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Pools

Unless you want to solo mine, which is unfeasible for many people, you will need a pool to mine towards. Make sure to choose the one closest to you!

To view a list of pools, check out the explorer.

Ping a Pool​

The best pool is the one closest to you; This can be easily determined by pinging the group through your terminal.

Open up your terminal; look for "Command Prompt" or "Terminal" in your Start/Applications menu.

When open, enter this command: ping <pool url>, replacing <pool url> with the address of your pool.

For example:

ping pool.zent.cash

The port number is not necessary.

Analyze the number before the ms; this is how long it takes for you to send a receive a packet from the pool. The lower it is, the better.

You may need to press Ctrl + C on your keyboard to exit the command.

Definition of Fees​

Rather simple; the pool operator will take a percentage of the reward of the block found for himself.

Example-

  • the fee is 0.1%
  • the block reward is 3000 ZTC
  • 3000 x 0.1% = 3

Therefore, the pool operator will take 3 ZTC for himself.

Definition of Different Types of Methods​

These will be found on the pool website; if not specified, it is most likely proportional.

Proportional (share-based)​

A proportional pool carries no risk to the pool operator as miners are simply paid out when a block is found. No blocks, no payout!

With a proportional pool the risk is all on the miners if it takes longer than expected to find a block then the miners earn less. On the flip side, if the pool is lucky (they will all average out the same eventually) the miners get more.

Example-

  • A block is found after 100,000 shares
  • You submitted 1,000 of those shares (you have 1% of the pool's total hash power)
  • There’s 3000 ZTC per block

Quite simply you will get 1% of the block = 30 ZTC.

Now if the pool has a bad round (a round is the time taken to find a block) and it takes 200,000 shares to find a block (twice as long) and you have submitted 2,000 shares (as you’ve been mining twice as long), you still only get 1% of the block = 30 ZTC

This can also work in the miners favor too, as if it takes half the time (50,000 shares) to find a block and you submitted only 500 shares - again 1% - 30 ZTC.

Basically, you always get a percentage of the block and you win/lose depending on the “luck” of the pool.

The drawbacks to a proportional pool are that there is often a fee, although some pool operators rely on donations only, and you will have to bear the variance of the block times and luck unlike a PPLNS pool.

Also they are susceptible to “pool hoppers” where PPLNS pools are not.

PPLNS (Pay Per Last n Shares)​

PPLNS does not pay out per block found, rather it pays based on the number of shares you last submitted, and helps to dissuade pool hoppers.

How it works is,

  • you start mining with a PPLNS pool.
  • Rather than paying you out based on the number of shares you submitted since you started mining/the last block was found, it will pay depending on how many shares you submitted in a period of time, called the window, which is an estimate of the time in which the pool in question finds a block.
  • So, after you start mining, it will take a few hours for you to earn your normal earnings - and since the effect of pool hoppers is lessened, you may make comparatively more than other methods.

Basically, you get paid based on the number of shares you submitted and how long you have been mining.