How to Choose Cryptocurrency Mining Pool?
If you have decided to try cryptocurrency mining, even if you do not have powerful equipment, one of the decisions you need to make is which mining pool to join. Here are some tips for choosing which group to join to increase your earnings.
1. Choose the best coin first
Not all coins are created equal – some are more profitable, others earn you less for the same hashing power. Even if you have chosen the best pool for a particular coin, if you are mining a coin with low profitability, you will not earn much.
Basically, older and well-established coins are less profitable using equipment that is not as powerful, but this is not an absolute rule. There are plenty of online calculators, such as What to Mine, that help you decide which coins are worth your hashing power the most.
2. Reputation, notoriety, notoriety
There are cynics among pool owners for sure, and you definitely don’t want to choose a pool that robs you of your winnings — or worse, doesn’t pay at all. So, after searching with Google and choosing a mining pool for the coin of your choice, do a little research on that to see what other miners have to say about those specific pools.
Don’t trust a review blindly, but if there are a lot of negative comments and complaints about a particular pool, there is usually no smoke without fire, so just ignore that pool and move on.
3. Size matters
In addition to reputation, one of the most important considerations when choosing a pool is its size. The general rule here is whichever is best.
The two factors that determine pool size are the number of connected miners and – above all – the pool’s mining rate. Small groups with only a few miners and a low hash rate are not more profitable than solo mining.
One problem with superstars is that they often have a lot of difficulty, so if your equipment isn’t strong enough, you may not be able to join, even if it sounds like your dream group. This is why you need to find a balance between the size of the pool and the power of your equipment. Since there are dozens or even hundreds of coin collectors, it’s usually not a problem to find a pool large enough to support your low-end equipment.
4. The rules and history of payment in the complex
The minimum payout is also an important factor when choosing a mining pool to join. If it’s a small mine and the minimum payout is high, it can take months to get there.
Payment limits depend on the currency as well. There are coins with low transaction fees, and for them, the threshold is usually lower, such as the equivalent of 20 cents or $1.
You can also look at the pool fees, but since they are generally between 1 and 2 percent, if any, the fees that the pool charges are almost always a negligible factor in your decision whether to join them or not.
Needless to say, you don’t have to stick to just one group – you can try a few groupings and see which one(s) work best for you. However, being split between multiple pools means that you will take longer to reach the payout, and you will also pay more for transactions. With coins with low payment limits and low transaction fees this isn’t an issue, but with coins like Monero it’s best if you don’t split your effort between multiple pools because it may turn out that half of what you earn goes for transaction fees.