A mining pool involves pooling of effort and resources together by a group of miners to solve complex cryptocurrency puzzles so as to earn a block reward.
That sounds great, right? However, you must consider some factors before you start mining. This is because choosing the wrong mining pool can negatively affect your mining experience. This article will show you how to choose a mining pool as a beginner.
Key Factors Every Beginner Should Consider
-Stability of the Mining Pool: As a beginner, one of the things you simply don't want to ignore when choosing a mining pool is uptime percentage. Uptime is simply the amount of time a mining pool server is available to actively respond to and process shares submitted to it by miners. The last thing you want is to lose profitability potential as a result of unavailable or poor pool servers.
-Security: Do you know one of the worst things that can happen to you as a miner? Losing your profits to hackers. This is why you should choose a mining pool with a solid security system. Furthermore, it should have a reliable and trustworthy reputation.
-Profit Distribution Models: This model is used to determine how and when you get paid as a miner. Some of the most popular models available are:
- PPS: With PPS, you get paid for each share you submit to the pool. This is regardless of whether a block is mined or not.
- PPLNS: While this model involves getting paid for the total number of shares you contribute after the pool finds a block.
While PPS is ideal for miners who are willing to access small but consistent payouts over time, a PPLNS would be a better option for you if you prefer a long-term, higher payout. You should consider choosing a mining pool that offers your preferred payout model.
-Minimum Withdrawal Requirements: This is simply the least amount of cryptocurrency you must accumulate before you are eligible for requesting a payout. While some pools require a high withdrawal threshold, others have lower withdrawal limits.
Why does this matter to you as a miner? Withdrawal threshold affects your overall profitability as a miner, from determining your transactional fee to operational cost and even payout frequency.
-Settlement Cycle and Payout Speed: The settlement cycle refers to the amount of time needed to get shares deposited by miners and then have them processed and distributed. On the other hand, payment speed is the speed at which the reward you receive as a miner actually gets into your wallet. Different mining pools give you different settlement cycles and payout speeds. While some reward you hourly, others reward you daily.
Additional Factors That Make a Difference
Beyond the basic factors listed above, there are some other considerations you need to look into before selecting a mining pool:
- Pool Reputation and Track Record of Payments: A lot can go wrong as a result of choosing the wrong mining pool. If you choose a good mining pool, your mining effort will yield rewards without payout issues.
- Community Feedback: Visit social media sites to know what others have said about the mining pool. This way, you will learn about the efficiency and risk of the pool scam.
- Mobile App and Dashboard Support: Go for a mining pool that makes it easy for you to manage your mining operations. That is, you should have remote access to handle your mining operations from your mobile phone. Remote access will also give you convenience and flexibility all day long.
- Ease of Use: Choose a mining pool that has a simple user interface so you can easily navigate things.
Getting Started Made Simple: Example of ViaBTC
ViaBTC is a popular App, known for helping beginners ensure a smooth mining operation. With its beginner-friendly interface, it provides fresh starters with a premium mining service that guarantees stability and profitability.
It doesn’t have a complicated registration process. All you need is a functional email address, and you can start mining.
With ViaBTC, you can set up and run mining infrastructures easily. Thus, newbies, or first-timers, can hop into the world of BTC mining easily.
Conclusion
Mining pool offers a variety of benefits to newbie miners, from a consistent payout guarantee to reduced mining costs. However, making the fatal mistake of choosing the wrong mining pool can negatively affect your overall mining experience as a newbie miner. Listed above are some of the key factors you need to consider before selecting a mining pool as a newbie miner.
Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this article are for informational purposes only. This article does not constitute an endorsement of any of the products and services discussed or investment, financial, or trading advice. Qualified professionals should be consulted before making financial decisions.