Cryptocurrency is the most discussed and trending topic on various internet forums, communities, and social media. Many individuals are keen to enter the cryptoworld and unfold all the profits within it. Cryptocurrency can be bought from an exchange or mined through the mining pools. In this guide, we’ll understand the working of the cryptocurrency mining pool. 

What is  Mining Pool?

Cryptocurrency mining is the same as mining the metals from the earth. The individual or company that digs out the metal from the earth becomes the owner similarly the individual who discovers first the valid hash using the computational power becomes the owner and earns a block reward. The crypto mining can either be done solo using his/her own mining devices or through a mining pool. 

As more and more enthusiasts participated in mining to earn a block reward became equally difficult and it would take centuries for a miner to generate a block because the probability of finding the hash value first and generating a block is directly proportional to the computing power in the network. The smaller the computational power the smaller is the chance of generating the next block. Hence a solution, to this problem mining pools were formed. 

A mining pool is a group of miners pooling/combining their computational power together in order to mine a cryptocurrency quickly and earn a block reward consistently. Each contributing miner earns reward according to their investment in processing power. The working of mining pools depends on certain algorithms that are designed to check the authenticity and validity of the transactions. Miners are required to solve a complex math problem that requires millions of calculations with the help of High computational power.  When the miners combined their computational power the block generation process happens at a much faster rate as compared to a single mining rig. For more understanding of mining please refer our previous blog (What is Bitcoin mining?)

Types of Mining Pools

• Single mining pools: This type of mining pool mine only single cryptocurrency

• Multi-currency pools: This type of mining pool mine different cryptocurrencies and gives the miner a chance to choose the cryptocurrency for mining timely depending rewards points offered. 

• Cloud mining pools: Cloud-based mining can be combined with mining pools by making an online contract. This type of mining pool allows individuals to participate in mining activity without even buying specialized equipment.

How rewards are shared on mining pools?

The rewards shared after successfully adding the new block to the blockchain vary from currency to currency. The reward sharings also depend on the factors like mining difficulty, the exchange rate between different coins, the hash rate and the block generation time. Some of the followed reward structures are as follows:

1. Pay-per-share (PPS): This method offers instant payout depending on the miner’s contribution to finding the block. The payment is done using the pool's existing balance and can be withdrawn immediately.

2. Shared Maximum Pay Per Share (SMPPS): It is the same as  Pay-per-share (PPS) but limits the payout to the maximum that the pool has earned.

3. Equalized Shared Maximum Pay Per Share (ESMPPS): This method is similar to (SMPPS) but the rewards are distributed equally among all miners in the pool. 

4. Proportional (PROP):  The miner is rewarded the share that is proportional to the number of shares he has in the pool with respect to the pool’s total shares

Advantages of mining pools

• Mining pools offer a more stable income

• Mining pools lower costs of mining

• Mining pools helps in generating a higher income

Disadvantages of Mining pools

• There  may be some  interruptions in the Mining pools 

• There is a sharing of block rewards

• There may be sometimes unfavorable pool reward structure

 Widely-Used Mining Pools

• Antpool: The largest pool available on the web offering mining of cryptocurrencies like BTC, BCH, LTC, ETH, ETC, ZEC, DASH, SCC, XMC, BTM

• Minergate.com: A public mining pool mining of cryptocurrencies like ETH, ETC, ZEC, BTG, BCN, XMR, XMO, FCN, XDN, AEON

• Btc.com: The most popular mining pool among miners offering cryptocurrencies BTC, BCH, ETH, ETC, LTC, UBTC, DCR to mine

• BTCC: The largest Chinese pool in the world mining 7% of all existing blocks.

• Slush: The most trusted mining pools on internet mining 7% of all available blocks. 

Mining pools can definitely be a change to the entire mining process offering the highest and the real income without spending years depending on the computational powers. Hence, investing in a mining pool can be beneficial but always choose the mining pool that fits your personal needs and facilities.