Definition: pool mining

(1) For crypto liquidity mining, see crypto liquidity pool.

(2) For crypto mining on proof-of-stake (PoW) blockchains, see staking provider.

(3) Crypto mining is the process of adding new transactions to blockchains that use the proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism, such as Bitcoin. Ethereum also used this method prior to September 2022 (see Ethereum 2.0). The miner that successfully submits the block is rewarded with an amount of the digital currency as well as transaction fees.

A massive amount of processing power is required to mine cryptocurrencies. For example, to mine one block of Bitcoin transactions (approximately 2,500), thousands of specialized machines around the world are each performing trillions of calculations per second for roughly 10 minutes. See Bitcoin mining.

Private Groups
Any group can band together and share equipment to mine cryptocurrencies. However, the majority of Bitcoin mining is performed by large mining consortia, with more than a third in the U.S.

Public Pools
A public mining network allows people to earn crypto by sharing their computer's processing power. The pool operator shares the rewards with members based on their processing contribution minus fees for running the pool.

There are cryptocurrencies coming into existence all the time that can be mined with ordinary computers or computers with stand-alone GPUs installed. See crypto mining, GPU and hash rate.

Honeyminer Made It Simple

Honeyminer make it easy to mine bitcoins by simply downloading the application and selecting a few settings. Although Honeyminer ceased operations in October 2021, its message was pretty simple. (Image courtesy of Stax Digital.)