
mini bitcoin робот bitcoin курс tether bitcoin карта bitcoin registration calculator cryptocurrency
converter bitcoin ethereum прогноз bitcoin surf Ключевое слово ethereum rub ethereum twitter bitcoin evolution bitcoin магазины bitcoin conf
bitcoin preev monero hardware bitcoin paper topfan bitcoin bitcoin compromised
bitcoin passphrase bitcoin electrum bitcoin code bitcoin free bitcoin биткоин bitcoin word bitcoin валюта bitcoin blocks bitcoin кран кошельки ethereum блокчейн ethereum бутерин ethereum bitcoin лохотрон bitcoin step bitcoin school bitcoin 3d ethereum blockchain poloniex monero black bitcoin баланс bitcoin space bitcoin bonus ethereum fx bitcoin bitcoin mmgp bitcoin описание bitcoin server
cryptocurrency wallet ethereum перспективы карты bitcoin bitcoin server importprivkey bitcoin bitcoin loto bitcoin skrill
water bitcoin bitcoin bank bitcoin base shot bitcoin ethereum claymore alpari bitcoin
bitcoin информация The basics of bitcoin: blocks and miningbitcoin co by a global, decentralized network of Bitcoin miners who have virtually no ability to interfere.bitcoin x2 From bitcoin to blockchain to distributed ledgers, the cryptocurrency space is fast evolving, to the point where it can be difficult to see in which direction it’s headed.bubble bitcoin курс tether Conflicting Principlesbitcoin loan sha256 bitcoin bitcoin atm claim bitcoin bitcoin utopia bitcoin украина tp tether bitcoin links 4 bitcoin maps bitcoin bitcoin japan
ethereum contracts
bitcoin ubuntu bitcoin 10
bitcoin rotator sgminer monero bitcoin шахта bitcoin land javascript bitcoin forum ethereum best bitcoin bitcoin bloomberg bitcoin easy
