The next 100 million crypto investors.

Health, Wealth, and Happiness

December 19, 2022

“In order to carry a positive action, we must develop here a positive vision.”

- Dalai Lama

In today's issue: When we recently updated our list of Best Mining Rigs, many of you wondered, "But can you still make any money mining bitcoin?"

The solution: join a mining pool.

In a mining pool, everyone contributes their computing power to the pool and are paid equally from the proceeds.

In today's issue, we've updated our list of the top bitcoin mining pools for 2023 based on fees, reputation, user-friendliness, and more.

If you want to make a splash in crypto, you've got to jump in a pool. Read on.

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Must Read

Today's most important story for crypto investors.

How Balancer Achieved Peace with a Clever Whale Named Humpy (Decrypt)

Great recap of the drama ensuing Balancer, the portfolio management tool that lets users create their own self-balancing liquidity pools.

Like so many crypto projects, Balancer gave away control of its project to a decentralized DAO controlled by the token holders.

One enterprising whale (who goes by the nickname "Humpy") scooped up a large percentage of the tokens, then began to alter the tokenomics in his or her favor, effectively passing proposals that made him or her richer.

Investor takeaway: Slowly, the industry is learning what we've been saying all along... Fully decentralized leadership is a bad idea. The article is a great cautionary tale for anyone in crypto who doesn't want to get humped.

Best Bitcoin Mining Pools for 2023, Rated and Reviewed

by Daniel Joel

Bitcoin runs on its miners.

Mining bitcoin is also the only way for the blockchain to produce new bitcoins, awarding them to miners as they are digitally unearthed. As a result, successful bitcoin miners can run profitable businesses no matter the state of the market.

In this article, our editors have reviewed the best bitcoin mining pools for 2023 and rated them per their fees, user-friendliness, and reputation. Read on.

Braiins (Slush Pool)

Formally known as Slush Pool, Braiins has operated since 2010 under Braiins Mining Ltd. It's based in Prague, but it operates globally. It's the first and oldest organized mining pool for bitcoin.

The mining pool uses the Pay-Per-Last-N-Shares (PPLNS) payout mechanism, which is highly correlated with the pool's luck and distributes profits based on the number of shares miners contribute.

Despite slowing down towards the end of the year, Braiins still put up a better performance (in terms of pool share and blocks mined) than the previous year.(BMJ Score: 4.5)

F2Pool

F2Pool is a diverse mining pool that mines numerous cryptocurrencies. It has operated since 2013 as the first mining pool in China. It didn’t take long for the pool to take off. Just a year after its launch, it became the biggest mining pool in the world, accounting for one-third of the hash rate on the entire bitcoin network.

On top of its outstanding growth, f2pool was the first mining pool to use an automatic payout system for the convenience and security of miners. As of this writing, f2pool is the second biggest active mining BTC pool in the world and has had a generally great year despite losing out to some of its close competitors. (BMJ Score: 4.5)

BTC.com

BTC.com is known for its wallet and blockchain explorer. BTC Pool was founded in 2015 and is run by Bitmain Technologies, one of the world’s leading mining equipment manufacturers.

The pool uses the Full Pay Per Share (FPPS) payment method. Unlike PPLNS, FPPS miners get paid whether the pool finds a block or not.

As of this writing, the pool is one of the five biggest bitcoin mining pools. That said, it had a below-average year compared to previous ones, registering a steep drop in the blocks mined in 2022. (BMJ Score: 4.0)

Antpool

Similar to BTC.com, Antpool is run by Bitmain. It was established in Beijing, China, and mined its first block in 2014. Antpool supports different mining modes to cater to a range of customers with different mining needs, from mining farms and individuals who can generate considerable hash rates to average miners.

Moreover, Antpool supports two payment methods: PPLNS and Pay Per Share Plus (PPS+). Miners receive payments for their contributions to the network even if a block is not found (minus a fee).

Antpool has been one of the few consistent mining pools since taking off seven years ago, and 2022 was no exception. It put up better numbers than the previous year in terms of pool share and blocks mined. (BMJ Score: 4.0)

Foundry USA

Foundry USA is a subsidiary of the venture capital firm Digital Currency Group, which also runs companies like Grayscale and Investments and CoinDesk. It provides capital, consulting, machines, and intelligence to digital asset miners.

Foundry USA became the second-largest mining pool in November 2021 amid the China mining ban. It controls around 1.7% of the all-time bitcoin network hashrate.

In 2022, Foundry USA was a force to be reckoned with, putting up the best mining performance in that period and controlling roughly 21% of the network’s hashrate for the year, thus taking the top spot in the process. (BMJ Score: 4.0)

ViaBTC

ViaBTC has been around for roughly six years. It has grown to be one of the world’s largest and most popular mining pools.

On top of PPLNS and PPS+ reward algorithms, ViaBTC supports SOLO, whereby a single miner independently conducts and executes the mining process and receives the whole block reward.

The mining pool has been generally consistent throughout the years and in 2022, it ranked as one of the top five mining pools, controlling 9% of BTC’s hashrate, but with high fees. (BMJ Score: 3.5)

Binance Pool

Binance Pool is a subsidiary of Binance (the world's largest crypto exchange platform that was founded in 2017). The pool has mining nodes in North America, Europe, and China.

While the Binance pool is still relatively new at just over two years old, it was one of the top four pools in 2021 and held its position in 2022, mining around 1,000 more blocks than the previous year.

Binance has been a rapid innovator in the space, launching a cloud mining serviceto cater to users who don’t have access to mining equipment. Its higher fees are the only major drawback. (BMJ Score: 2.5)

SBI Crypto

SBI Crypto is a Japanese mining firm founded in 2018 under the Japanese financial conglomerate SBI Holdings. The firm has been mining crypto since 2017, though it wasn’t until 2021 that it opened mining pool services to both institutional and individual customers.

Compared to last year, SBI has generally had a great year and even broke into the top ten BTC mining pools list, though the total number of blocks mined is a fraction of the biggest pools. (BMJ Score: 2.5)

Poolin

Poolin is a mining pool under Beijing Satoshi Smart Co (launched in 2018). The mining pool took off properly toward the end of 2019 and has been one of the top BTC pools in the world ever since.

In the last quarter of 2022, however, Poolin announced liquidity problems that made it suspend internal transfers and even withdrawals from its network. The announcement led to some miners leaving the pool. This led to a drop in hash power. (BMJ Score: 2.5)

How Bitcoin Mining Pools Work

Every time a bitcoin changes hands, miners process the complex algorithms that unlock the blockchain and record a new owner. They are, in a real sense, the backbone of the bitcoin network.

Yet, as the bitcoin network has grown in popularity, this process has come to require increasingly intense amounts of computing power. Without spending a fortune, it’s almost impossible for individuals to set up a mining operation with a realistic chance of reward. The solution: mining pools.

A mining pool connects users into a networked “mine.” You dedicate a portion of your computer’s processing power to the overall operation. In exchange, you get a portion of the created bitcoins. By joining a bitcoin mining pool, you contribute to the network while also getting a realistic chance to earn BTC (albeit in smaller amounts).

While reviewing mining pools, one of the most important terms you should know is “hash rate.” This is the speed at which a mine processes the bitcoin algorithm.

A hash is a mine’s attempted answer, and the rate is measured at hashes per second. In the table above, we have represented this as “Pool Share" (each mining pool’s percentage of the overall hash rate across the bitcoin network). A pool share of 20.9%, for example, means this mining pool provides 20.9 percent of the bitcoin network’s overall hash rate.

What You Need to Mine Bitcoin

1. Bitcoin Wallet

After successfully validating a block, you’ll need a bitcoin wallet to store the coins your mining efforts yield. It may be wise to create a bitcoin wallet solely for mining activities, separate from your other bitcoin investments.

There are a variety of online wallets to choose from. As a miner, you could consider our list of the bestcold storage wallets, which are considered safer.

2. Mining Hardware

Mining bitcoin requires powerful hardware. Thus, use of common CPUs and GPUs may not cut it in terms of practicality, and they will probably be a waste of your time and electricity.

Your best bet may be to buy a specialized mining machine commonly referred to as an ASIC or application specific integrated circuit device. See our list of best crypto mining rigsto discover the best ones on the market, their specifications, prices, energy consumption levels, and more.

3. Bitcoin Mining Calculator

Mining calculators are handy tools that calculate the profits and expenses of crypto mining. They make your life easier by considering factors like the hash rates of equipment, the costs of energy, pool fees, and others items to calculate an estimate of your expected profits.

Mining calculators are not always accurate. However, WhatToMineand NiceHashare some of the more reliable models available.

4. Cheap and Reliable Power Supply

Graphic cards in mining rigs work 24 hours a day, so they consume a lot of power. This is why mining farms are set up in hand-picked locations where the cost of electricity is cheaper.

On top of consuming a lot of power, mining rigs generate a lot of heat. While some come with built-in fans, the room might get hot quickly if you have multiple rigs. You'll need to consider external cooling, which will help protect your GPUs from failure due to overheating.

ICYMI