Mining pool
Also called: pool, mining pools
A mining pool combines the power of many miners to find blocks more often and share the rewards according to the work each one contributes.
A mining pool is a service that combines the hashrate of thousands of machines belonging to different miners. Together, they find blocks regularly, and the pool shares out the rewards to each participant in proportion to their work, after deducting its fees. For an individual, it is a way to receive regular income instead of relying entirely on luck.
To measure each participant's work, the pool sends jobs to your machines and counts the shares they send back: solutions that are easier than a real block but prove the effort made. Payout methods vary: PPS and FPPS pay for each share at a rate calculated in advance, while PPLNS pays according to the blocks actually found. Communication between the machine and the pool goes through the Stratum protocol.
To choose a pool, look at the algorithm and coins supported, the fees, the minimum payout threshold, the payout method and the location of the servers: a nearby server reduces latency and rejected shares. In the miner's web interface, you enter the pool's Stratum address, a worker name and a password, often just "x". Set up two backup pools in case of an outage.
Our tutorials explain step by step how to connect a machine to a pool.