After you have purchased your mining hardware, the next step is to choose the right mining pool. There are many providers with very outrageous promises, so the choice should be made carefully. In this article, we will talk about several mining pools and explain their pros and cons. But first of all: what is cryptocurrency mining pools, and how do mining pools work?
Crypto mining pools are groups of cooperating miners who agree to share block rewards based on their mining hash power. These pools allow individual miners to link their mining resources to other miners to improve their chances of winning a block and thus reaping the reward. There are a lot of pools to choose from, here are just some of the best:
1. AntPool
AntPool is the largest bitcoin pool in terms of its hash power. With a market share of 13.81 percent and a hash rate of 5,452 petahashes per second, AntPool is the current market leader. This Chinese mining pool operates under the direction of Bitmain Technologies, the world's largest manufacturer of mining hardware.
To join this mining pool, you can create an account for free. What you need is your own Bitcoin mining hardware, mining software you can download anytime you want. The interface is very user-friendly, the earnings are shown on the dashboard, and you can monitor your hash rate on a minute, an hour, or a daily basis.
2. BTC.TOP
AntPool and BTC.TOP have been taking turns as the driving forces behind Bitcoin mining. According to the current status, however, AntPool is ahead. BTC.TOP has a hash rate of 3,259 petahashes per second, with a market share of 10.67 percent. BTC.TOP is located in China, and if you want to participate in pool mining, you should know Mandarin, because the website does not offer an English version.
3. Slush pool
Slush Pool is the European pool (the Czech company) that was founded in late 2010. It is one of the longest existing pools on the market. Currently, all ASICs belonging to Slush Pool contribute to the accumulated computing power of around 3,000 petahashes, which corresponds to a market share of 10.13 percent, according to figures from Bitcoinity. A demo account is available to all new miners, and you can test it extensively before you register. It's a good fit for newbies.
4. ViaBTC
ViaBTC is a mining pool that was founded in May 2016 and is one of the largest in China with 2,500 petahashes per second and a market share of 9.84 percent.
5. F2Pool
F2Pool is also located in China. It has the processing power of 2,140 petahashes and a market share of 8.49 percent. F2Pool has built the world's leading cryptocurrency mining pool, servicing miners in more than 100 countries. With support for more than 40 proof-of-work cryptocurrencies, and as a top 3 mining pool operator for 20 of these networks, F2Pool continues to lead the industry with mining output that exceeds $1 billion.
6. BTCC pool
BTCC Pool is a Chinese pool that was founded in 2014. The company is also known for their Bitcoin wallets and printing physical Bitcoins. The website consists of an official account in WeChat, where miners can track their hash power, pool hash power, and the network with detailed statistics. This pool currently controls around 15% of the network hash rate.
7. Eligius
Eligius is one of the smallest and first Bitcoin mining pools in the United States. The pool was founded in 2011 by Luke Dashjr, a Bitcoin core developer. Today the pool controls almost 1% of the network hash rate. After logging in, users are provided with statistics and graphs that give users an idea of how much they can earn. Users can also view other users' statistics in the leaderboard raked by the hash power.
8. Bitfury
Bitfury is a private pool in Georgia. The company is known as a manufacturer of mining hardware.
The Bottom Line
There are several mining pools to join, and they all work a little differently. But in the end, they all work according to the basic principles of finding a block, dividing the work, and dividing the rewards based on the job done.
