The crypto market is in turmoil. Everything is changing fast. Yet miners remain the foundation of the system. And as the difficulty of generating a block keeps increasing, the job is getting harder. So mining pools became even more vital.
What exactly are the mining pools for?
Simply put, mining pools are a place for miners to come together and form a team. They pool their resources to generate more blocks than they would generate by themselves. Usually, the members of these teams split all the profits from the operation. How much they get in the end depends on the quality of their work. All fees are also shared among the workers.
Mining pools make it easier for newbies to understand the process without putting too much at stake. For professional miners, they are an opportunity to maximize gains. They also create a relatively stable profit for everyone involved and enough power to sustain the ever-growing market.
How are they profitable?
Pools fulfill the functions of distribution and delegation for the participants. They act as a sort of a command center, assigning tasks and payouts, measuring and evaluating the contributions, etc.
For the uninitiated, the whole process of mining is similar to finding a solution to a very complicated mathematical problem. The work is usually done via specialized, very powerful computers to check the fresh crypto transactions which are added to the blockchain ledger.
Since it demands a tremendous amount of computational power, splitting work with others is usually significantly easier than going at it alone. Besides, workers can also save money on maintenance - the machine needs a lot of electricity.
When it comes to payouts, mining pools are all about two sorts of shares: the accepted ones and the rejected ones. Both are generated during work and are counted at the end of the round. The accepted shares account for the efforts that actually helped achieve the goal. This is what miners want. The rejected shares represent the useless efforts that did not benefit the process in a meaningful way. This is what miners try to avoid.
The more accepted shares a miner generated - the bigger payout they get. This system is what makes pools a profitable enterprise for almost everyone. In the end, payouts are relatively similar but not exactly the same and are distributed according to the actual contributions.
Different platforms might use different methods of reward distribution:
- Pay-per share (PPS): provides instant payouts that are based only on the number of accepted shares of a participant.
- Proportional (PROP): When a round ends, participants get a reward proportional to the number of their member’s shares.
- Shared Maximum Pay Per Share (SMPPS): mostly the same as PPS but the payouts are limited to the maximum that the pool has earned.
- Equalized Shared Maximum Pay Per Share (ESMPPS): mostly the same as SMPPS, but the payments are distributed equally.
Where do the powerful mining pools operate?
More than 80% of the mining platforms were launched in China. Some remained mostly local and did not yet add support or interfaces in other languages. But many went global and attracted users from around the world. Other countries with a lot of powerful pools include:
- Czech Republic - 10%
- Iceland - 2%
- Japan -2%
- Georgia - 2%
- Russia - 1%
These are the basic things that you need to know about pools. The platforms can be very different, each with its own advantages and issues.
How do you choose the one that is right for you? Revain reviewers took care of that. These are the Top 10 most popular pools, according to our users:
1. Slush Pool
The oldest mining pool started operating back in 2010. After all this time, it remains popular. In the last 10 years, thousands have mined Bitcoin on the platform and many continue to do so today. Revain users speak highly of its convenient interface and fair payouts system. They also note with some regret that, aside from Bitcoin, only one cryptocurrency is available at the moment - Zcash. The fees on Slush Pool might also be too high for some miners.
2. Whalesburg
The platform offers unique flexibility to its users. The operators inspect the machine of the new miner and choose the currency that they should work on for optimal results. If conditions then change, the user is automatically switched to a different asset. Revain users also praised high profits and quick payouts.
3. NanoPool
The Ethereum pool provides top-tier security measures and has pleasantly affordable fees. Since it started operating back in 2018, the platform has grown rapidly and now allows the workers to mine a wide selection of cryptocurrencies. Revain authors speak highly of its support team and consistent payouts. However, some reviewers wish that it would be possible to mine Bitcoin on NanoPool.
4. AntPool
The platform has an impressive achievement. Because of its popularity, it now boasts the highest hash rate on the whole BTC network and generates more blocks than any other pool. This behemoth is managed by Bitmain Technologies. Revain users are pleased with affordable costs and a customizable interface. However, withdrawals are limited. In some cases, that might be upsetting for miners.
5. F2Pool
The oldest pool in China has good numbers on its side. It operates in over 100 regions. Users can mine any of more than 40 currencies available. Revain reviewers like its advanced security tools and praise its fully functional mobile app. Yet, the relatively high costs of transaction and the lack of support of some languages curb their enthusiasm.
6. Luckpool
The pool is all about being lucky and being the best. The Equihash algorithm used by the pool provides the highest payouts to the miners who find the best solutions. Revain reviewers like the low costs and fast transactions. They are less excited about the limited choice of cryptocurrencies and the absence of the merged mining.
7. Noobpool
As you might have guessed by the name, Noobpool is an optimal choice for newbies. It created an inclusive and dynamic community of miners and has a reliable customer support service. Revain reviewers are especially pleased about its regular payouts that do not have any additional fees. Nevertheless, some reviews point out the cons: the somewhat simplistic website and limitations on withdrawals.
8. Huobi Pool
In fact, this division of Huobi has two interconnected businesses: the EOS Super Community, where crypto enthusiasts go for useful insights and explainers, and the POW Mine Pool, which offers all the necessary mining features. Revain users approve of the great interface of the pool. However, they advise avoiding Huobi Pool Token (HPT) since it simply is not really valuable.
9. Coinfoundry
The company intends to fix latency issues and ensure stable work by spreading out its servers across Asia, Europe, and the US. . Revain authors also like the diversity of available cryptocurrencies. Yet they also warn miners about a slight issue: Coinfoundry is a relatively small project with a small user base.
10. OKEx Pool
OKEx exchange launched the platform back in 2018. It has been growing rapidly ever since and pleased the Revain authors by having an easy registration process and good interface. But it still has rigid demands for the equipment of the users and is not available in some countries.