Which cryptocurrency mining pool to choose? Pools VS Cloud Mining.

Alexey Russkikh

The era of solo mining is long gone. Ratio computing power and the complexity of the networks does not allow receiving a reward for signing a block. Today the only way to mine cryptocurrency - they will unite in mining pools. However, many miners fail when choosing a pool due to a lack of understanding of the operating principles, specifics, differences and other features of mining pools.

In this article we will look at everything related to mining pools: from their differences to choosing the best servers for specific cryptocurrencies.

Definition of mining pool

A mining pool is a kind of server whose main task is to divide computing tasks into many subtasks. The latter are distributed among all participants who are connected to the pool. Initially, mining existed; their computing power was enough to independently mine cryptocurrency.

As the complexity of the network grew from attracting new participants, the sphere of “coin” mining moved to video cards. Mining on processors is a thing of the past due to minimal profitability (and later, complete lack of profit).

Subsequently, the process of increasing mining complexity led to the fact that without combining capacities, miners could no longer mine cryptocurrency. It is important to consider that a mining pool is not a completely collective mining operation with an even distribution. It is rather a division of tasks, where each participant makes a profit, depending on the effort (power) invested.

Principle of operation

The contribution is assessed by the concept of a “share” (from English share), which is part of the computational hash function for signing a block. The server's task includes not only distributing tasks, but also checking their validity. When the “share” meets the complexity values ​​required for signing a block, the operation is confirmed.

The reward received by the pool is distributed to all miners, depending on the number of valid “shares” transferred (depending on the method of reward in a particular pool). Moreover, who signed the “share” block has no influence on the final distribution of the reward.

Each such server is a full-fledged business that “lives” on commissions collected from users. Mining pools may underestimate overall computing performance to obtain additional profit from “unaccounted power” (the so-called “hidden commission”), but such servers instantly end up in negative ratings and blacklists, losing all participants.

IN technically, the design of the mining pool cannot be called complex. It is a dedicated server that distributes tasks. Moreover, the pool does not require complex configuration (if you already have ready-made templates). However, the key aspect is to attract participants, which is based on:

• Powerful advertising.
• Reputation of the mining pool.
• Security.
• Favorable conditions for participants (low commission and other privileges).

You should also remember about the “51% rule”, which is a direct threat to centralization and allows you to attack any cryptocurrency. Once this point is reached, the pool should potentially announce its liquidation unless the collection of high capacities serves specific purposes.

Types of mining and methods of reward

In the field of cryptocurrency mining, there are three mining methods:

1. Solo.
2. Collective (in Pool).
3. Cloudy.

The latter stands out noticeably from the rest, since it does not require equipment; it is often classified as an investment rather than a “digging”. Solo mining is almost completely a thing of the past. This is due to the growing complexity of networks and the demand for digital money mining.

New “coins” rely on solo mining, but as they develop and attract participants, “loners” will quickly be replaced. An example is mining Pirl coin solo without a pool. Therefore, collective mining, with the pooling of capacities, is the only way to compete in the field of cryptocurrency mining.

One of the key factors when choosing a server is the reward method that is used on a particular resource. It can affect your bottom line and can either increase or decrease your earning potential. There are more than 20 payment methods, although PPS and PPLNS are considered the most popular and widespread. The simplest PROP method is becoming less and less popular, gradually becoming a thing of the past.

P.P.S. or Pay Per Share– for participants this type of remuneration is considered the most promising. When a block is found, each participant receives income for each “ball” sent. The amount is calculated for the user based on the reward divided by the network complexity. Despite the fact that this distribution principle is the most profitable for miners, it is riskier for pool owners, which usually leads to higher commissions.

PPLNS—Pay Per Last N Shares– the method is considered one of the most profitable and does not include payments for each “ball”. Accruals are made not for searching for a block, but for so-called “shifts”, which represent certain time intervals. The method is in many ways similar to PROP, but differs in a “slow start” when calculating rewards.

That is, the calculated power indicator will increase to the maximum gradually (only after reaching the peak value will payments be full). But even if you are disconnected from the mining pool, payments will occur until the estimated capacity drops to zero.

In addition to the three above methods of remuneration, there are the following types:

Solo	CPPSRB	PPSW
PPS+	Geometric	POT
SMPPS	DGM	BPM
ESMPPS	FPPS	Eligius
Puddinpop	HBPPS	Triplemining
RSMPPS	RBPPS	Score

How to choose a good mining pool?

Choosing a mining pool for beginners can be a daunting task, especially with the huge variety of servers available. First of all, the pool must be financially profitable; this is the primary and only important criterion. The following parameters will help you choose the most profitable, safe and stable option.

Hashrate

The power of a particular pool directly affects its potential for finding new blocks, and therefore the income of participants. It is for this reason that the resources created among the first are the most popular.

Any new servers, despite their features, cannot attract as much a large number of participants, which means they will lose in power and efficiency in searching for blocks.

Commission amount

This criterion cannot be called decisive, but it also contributes to the income received from mining. Before choosing a server, make at least a superficial comparison of different pools in terms of commission size. In the long term, this may affect your earnings.

Reward system

An important indicator that needs to be correlated with your own capacities in order to extract the most favorable conditions. For example, with proportional profit sharing, in the case of low capacity, the level of income will be unusually low due to the insignificant contribution.

Therefore, the choice of a reward system will be important if it meets the conditions (for ASICs or large centers it is different and selected individually).

Location

An important parameter. In this regard, there is an opinion that it is best to choose servers that are located as close as possible to the equipment. This will ensure a stable connection and minimal ping.

The immediate geographical location is of secondary importance. To select the best connection, use the "ping" command with the server address.

TOP 5 pools for Bitcoin

Let's look at the largest Bitcoin mining pools that provide Better conditions for mining cryptocurrency.

BTC.com

The undisputed leader, which, according to statistics, occupies a huge part of the total network hashrate (16.8% in monthly terms and 18.3% in annual monitoring). Its peculiarity lies in its low commission (1.5%) and the use of modified and unique system rewards. For this, a more advanced version of PPS is used, which involves full payment per ball (FPPS). Specializes in algorithm.

Opened in 2016, although the brand was known earlier for creating a popular wallet. The main servers are located in China and Germany, and the company is also planning to expand to Canada and Switzerland.

Another largest pool that stands out thanks to its functional panel and the ability to choose a reward method. Part of the Bitmain concern, a company that produces ASICs. According to annual statistics, it is in second place, occupying 13.1% of the total capacity.

Low payouts are considered a disadvantage; the use of peer-to-peer connections is also considered a disadvantage.

The third largest and one of the very first pools that were created (2010). Great for beginners because simple interface and navigation. A huge advantage is that the servers are located all over the world, which ensures good ping.

According to annual statistics, it occupies 10.6% of the total hashrate. It is distinguished by high stability, a reliable reputation and a program for demo mining (familiarization with the process for novice miners). Conditional disadvantages include the commission, which is slightly higher than that of its closest competitors - 2%.

A popular resource that allows you to mine BTC, Litecoin and 8 other major cryptocurrencies. In terms of annual hashrate, it ranks 7th (6.8%). The downside is the increased commissions for major cryptocurrencies – 4%. The minimum commission on the server is only for Dashcoin, ETN and LTC, it is 2%.

Large mining pool, occupies 10.2% of the total network hashrate according to annual statistics. Does not require mandatory registration and supports the two most popular reward systems: PPS and PPLNS. The pool is registered in China and has been operating since 2013, during which time it has gained a reliable reputation and a huge number of participants.

TOP 3 pools for Ethereum

Let's look at the top of the largest and most famous pools that make it possible to effectively mine Ether.

One of the largest pools, the second most powerful among all servers (24-26% of the total annual hashrate). The number of participants exceeds 140 thousand people. It also allows you to mine “coins” without registration. The only significant disadvantage can be considered an additional commission of 0.001 ETH, which is charged when withdrawing less than 1 ETH.

The undisputed leader, which ranks 1st in terms of power for Ethereum (28.7% of power according to the average annual indicator). Supports the production of 5 “coins”, including the quite rare Beam and Grin. Reward system – PPS+ (combines the advantages of PPLNS and PPS). For all “coins” the withdrawal commission is 1%.

One of the largest resources for mining ether, as well as Zcash and several other “coins”. Supports PPLNS reward system. It ranks 4th in power among all servers for ETH (almost 11% of the total hashrate). Also considered one of the best RVN mining pools, it supports 8 cryptocurrencies in total.

The pool charges a commission of 1%.

TOP 3 pools for Monero

Among the pools that are very popular in Monero mining are the following servers.

mineXMR

One of the main pools for Monero mining, with a share of the total network hashrate of 17-19%. It is considered one of the very first servers for Monero, which was launched in 2014. Reward system – PPLNS, fixed commission – 1%.

supportXMR

The peculiarity of this pool is that it supports mining exclusively Monero. It also stands out with the lowest commission among all major servers - 0.6%. It also occupies a leading position in terms of uptime, the value reaches 100%.

A popular cloud mining service, which is also one of the leaders for Monero and Bytecoin. Supports up to 11 popular coins, including Etc, Bitcoin Gold and others. Withdrawal commission – 1%.

List of other popular servers

Many popular pools support several cryptocurrencies, and large multipools even allow you to mine more than 10 “coins”. Giants such as NiceHash work with all algorithms: from popular ones and SHA-256, to less popular ones, like DGB on Qubit.

In addition to the number of cryptocurrencies, pools are often classified according to requirements and operating conditions, where the main place is occupied by the registration process. For some servers it is mandatory, while others allow access without registration.

The server pool is intended to be pre-created virtual servers at the processor with their subsequent issuance when ordering services. This achieves a significant reduction in order processing time. This feature is available from BILLmanager version 5.85

Activating a server pool for the processing module

When the pool is active, BILLmanager 5 automatically creates servers on processing modules with the "Use pool" option enabled.
To use the pool, you need to create a special account to which the servers from the pool will be linked. This is a regular client, with the exception that the servers associated with it are considered to be in a pool and are given when ordering services other users.

Pool account automatically are appointed 100% discount when connected to the processing module.

For the pool to function correctly, it is necessary that the account be included in a group with the rights "Allow removal of services" And "Ignore the number of services per account". You must do this setting yourself.

You can enable a server pool in the settings of the processing module, both when creating it and when editing it.
To enable the pool, check the “Use pool” option and in the list that appears, specify the previously created client under which servers will be created in the pool.

Processing module settings

List of fields:

• Use pool- if the option is active, then automatic creation virtual servers in a pool;
• Client- the account from which servers are ordered for the pool;
• OS Templates- list of templates operating systems, for which servers will be created regardless of statistics;
• Max. time in the pool- maximum time the server spent in the pool, in months; upon reaching this time, the servers are automatically deleted;
• Calculate statistics for- the period in days for which statistics of ordered servers are calculated. Based on statistics, the number of servers created in the pool is calculated;
• Ordered for the period (0< VDS <= 3) - the number of servers created in the pool, if, according to statistics, during the specified period, clients purchased from 1 to 3 virtual servers;
• Ordered during the period (3< VDS <= 6) - the number of servers created in the pool, if, according to statistics, during the specified period, clients purchased from 4 to 6 virtual servers;
• Ordered during the period (6< VDS <= 10) - the number of servers created in the pool, if, according to statistics, during the specified period, clients purchased from 7 to 10 virtual servers;
• Ordered for the period (10< VDS <= 15) - the number of servers created in the pool, if, according to statistics, during the specified period, clients purchased from 11 to 15 virtual servers;
• Ordered per period (VDS > 15)- the number of servers created in the pool, if, according to statistics, clients purchased more than 15 virtual servers during the specified period.

How a server pool works

A task is created for the pool in the crown:

*/3 * * * * /usr/local/mgr5/sbin/mgrctl -m billmgr itempool.process.cron

When the itempool.process.cron function runs, the following operations are performed:

1. statistics are calculated in accordance with the specified settings
2. servers are being created in a pool
3. Old servers are being removed

Statistics are stored in the database in a table itempoolstat. Calculation of statistics is slightly different depending on the version used VMmanager:

• For VMmanager KVM operating system and tariff plan are taken into account
• For VMmanager OVZ only the operating system is taken into account

When creating servers in a pool for VMmanager OVZ the tariff plan is selected automatically - the first tariff plan connected to the processor is taken in accordance with the priority (field "Sorting" in the list of tariff plans - the lower the value, the higher the priority).

When creating servers in a pool, there is a limit of one operation on one processor at one time. The same restriction applies when deleting old unused servers.

Issuing servers from the pool

When processing an order, servers in the pool that match the parameters are searched (if an attempt to issue the first server fails, the second one is selected, etc.).

For each server the following is performed:

• copying parameters and IP addresses from a service in the pool to a service ordered by a client
• deleting information about a service in the pool from the database
• change server domain name
• For VMmanager KVM, if the operating system is not Windows, the script is executed when the hostname is changed (via ssh)
• if the customer selects a recipe when ordering, it starts
• a setparam operation is run to apply the current parameters

If a suitable server was not found, or all attempts to issue from the pool failed, the standard process of creating a virtual server starts.

When you disable the "Use pool" option in the processor settings, virtual servers already created in the pool are not deleted, but are issued when processing customer orders until they run out, or until they become outdated and are deleted by the crown.

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• SHA-256 (bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Paccoin, Peercoin, Pascal coin, etc.);
• X11 (currencies Dash, Pura, etc.);
• Ethash (currencies Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Metaverse ETP, Ubiq (mining pool), etc.);
• Scrypt (currencies Litecoin, Dogecoin (DOGE), BitConnect (BCC), Bitdeal, etc.);
• Equihash (Zcash, Komodo, ZenCash (ZEN (pool mining)), etc.);
• Cryptonight (monero, Bytecoin (BCN), Aeon, etc.);
• Dagger (Pirl, etc.);
• NeoScrypt (Vivo, Innova, etc.);
• Blake(2b) (Decred, Siacoin).

How does a mining pool work?

So, as we have already found out, you, as a member of the pool, provide the server with the computing power of your equipment and in return receive your share of the mined coins.

The contribution of each participant in closing the block is valued at a share (from the English “share” - share, part). A ball is a piece of work to find a solution to the hash function for signing a block, which is issued by the pool to the miner. The task of the mining pool is to collect shares from miners and check their validity. When the pool server sees that the ball satisfies the current difficulty values ​​of the network algorithm, it declares that it has found a block. For closing a block, the mining pool receives a reward, which it must subsequently distribute among the miners participating in the pool. There are several approaches to reward distribution:

• PROP or proportional approach is the simplest option for distributing rewards for finding a block. In accordance with this approach, the reward is divided in proportion to the share sent by each participant in the mining pool. Payment of remuneration is carried out only upon signing the block.
• PPLNS (Pay Per Last N Shares) is considered the most effective option for distributing rewards for signing a block. Payments are made not based on the fact of finding a block, but for “shifts” (a certain number of time intervals).
• PPS (Pay Per Share) is considered the most optimal option for distributing rewards for finding a block from the perspective of a pool participant. In this case, the miner participating in the pool receives a certain reward for each share he sends. The size of this payout is calculated by dividing the reward for finding a block by the difficulty of the network. For a mining pool, this option is not the most preferable, because the risks with this payment option are much higher (therefore, pools that use this approach charge a higher commission).

It is also worth noting that the server owner takes a commission from the reward that miners participating in the mining pool receive for closing a block. Typically, commission costs range from 0.1 to 5 percent. In addition, some mining pools often resort to some tricks to earn more money. For example, sometimes some unscrupulous servers underestimate the amount of computing power expended by miners, which allows them to earn an additional 10% of the reward amount. Of course, not all shared mining pools resort to such practices; There are also honest, profitable pools that value their name. Additionally, there are cryptocurrency mining pools that claim to have no fees (eg zen mining pool). Be careful, as a rule, such services charge hidden fees.

How to choose a mining pool

We got the gist of it figured out, but then a completely logical question arises: which pool to choose? For beginners, choosing the best mining pool is not such an easy task. But we will help you navigate this variety of pools, each of which is trying to assure potential clients that their server is the most profitable pool.

In general, it is worth noting that the main thing that interests us in a mining pool is the opportunity to earn money. Accordingly, the choice of pool should be based on this criterion. There are several parameters, the analysis of which will allow you to form a more or less accurate idea of ​​the “quality” of a particular mining pool:

• pool power. The higher the computing power of the pool you choose, the greater the chance it will have to be the first to find a block. In the context of making a profit, this is an incredibly important question, because if the server cannot effectively close blocks, then it will not be able to offer you a normal profit, which means that you will simply be wasting your time and money. New mining pools cannot boast of decent power, so such options should be abandoned.
• an approach to distributing rewards among miners participating in a mining pool. We talked about this in the previous paragraph of our article. You will need to find out exactly what approach is used by which mining pool. You must choose the option that suits you so as not to lose the profitability of your mining. For example, if the mining pool you are interested in follows a proportional reward sharing system, and you cannot make a significant contribution to the development of the block, then you will therefore not be able to make a normal profit.
• method of making payments. This can be like withdrawing mined coins to a cryptocurrency wallet or withdrawing funds to a card; The withdrawal currencies may also differ. There are a lot of options, you need to choose the one that suits you specifically.
• commission costs. Be sure to study this issue, because the profitability of mining will also depend on this. It is not necessary to chase minimum commissions; The main thing is that, provided you pay commission costs, you can still make a decent profit.
• your initial data. We are, of course, talking about your cryptocurrency mining equipment and your electricity tariff. Theoretically, you can mine in a pool, or, but in practice, not all options will be profitable. For example, mining on a central processor is generally the least profitable option, and given high electricity tariffs, it is generally unprofitable. In any case, mining on old, low-performance hardware will not bring you good profits, so you must ensure that your mining hardware produces a decent hashrate. Also pay attention to the cost of electricity in your region or country, because your mining costs and, as a result, your profit will depend on this price. Check the electricity rates offered by your supplier, there may be discounted rates that you can take advantage of.

It would also be a good idea to search for information about the mining pools that interest you on the Internet. Read forums, reviews and surveys, look at the rating of the best mining pools. The network also provides independent pool statistics (for example, on the website blockchain.info).

In general, there is no single answer on which mining pool to choose. Each miner has its own optimal option. Accordingly, you should evaluate mining pools based on your own goals and desires.

How to set up a mining pool

Now that you have already decided on the ideal mining pool for you, you can move on to the next step - setting up your mining pool. Setting up a mining pool is quite simple and fast; even a beginner can cope with such a task without any problems.

Of course, before you start working in a mining pool, you need to create your personal account. We will look at this process using the example of Bitcoin mining in the SlushPool mining pool (on other platforms the setup procedure may be slightly different, but not critical; the essence is the same).

To do this, you will need to go to the site and find the “Register here” button in the upper right corner of the page. You will need to fill out a short registration form in which you must provide your username, email address, password, and agree to the platform rules. You will receive an activation link by email, following which you will complete the registration process.

Now that you have your account, you must set up your account, edit or add new workers, add the address of the cryptocurrency wallet to which your reward will be paid, set up two-factor authentication (optional, for greater reliability and security), etc. .d.

In addition, it is worth noting that the platform has an online calculator that allows you to calculate how much profit you can get if you mine in a given mining pool using your own mining equipment. You will simply need to enter the hashrate of your device and the calculator will calculate the approximate reward you can receive, and all you have to do is take into account your electricity costs.

Next, you will need to connect your mining equipment (in our particular case, an ASIC miner) to the mining pool. If you are using a standalone ASIC miner with the Stratum protocol, then installing it will not be difficult, since such mining equipment is usually equipped with a user interface of some kind, and you only need to specify the server(s) address (url(s)) , username and password:

• URL: stratum+tcp://stratum.slushpool.com:3333
• userID: userName
• Password: anything

You will need to enter your user ID and worker name. The password can be a random word since there are no security issues involved. If someone tries to connect to the server using your account, they will mine in your favor.

If you are using an ASIC miner connected to your personal computer, then you will need to download and install the one you intend to mine. (NOTE: You will need a miner program anyway if you are going to mine on a CPU or video card!)

As a rule, the official website of the mining pool you have chosen will list the mining software packages that this particular platform supports. There are also links there, clicking on which will allow you to download the miner program. For example, SlushPool offers you to download either cgminer or BFGminer, which only work with ASIC miners (in principle, mining Bitcoins without an ASIC miner makes no sense). You download the mining program and unpack it to a convenient location on your personal computer, and then install it (the installation guide will also be provided on the official website of the mining pool or you can find it online). You will need to tell the miner the server address(es) (url(s)), username and password. To do this, you will need to create a file with a bat extension. This can be done very simply: create a new document in the Notepad text editor, write something like the following command in it - ./cgminer --userpass userID.workerID:Any password --url stratum+tcp://stratum.slushpool.com:3333– and save this file in bat format.

Next, if, of course, you have not already done so, you will need to set up an address for payments. Please note that a mining pool is not a wallet, so your address for payments cannot be created on the pool website. However, there are many wallet providers (see our articles and). You can easily create your own wallet or use the exchange’s cryptocurrency wallet. Go to the “Payments” tab and enter your wallet address there.

At this point, as a rule, the setup of mining in the pool is completed and you can proceed directly to mining the cryptocurrency of your choice.

Popular mining pools

Pool name	Cryptocurrencies that can be mined	Commission	Features of the service
		from 2 to 5 percent	Availability of a convenient, Russian-language interface; Availability of own software; payments are made in bitcoins to an external wallet or NiceHash wallet; high reliability of service.
Minergate	eth, btc, dash and other digital currencies	1.5 percent	Good power; withdrawal of funds is carried out to a personal wallet or exchange wallet.
Zpool	Supports almost all algorithms.	1.25 – 2 percent	No need to register; withdrawal of funds is carried out in bitcoins; presence of a unique script; great for beginners.
F2Pool	Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Zcash (ZEC), Siacoin (SIA), Dash, Monero (XMR).	5 percent	Payments are made in accordance with the PPS approach; holds just over seven percent of the network hashrate.
	Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum	It is stated that there are no commissions (in fact this is not the case)	Availability of a convenient, Russian-language interface; holds just over 13 percent of the network hashrate; supports payment options PPS, PPLNS; daily payments.
BTCC pool	BTC, BCH, LTC, SBTC	1 - 4 percent
BW pool	BTC, LTC, ETH, ethereum classic (ETC), UB	From 1 to 4.5 percent	Lack of Russian-language interface; good power; daily payments; PPS, PPLNS, solo payment systems are supported.
Slushpool	Bitcoin, Zcash	2 percent	Availability of a convenient, Russian-language interface; having its own profitable payment system.
Dwarfpool	Monero, Ethereum, Zcash, Expanse (EXP)	1 percent	Good power; no registration required; automatic payments every hour; The RBPPS payment system is supported, and 24/7 Russian-language support is available.
Suprnova	Bitcoin Cash (BCH), LCC, Bitcoin Gold (BTG), Garlicoin, Vertcoin, VERGE, KredsCoin, ROICoin, Criptoreal, MUNCoin, ZCoin, ZERO, BitcoinPrivate, Credits, Wavi, Dynamic, Polytimos, Electroneum, Starks, Ravencoin, Pigeoncoin, Minexcoin, ZCLASSIC, ZENCash, ZCASH, BitcoinZ, BitSend, BitCore, Einsteinium, Komodo (KMD), HUSH, DashCoin, LBRY.io Credits, Ethereum, UBIQ, Decred (DCR), Sibcoin, MonaCoin, GroestlCoin, Digibyte, Litecoin, GameCredits FlorinCoin	1 percent	Supports PPLNS payment system, decent hashrate, instant payouts.
MiningPoolHub	Adzcoin, Auroracoin (Qubit), Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold, Dash, Digibyte (DGB), Electroneum, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Expanse, Feathercoin, Gamecredits, Geocoin, Globalboosty, Groestlcoin, Litecoin, Maxcoin, Monacoin, Monero, Musicoin , Myriadcoin, Sexcoin, Siacoin, Startcoin, Verge, Vertcoin, Zcash, Zclassic (ZCL), Zcoin, Zencash	0.9 percent	Automatic switching from one cryptocurrency to another, exchange of mined coins for any other altcoins, good power, the ability to select a coin for mining on the site using the “Hub” function, the PPLNS payment system is supported.

Bitcoin mining pools

List of top Bitcoin mining pools:

• Slush Pool
• Eligius
• Bitminer
• Kano CKPool
• F2Pool
• BW Pool
• Bitfury
• Minergate
• Give me Coins
• Mining Pool Hub
• GHash.io

Ethereum mining pools

List of top Ethereum mining pools:

• Suprnova
• Coinotron
• ETHpool
• DwarfPool
• 2Miners
• Ethereumpool
• Weipool
• Alphapool
• Coinmine
• Ethermine
• F2pool
• Miningpoolhub
• Minergate

ZCash mining pools

List of top pools for ZCash mining:

• 2miners
• Flypool
• Suprnova
• Coinmine
• Dwarfpool
• F2Pool
• ZSolo
• Miningpoolhub
• Equipool

How to create your own mining pool

Mining in a pool is a rather tempting and promising idea for making money. But the fact that part (albeit small) of honestly earned money must be given to the server owner does not please many. Such miners are interested in whether it is possible to create a mining pool with their own hands. Many people have heard from the news that Bitcoin enthusiasts from Russia have created a mining pool, but how easy it is to do this and what the future holds for these Russian mining pools is unknown. Let's figure out whether it's really possible to make your own pool.

Theoretically, it is quite possible to create your own pool for cryptocurrency mining, but for this you will need certain knowledge and skills, because we are talking about writing software. Of course, you can now find mining pool server software online (for example, on the Github website), but its performance and reliability are questionable.

In any case, if you have absolutely no understanding of this issue, but still want to organize such a business, then it is better to hire specialist developers who will make a pool for you, which means that we are talking about quite a large investment. But also take into account the fact that in order for you to make money from your mining pool, you will need good computing power, which means your pool must be popular with miners. But gaining the trust of miners and promoting your own pool is not so easy! So, if you are not ready for this option, then it is still better for you to refuse it.

Pools VS Cloud Mining

Currently, another popular and profitable option for making money from mining digital currencies is. In essence, cloud mining is the same mining in a pool, but without using your own equipment for mining cryptocurrencies. In this case, the cloud mining service offers you to rent your computing power for a certain fee (in other words, buy hashrate). Companies that provide cloud mining services are the most powerful data centers with mining farms, which are located in countries where electricity tariffs are incredibly low or there is access to green energy (energy obtained from alternative sources). In addition to paying for capacity on some platforms, you will also need to pay a commission (this is how some services cover their mining costs, in particular electricity costs).

A logical question arises: is it better to mine cryptocurrencies in a mining pool or use the services of a cloud mining service? Of course, if you don’t have a powerful one, then it’s better for you to opt for the cloud mining option, because buying computing power will cost you several times cheaper than purchasing top-end equipment. In addition, for a beginner, this option is the most convenient, since you will not need to worry about setting up mining equipment and software, monitoring the operation of this equipment, paying electricity bills, etc. Also, it is worth noting that the cloud mining option is ideal for those who live in regions or countries where electricity tariffs are high, because in their case, mining in a pool can easily turn out to be unprofitable. If you have good mining equipment, then perhaps you should still choose the option of mining in a pool, because in this case it is not worth spending money on renting hashrate.

Accordingly, there is simply no single answer to the question of which is better: pool mining or cloud mining. The choice is entirely yours. In any case, to get a more accurate answer to the question posed, you should use a mining payback calculator. On the official websites of mining pools or cloud mining services, as a rule, there are special calculators that will help you roughly calculate the profit you can get. You can also make calculations manually; to do this, you will need to subtract all mining costs from potential income.

Conclusion

Overall, mining pools are a great option for passive income. Mining in a pool allows you to greatly increase your chances of success, which is especially important nowadays, when competition in the mining industry is incredibly serious, and the complexity of the network is constantly growing. Even solo mining on powerful equipment may not give the desired results, especially when it comes to mining top cryptocurrencies.

The main thing in this context is to choose the right mining pool, because an insufficiently powerful pool is unlikely to be the first to find a block, which means you will wait a very long time for your profit. Accordingly, before choosing one or another platform, you should thoroughly study all the options and only then make any decisions. This article should just guide you on this issue and help you make the right choice.