The Ethereum cryptocurrency in 2022 caused an unprecedented stir in the cryptocurrency market. Its increased cost and popularity has attracted a large number of miners.
Today, the most effective way to mine Ethereum is collective mining, so let’s look at popular Ethereum mining pools in 2022.
What is a pool
A mining pool is a server on which participants come together to jointly mine cryptocurrency. Each member of the group has its own computing power, and the central pool server combines them into a common global computing machine and distributes all the work proportionally between them.
The pool server is perceived by the network as one regular participant. He receives the same task as any solo miner, divides it into micro-fragments and forwards them to all active nodes. It is clear that with such large capacities, pools close blocks much more often and receive a reward, which is also proportionally distributed among all participating machines.
Pools charge fees for their organization. As a rule, its size ranges from 1 to 5% of mined coins. By participating in collective mining, you will be able to earn money much more often, albeit in small parts. And as practice shows, this mining method is the most profitable.
Sparkpool (ex-Ethfans)
Sparkpool started out as a Chinese tech community called Ethfans. Switched to a commercial basis in 2018. Since then, it has been ranked 2nd, controlling 20-25% of the hashrate. Remains an active participant in the Ethereum and Proof-of-Stake communities.
Features of the work. Payouts are calculated using the PPS+ model.
Commission and profitability. Fee - 1%. High profit/block – 2.60 ETH. Empty blocks - 1.33%.
Safety. Servers are distributed throughout Southeast Asia. An additional factor of trust is the recent involvement of the manufacturer Bitmain as a strategic partner. Unites a record number of workers - 800,000+.
How to Determine the Best Pool
There are six main parameters that miners evaluate when choosing a pool:
- What currencies can the pool mine? There are services for mining only one cryptocurrency, but there are proposals for mining several types of digital coins using one algorithm at once - multipools. They monitor the profitability of each type and switch to mining the coin that will currently bring the most profit. Miners' earnings are paid in a single cryptocurrency.
- Service commission. Everything is simple here: the smaller the commission the pool reserves for itself, the higher your earnings will be.
- Pool power and its share in the global Ethereum hashrate. Each resource has statistical information about the total hashrate of the pool, the number of its members, the volume of private blocks, and how much of the total network power the pool handles.
- Possibility of control. All serious pools have a convenient and user-friendly interface. Each group member has the opportunity to analyze the performance of any individual node, gain access to the necessary functionality via the API, etc.
- Available payment forms and terms. How often does the pool transfer payments to miners - every day, once a week? Is there a function for manual withdrawal of amounts? Is there auto conversion? Is the commission waived?
- Service reputation. Before choosing a pool, be sure to look for reviews from real users online and only support reputable resources.
Antpool
Own mining site of ASIC manufacturer Bitmain. Launched in 2014. It is among the top 3 largest Bitcoin miners; it is represented to a lesser extent on the Ether market. One of the first to acquire a Russian-language interface.
Features of the work. Provides a choice between PPS+, PPLNS and Solo schemes, close to real solo mining.
Commission and profitability. The user is charged 4% in PPS+ mode, 1% in solo, 0% in PPLNS (the team takes transaction fees from the block instead).
Indicators for profit and empti-blocks are 2.56 ETH and 1.3%.
The disadvantage is that the bar is high compared to other participants. You should count on a payout if you have 0.2 ether on your balance.
Safety. This is guaranteed by the fact that Antpool is part of Bitmain Corporation, a leading ASIC manufacturer. The rating has been consistently high over the years; no significant complaints about the work have been noticed.
Profit accrual
Different sites provide their own types of accruals for payments to miners. There are a total of 5 species that can be found in pools today. Let's describe each of them briefly:
Prop (proportional)
Distribution occurs proportionally among all participants. If the pool consists of 3 miners, whose power has the following distribution:
- first – 30%;
- second – 50%;
- third – 20%.
Then the coins received as a reward for the found signature will be distributed in exactly the same way:
- the first one will receive 30% of 3 ETH;
- second – 50%;
- third – 20%.
PPS (Pay per Share)
There is a fixed reward size for each unit of power, which depends on the complexity of the Ethereum network and the number of coins for miners. The scheme is very similar to a rental fee: the pool pays the miner for his share of the hashrate, regardless of whether his work is productive or not.
PPLNS (Pay Per Last N Shares)
Payment is based on the number of successfully closed blocks. The profitability of this method will vary by plus/minus 30% from the PPS method.
RBPPS (Round-Based Pay Per Share)
To determine the size of your reward, the percentage of your share in the overall server work when generating one block is calculated. Profit is calculated for each individual block of the network closed by the pool.
HBPPS (Hour-Based Pay Per Share)
For this method of calculation, the number of successful network operations within 60 minutes plays a role. Coins are distributed only when a block is confirmed by the network.
Ethermine
One of the oldest pools, operating since 2016. Unites 275,000 miners - about half of the participants in the Ethereum ecosystem. The number of workers - mining devices - is 785,000. This is one of the best results - Ethermine is second only to SparkPool with 800,000 machines. Controls about 25% of the ETH network hashrate.
Also part of the Ethermine family is Ethpool.
Features of the work. Reward scheme - PPLNS.
Ethermine provides a number of features - anonymous mining, detailed statistics, instant payments, notification settings.
Commission and profitability. The pool's commission for its services is standard for the market - 1%. The minimum withdrawal amount is also standard – 0.1 ETH.
The average profit per block is 2.58 ETH. The percentage of empty blocks is 1.21%.
Safety. Ethermine can be called a fairly safe pool - one of the largest participants, has been operating for the last 5 years, servers are distributed throughout the USA, Europe and China.
Red flags are frequent changes in payment rules and periodic accusations from clients indicating that payment calculations are not always correct.
Setting up a mining pool
Let's look at the steps of setting up a pool using ViaBTC as an example.
Unlike Bitcoin, which is mined using ASIC miners, ETH and ETC are mined via GPUs.
Preparing for work
- You need a PC to run the mining proxy program.
- Mining programs: “eth-proxy.exe” and “start-eth-miner.bat”. After downloading, find these files in the "eth-proxy" and "eth-miner" folders according to your system (Windows or Linux).
- GPU Miners: Must run the above programs and be ready to mine ETH.
Setting up a proxy for mining
Find "eth-proxy.conf" in the "eth-proxy" folder and open it in a text editor. Enter your account in the line:
WALLET = "Account"
(Setting up an account for mining is required. Enter the details of accounts or sub-accounts of the ViaBTC pool, or enter the address of your ETH wallet in the ViaBTC pool).
Leave the rest of the settings as default.
After setting up your wallet, find "eth-proxy.exe" in the "eth-proxy" file and double-click to launch the proxy.
Miner setup
- Find "start-eth-miner.bat" in the "eth-miner" folder.
- Replace “eth-proxyLANaddress” with your actual eth-proxy address, for example 127.0.0.1.
- Also rename the workID using numbering, for example 001 for the 1st miner, 002 for the 2nd miner and so on, for easier management.
- Then double click “start-eth-miner.bat” to start the miners.
Start of ETH mining
You can check the status of your running devices in the ETH ViaBTC mining pool at any time:
https://www.viabtc.com/pool/state
You can switch between ETH and ETC mining in Settings - Mining Settings. The changes will take effect 10 minutes after the switch.
TOP 2. Binance Pool
I personally use this pool. Payments come every day to the Binance exchange wallet, transfers without commission. Selling for real cash right away.
You can mine either Cue Ball or Ether! All!
Convenient for those who want to receive money every day, without taking into account power. That is, if you earned 100 rubles in a day, you will be paid it immediately. It is very simple for gamers who mine on their PC.
The second advantage is that you can engage in crypto trading. Sell ether, exchange for other coins and do everything at once in your wallet. There are no pitfalls, everything is very simple and convenient.
I didn't observe any bugs or problems. I have been mining on this pool since 2022.
Nanopool
Nanopool is a Chinese mining pool launched in 2022. In addition to ETH, it allows you to mine 8 altcoins, including Siacoin, Zcash, Monero, Pascal. Nanopool does not require registration, but the standard version only supports Claymore Dualminer mining software. To quickly connect to the server, just select the cryptocurrency you are interested in and click Quick Start. After this, you need to configure the configuration.
Nanopool ranks fourth in terms of the number of ETH miners and second in XMR and ETC mining. The commission fee is around 0.8% for all coins. Payments are made automatically after reaching the set amount. If desired, users can independently set the minimum size and threshold of payments.
Wallets supporting wETH (Polygon L2)
If you want to store ETH for a long time and don't want to use an exchange service, we suggest you find a wallet that supports wETH on Polygon.
Trust Wallet supports wETH on Polygon. This is the same as your ETH receiving address.
Exodus also supports the Polygon MATIC network. You can use it to send, receive and store ETH ERC20 and MATIC ERC20 tokens.
There are many other wallets that support Matic wETH. But note that some wallets support Matic, but not tokens on the Matic network. Therefore, we suggest you do some research on this issue.
The easiest route and the wallet we recommend is Metamask.
After setting up Metamask for Ethereum, you need to add the Polygon network to Metamask. By default it shows only MATIC. You will need to add the wETH token to see the Wrapped Ether section in the assets section.
READ
Setting up Metamask for Avalanche - Connecting to the Avalanche Network (AVAX)
Here are the contract details for the Wrapped Ether token on Polygon networks: https://polygonscan.com/token/0x7ceb23fd6bc0add59e62ac25578270cff1b9f619
Once all these steps are completed, you can use your Metamask ETH recipient address to receive wETH L2 payouts through the Polygon network. Also, as we said earlier, you will need a small MATIC token in your wallet to conduct transactions.
You can use Polygon for this: https://faucet.polygon.technology/
READ
How to add Arbitrum to Metamask wallet and link ETH from L1 to L2
Final words
Ethereum Classic is still profitable - based on the 400.00 MH/s mining hardware hash rate, electricity costs, and pool/maintenance fees provided. With a Nanopool or F2Pool configuration, mining ETC is much easier.
The good thing about mining Ethereum Classic is that it requires low hashing power and electricity consumption. However, a reliable gaming laptop will be suitable for Ethereum Classic mining.
Additionally, another great thing about mining this token is that you can even double mine SiaCoin and PascalCoin. I hope I have explained enough how to mine Ethereum Classic.
How to prepare for Ethereum mining on video cards
To mine the specified digital coin you will need:
- Personal computer with Windows operating system (from 7). The newer the operating system, the better. If it is old, then a change may be required in the future - transferring all software to a new Windows.
- Video adapter. For a video card (several video cards) to work with high performance, it is advisable to use a video adapter of at least 4 GB.
- Installing the latest drivers for maximum crypto coin mining speed.
If the motherboard is powerful, you can use several video cards, your profit will be much greater than with one. After connecting a video card or several to the PC, downloading the driver update, you can start mining. Don't forget about the operating system, it should be as new as possible. And about choosing a pool for Ethereum mining. This is exactly what the next blocks of our article are about. Let's look at the main pools and briefly describe them.
comparison table
| Name | Payment model | Profit per block and empty blocks | Commission | Withdrawal amount, from | Number of miners and workers | Hashrate |
| Nanopool | PPLNS | 2.46 ETH 4,22% | 1% | 0.05 ETH | 44 740 + 130 091 | 22.2 TH/s |
| Ethermine | PPLNS | 2.58 ETH 1,21% | 1% | 0.1 ETH | 275 259 + 785 835 | 137.9 TH/s |
| F2Pool | PPS, PPS+ | 2.55 ETH 0,34% | 2,5-3% | 0.1 ETH | – | – |
| Sparkpool | PPS+ | 2.60 ETH 1,33% | 1% | 0.1 ETH | 65 587 + 800 250 | 122.8 TH/s |
| Mining Pool Hub | PPLNS | 2.57 ETH 2,84% | 0,9% | 0.1 ETH | 108 150 (workers) | 13.6 TH/s |
| Antpool | PPLNS, PPS+, SOLO | 2.56 ETH 1,3% | 0-4% | 0.2 ETH | – | 3GH/s |
Wrapped ETH (Polygon L2) Exchanges
You can mine directly to your exchange address. But first, make sure that the exchange supports deposits of wETH tokens on the Polygon network.
Binance does not currently support direct deposit of wETH through the Polygon network. Also not sure about Kucoin, Crypto.com and other exchanges.
They may support the Matic network, but are not sure about the wETH token of the Polygon network.
We suggest you verify this yourself before using the exchange address to receive mining payments.
You can also use exchanges such as Coinbase/Kraken and Bitfinex to withdraw funds.
All of these exchanges do not support direct deposits of ETH (wETH token) through the Polygon network. So, you will need to use the Matic bridge to exchange wETH to ETH, and only then you will be able to transfer it to the ETH deposit address upon exchange.
L2 withdrawal tips and frequently asked questions:
First, please note that Wrapped Ether on Polygon is an ERC20 token and Ether that resides on the Polygon chain, which is different and separate from the main Ethereum network. You cannot send your wETH tokens directly to most exchanges as they do not yet support direct transactions on the Polygon network.
Please DO NOT send wETH directly from the Polygon network unless that exchange supports Polygon deposits for that specific token. If you transfer it by mistake, your coins will be lost
.
To send wrapped ETH to an exchange or any ERC20 wallet, you need to first connect the assets to the Ethereum mainnet. Also note that MATIC is the native currency on the Polygon chain. Therefore, to transfer/trade or exchange assets on the Polygon network, you will need Matic tokens.
If you have MATIC, you can use https://wallet.polygon.technology/bridge/ to bridge wETH from Polygon to ETH on the Ethereum mainnet.
A way to avoid commission
A good way to avoid fees is to store your tokens on the Polygon network until you want to cash out. When you decide to sell, instead of connecting wETH to the Ethereum mainnet, you can connect to the BSC (Binance Smart Chain) network.
BSC is faster and cheaper, and large exchanges like Binance support direct deposits of wETH tokens on the BSC chain.
Or you can trade your mined Ethereum for Matic on the Polygon chain and transfer Matic to be traded through the Polygon chain. Then, when you exchange, you can convert your Matic back to ETH. This way, you can avoid transaction fees completely.
This whole Polygon Layer 2 topic may seem quite confusing at first. But once you get used to it and understand these sidechains and other L1s, it will change the way you trade and interact with blockchains.
What algorithm does Ethereum Classic use?
Both the Ethereum Classic blockchain and the Ethereum blockchain use the same mining algorithm because they use PoW. Both digital assets are mined using the Ethash algorithm, but the only difference is the hash rate, break-even mining power threshold, and block reward. Information may differ as you read the material, so it is best to compare your current knowledge of WhatToMine.
Why are Ethereum Classic miners so important?
Miners protect blockchain networks and also help them become more decentralized. How do miners protect blockchain networks? They deploy computing power to process transactions and protect the network from 51% (double spending) attacks.
An attacker would need to spend the same digital asset more than once for a double spend attack to occur. The action also occurs when an attacker steals funds or spends what has already been spent on the blockchain network.
Double spending typically occurs on small blockchain networks with little computing power or hash rate. It's easier to attack or double spend if you collect more than half of the network's total computing power.
To prevent double spending on blockchain networks, a distributed network of miners is needed. Ethereum Classic miners work together to detect valid transactions and ignore unverified ones. Incentives given to miners help compensate and motivate them to continue mining to protect the blockchain network.
