INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
If you're serious about cryptocurrency mining, then before you begin mining right away, you should first look at the best mining pools of
2018 for cryptocurrency.This is because the most popular currencies such as Bitcoin and Litecoin can take centuries to generate a valid
'block' on your own and make money.With Mining pools, you can work with other miners and devices across the internet to pool your resources
in performing complex calculations to generate blocks of data
The mining 'reward', as it's known, is then split proportionally amongst each participant.This makes mining much faster, but don't just join
the first mining pool you see
This is because the method used to allocate rewards and the final amount you'll receive will depend on the mining pool in question.So, in
this guide we've listed five of the best known pools online today, to help you decide which is right for you.Where possible we've found
pools with multiple servers around the world, allowing you to connect easily
If these pique your interest and you want more information, head over to the Bitcoin Wiki to see a detailed comparison of all the top
Slush PoolVeteran outfit with some useful help for newbiesOldest mining pool in existenceWorldwide serversRelatively high feesSlush Pool
started out in 2010 when it was known as Bitcoin Pooled Mining Server before rebranding itself
It's the oldest currently active mining pool and has an excellent reputation for stability and accuracy
Currently Slush Pool is the fourth largest mining pool representing around 11.4% of hash power overall.The sign-up process is very simple
and you can create a demo miner in order to familiarize yourself with the dashboard
The website itself offers both a simple and a more advanced interface for experienced miners.You can also set your minimum pay-out threshold
to as little as 0.001 BTC, but there are additional fees for any pay-outs under 0.01BTC.Slush Pool is democratic in that you can register
your preferences about the kind of mining you want your devices to perform, for instance: Bitcoin Core strict rules only.The website also
has some very useful sections for those who are new to mining
This section on mining rewards is particularly helpful as it contains a detailed explanation of how pay-outs are measured by each user's
If you switch from Slush Pool to another, then try to return, your score will drop significantly.Pool fees stand at 2% which is a little
higher than some of the other pools out there
Slush Pool has servers in the US, Europe, Singapore and China.2
AntPoolThe biggest mining pool in the worldEasy-to-use dashboardChoose your own mining rewardSmaller pay-outsAntPool is currently the
largest mining pool operating today, representing just over a quarter of hash power worldwide
It's owned and operated by Bitmain, a China-based firm which also manufactures the Antminer series of ASIC mining devices (you can check out
our guide to the best ASIC devices here).AntPool has servers all around the world and makes use of an innovative peer-to-peer mining
protocol to link your device to the one nearest to you during setup, for a faster and more reliable connection.Once you've set up your
account and entered your wallet address, payments are sent every day between 08:00-15:00 Beijing time (which is eight hours ahead of the
UK), provided that the amount you've mined is at least 0.001 BTC.Being the largest pool allows users some perks in that they can choose how
One method is PPS (Payment Per Share) which means you're charged 4% on pay-outs plus 2% of any transaction fees earned
You can also choose PPLNS (Payment Per Last N Shares) which is free but AntPool will keep all transaction fees.You can mine solo if you wish
but it's very unlikely you'll make a profit doing so unless you have a colossal amount of hash power
Whichever method you choose, remember that individual pay-outs are generally smaller for larger mining pools.3
BTC.comA large pool with an innovative rewards systemWell-established companyMiners share transaction feesMinor issues with navigating the
siteThis outfit is one of the most well-known brands in the world of cryptocurrency, and owns the domain Bitcoin.com as well as BTC.com
Prior to starting a mining pool in 2016, BTC.com was already famous for creating a powerful Bitcoin wallet as well as its own blockchain
explorer.BTC.com operates one of the most popular mining pools, vying with AntPool for the top spot
It currently represents over 20% of overall global hash power
Mining servers are located in both the EU (Germany) and China
BTC.com currently supports mining only Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash.Ever innovative, BTC.com has its own method of rewarding miners known as
FPPS (Full Pay Per Share)
FPPS calculates a standard transaction fee within a given period,adds it to the block reward (currently 12.5 BTC) and then distributes the
whole to miners as with traditional PPS (Payment Per Share)
Sharing transaction fees, especially when they are high, makes mining much more lucrative which may explain BTC.com's popularity.The only
small criticism we can level at BTC.com is that we found the website to be rather flaky
For example, the page explaining how FPPS works failed to load, and while the help section of the website is useful, there's no specific
We were nevertheless able to find all the information needed to configure a miner
Windows users can also add and configure miners easily using BTC tool and BTC Smart Agent.4
KanoPoolA tempting niche option due to relatively generous pay-outsNo registration requiredLow pool feesWebsite is very basicKanoPool has
Despite being one of the smaller pools out there (currently representing only 0.3% of global hash power), it has become popular due to its
low mining fees and easy setup.Registration with KanoPool is optional: when configuring your miner, you only need to enter your BTC wallet
address as the username to begin mining right away
However, users who do choose to register can view more detailed statistics about the mining pool.The payment method used by KanoPool is
PPLNS (Payment Per Last N Shares)
'N' in this case is five times the network difficulty, immediately after a block is found.The pool fee itself is 0.9% and transaction fees
are included in the block reward, meaning pay-outs are quite generous relative to rival larger mining pools, although payment may take some
You can find a more detailed explanation of how pay-outs are managed on KanoPool's website.If you do choose to visit the KanoPool web page,
you'll see that the layout is extremely simplistic, and there are no detailed tutorials as all the information you need to get started is on
Nevertheless Kano himself is an active participant in the BitcoinTalk forum and is very prompt to respond to questions about the pool.5
F2PoolChina-based pool with support for a huge range of virtual currenciesClear fee structureSupports multiple cryptocurrenciesSign-up
process requires phoneF2Pool (also known as DiscusFish) is a Chinese-based mining pool and has been operating since 2013
It has several servers on the Chinese mainland as well as in Hong Kong and the US.F2Pool is relatively large, representing around 5.5% of
the hash power for the most popular Bitcoin mining pools
Monero to name just a few.Pay-outs are made at midnight UTC each day on a PPS (Payment Per Share) basis of negative 3%
The pool keeps all transaction fees
Right now, the threshold for Bitcoin payments is 0.005 BTC.The website is also currently offering a little extra incentive to miners in that
once your mining totals 1 BTC exactly, you'll automatically receive 5 NMC (Name Coin), 100 SYS and 1 EMC (Emercoin)
non-Chinese users who need support are encouraged to use the official F2Pool English language thread in the BitcoinTalk forums.The sign-up
process for the pool can be a little tricky as you need to fill out a Captcha and also verify your identity via text message, meaning you
must have access to a mobile phone to start mining.nsvXLHiVRRsmD2mqF3oLYo.jpg#
