Free Bitcoin Mining – How Does It Work?
As Bitcoin became popular amongst enthusiastic miners, it gradually became almost impossible to mine at home.
The growing costs of home mining (electricity, hardware, and software) resulted in more losses than profit.
At this stage, the bitcoin mining pools were introduced.
What Are Bitcoin Mining Online Pools?
Mining pools are groups of miners bringing their mining tools/resources together, for more hashing power, to improve their chances of adding a block and claiming the reward compared to solo mining.
The rewards are then split between the pool members, according to the hashing power amount they contributed.
Today there are around 15 medium-large mining pools, mostly located in China, mainly due to electricity cheap prices and manufacturing costs.
They vary in different options and conditions, and some bitcoin mining sites are in Chinese.
Some bitcoin mining online platforms charge fees, some are free.
However, mining pools are expensive to operate and their fees can vary from 1% to 4% (latest considered very high).
Are There Free Bitcoin Mining Online Pools?
There are some bitcoin mining pools online that are free and do not charge commissions.
(The crypto mining pools vary in other parameters as well, detailed below).
Note that In addition to the fees charged by some mining pools, you need to consider initial mining costs.
How to Mine Bitcoin? This is what you need to know
To start free bitcoin mining online you need to get some equipment first.
- A wallet
- Software
- Hardware.
Once you have chosen the mining equipment it’s time to choose your preferred online bitcoin mining pool.
How to choose a bitcoin mining pool?
Here are some important factors you should consider prior to choosing a paid or a free bitcoin mining site:
- Pool size: The bigger pools offer more regular payments. However, the payout is smaller because it’s shared among more members.
- Fees: As mentioned above, some bitcoin mining pools charge fees, and some don’t. Usually, the fees would be around 2%, but it can range from as little as 0% (completely free), and go as high as 4% off the reward. therefore free bitcoin mining online is optional.
- Reliability and security – joining an established and known pool would be a recommended step. It’s always good to read some user reviews and do your own research before you decide to use a mining pool.
- Payout policy: Whether you want regular daily payments or to get paid whenever a block is solved by the pool, make sure to do your due diligence before you sign up for a pool.
- Stats and
This is an estimation of the hash rate distribution amongst the largest bitcoin mining pools online, according to blockchain:
Note that the graph above shows the market share of the most popular paid or free bitcoin mining pools, as of today.
It is not 100% accurate and changing.
Top 4 bitcoin mining pools:
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Based in China Established: 2013 Size: Medium-large Supports many coins such as Litecoin, Ethereum, and others. Reward system: PPS+ reward system, Payments: Daily, automatic Fees: 2.5% minimum withdrawal is 0.005 BTC Dashboard: Straightforward and easy to navigate English interface |
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Based in China Size: Large Average Fees: 2.5% FPPS BTC Covers a large number of cryptocurrencies Dashboard: English, User friendly IOS and Android Apps available |
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Based in China Size: Medium Payments: Daily. Average fees: Offers both PPLNS (0% fees) and PPS+ (4% fee from the block reward and 2% from mining fees). Dashboard: Very User friendly, fits new miners Clearly displays earnings and hashrates. |
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Based in the Czech Republic Established in 2010, Slushpool was the first bitcoin mining site. Size: Medium-Large Average Fees: 2% Dashboard: User Friendly |
As you can see, there are other bitcoin mining pools.
The bitcoin mining sites /pools covered above are amongst the top/popular pools.
If you consider starting to mine bitcoin, the pools above offer decent support and a user-friendly dashboard.
We strongly recommend that you do your research, read reviews, ask for active users’ recommendations, and avoid choosing a free bitcoin mining option based on a lack of fees as the main consideration.
Be careful as there are a lot of scams out there!
