To make sure you get the most out of your Antminer S17 Series, we’ll look at the top 8 Bitcoin mining pools in this article.
The Bitmain Antminer S17 series of miners can mine a variety of coins, with Bitcoin being the most profitable. It makes sense to join a mining pool if you want to earn money mining Bitcoin.
The hash power from miners all over the world is managed by groups called bitcoin mining pools, which are run and organized by outside parties. According to the amount of hash power contributed to this pool, these platforms split the resulting Bitcoin.
You can use the API (Application Programming Interface) functionality of the BTC mining pool to extract specific data sets from the system. The status and temperature of the mining equipment can be seen on the dashboard of many of these cryptocurrency pools.
This guide covers Antminer S17 Series Bitcoin mining pools, which can also be used to mine other cryptocurrencies based on the SHA-256 algorithm. All the pools on the list, though, can be used to mine numerous additional Proof of Work algorithms.
Table of Contents
What Are Bitcoin Mining Pools?
New Bitcoins enter circulation as a “prize” for miners who managed to guess the solution to a mathematical problem. The successful miner gets to update the blockchain with the newest block and add it to the list of Bitcoin transactions.
By design, the math problem becomes harder to solve as you have more miners, and vice versa. This system, known as “mining difficulty,” was created to control the inflow of new Bitcoins into the system (i.e. to prevent inflation).
The rise in popularity of Bitcoin caused the mining difficulty to soar, effectively making small home-based mining operations obsolete. As more and more people got involved in mining, the difficulty of the mining increased to the point where it was no longer profitable to mine with a home operation.
Add the up-front and ongoing expenses associated with home mining (gear purchases, electricity costs, etc.) and not only you’re not making a profit, you’re actually losing money.
Enter mining pools.
The basic concept behind mining pools is that they are collections of miners who pool their mining resources to increase their hashing power (i.e. computing power). Your chances of forming a block and earning the mining reward are better the more hashing power you possess.
Miners are able to solve issues more frequently with mining pools than they would alone. The rewards are then distributed among the pool members based on the hashing power that each person’s equipment contributed to the final answer.
The person who created the mining pool will typically charge a fee as well. Along with fees, other parameters, and payment methods, the pools have differences.
Best Mining Pools (Most Profitable and Legit)
- Antpool – Best for Remote Management of Mining Activity
- Binance – Best for Boost Your Mining and Maximize Revenue
- Slush Pool – Best for BTC Mining & Advanced Payouts
- F2pool – Best for Bitcoin, Ethereum & Litecoin Mining
- BTC.com – Best for Low Withdrawal Fees
- Via BTC – Best for One-Stop Mining Services
- Poolin – Best for Multi-cryptocurrency
- Ckpool – Best for Running Without a Code
#1) Antpool – Best for Remote Management of Mining Activity
A medium-sized Chinese Bitcoin mining pool called Antpool is run by Bitmain Technologies, the same company that makes the Antminer S17.
One of the best Bitcoin mining pools, Antpool enables you to easily mine and trade cryptocurrencies. It offers alert services for apps, mail, SMS, and WeChat. You can quickly view your earnings on the dashboard with this platform. Additionally, this website aids in daily, hourly, and minutely monitoring of your hashrate.
Learn to connect Bitmain Antminer S17 to AntPool.
Key Specs:
Pool Size: Medium
BTC pool hash rate: 30.5EH/s
Pool fee: 4% for PPS+ & 0% for PPLNS
Minimum payout threshold: 0.005 BTC
Payout Frequency: Daily
Supported Platforms: PC, Web, iOS, Android
#2) Binance – Best for Boost Your Mining and Maximize Revenue
One of the top websites for building a bitcoin wallet is Binance. It provides a trading platform for over 150 cryptocurrencies. Additionally, it offers an API that enables you to integrate your current trading software. For online cryptocurrency trading, this application provides a wide range of tools. It’s also one of the most popular pools for Antminer S17 ASICs.
Key Specs:
Pool Size: Large
BTC pool hash rate: 23.86 EH/s
Active Workers: 610999
Pool fee: 2.50%
Minimum payout threshold: No minimum payment threshold for ETH mining
Payout Frequency: Daily
Supported Platforms: PC, Web, iOS, Android
#3) Slush Pool – Best for BTC Mining & Advanced Payouts
Users can mine BTC and ZEC easily with the help of Slush Pool, a mining pool. With statistical evidence, you can verify that your rewards are just. For the protection of your data in the cloud, this platform offers a security toolkit. Both iOS and Android are compatible with it.
One of the largest mining pools for Antminer S17 that notifies users when a problem is found. Using API (application programming interface) functionality, you can extract unique data sets from the system.
Key Specs:
Pool Size: Medium-Large
BTC pool hash rate: 12.33 EH/s
Active Workers: 191 725
Pool fee: 2%
Minimum payout threshold: 0.001 BTC
Payout Frequency: Daily
Supported Platforms: PC, Web, iOS, Android
#4) F2pool – Best for Bitcoin, Ethereum & Litecoin Mining
F2Pool is one of the top bitcoin mining pools that can be used to contribute processing power to block discovery. You can trade Bitcoin using iOS and Android applications as well. English, Spanish, and Chinese are just a few of the languages that are supported by this platform.
Key Specs:
Pool Size: Medium-Large
BTC pool hash rate: 25.81EH/s
Pool fee: 2.5%
Minimum payout threshold: 0.005 BTC
Payout Frequency: Daily
Supported Platforms: PC, Web, iOS, Android
#5) BTC.com – Best for Low Withdrawal Fees
BTC.com has been around for a while and is well-known for its wallet and own blockchain explorer. In 2016, it launched a pool. BTC.com, one of the biggest pools available, is owned by Bitmain Tech, the same manufacture with Antminer S17. The FPPS payment method offered by BTC.com includes TX fees in the payouts, just like PPS+ does, in addition to the block reward. BTC.com charges 1.5% in mining fees with a 0.001 BTC payment threshold.
Learn to connect Bitmain Antminer S17 to BTC.com.
Key Specs:
Pool Size: Large
BTC.Com hash rate: 7.43 EH/s
Pool fee: 1.5%
Minimum payout threshold: 0.001 BTC
Payout Frequency: Daily
Supported Platforms: PC, Web, iOS, Android
#6) Via BTC – Best for One-Stop Mining Services
You can view the current status of miners using ViaBTC, a Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin mining pool. This website offers a variety of mining and settlement techniques. It has an easy-to-use dashboard that displays information on the miners and hashrate of the mining pool.
Key Specs:
Pool Size: Medium
BTC pool hash rate: 20.32EH/s
Pool fee: 4% for PPS & 2% for PPLNS Payment Method
Minimum payout threshold: 0.001 BTC
Payout Frequency: Daily
Supported Platforms: PC, Web, iOS, Android
#7) Poolin – Best for Multi-cryptocurrency
You can easily invest in digital currencies like Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin, and ZCash with the help of Poolin, a Bitcoin and multi-cryptocurrency mining pool.
Key Specs:
Pool Size: Large
BTC pool hash rate: 23.59 EH/s
Pool fee: 2.5% FPPS
Minimum payout threshold: 0.005 BTC
Payout Frequency: Daily
Supported Platforms: PC, Web, iOS, Android
#8) Ckpool – Best for Running Without a Code
Without installing local Bitcoin, one can still use the mining pool Ckpool. You benefit from avoiding the costs associated with maintaining a fully functional Bitcoin node that requires a lot of storage. For quick notification and propagation of block changes, this platform connects to high-speed, low-latency Bitcoin nodes.
Key Specs:
Pool Size: Large
BTC pool hash rate: Not available
Pool fee: 2%
How to Choose a Mining Pool?
Here are a few factors to consider when you’re choosing a mining pool:
Larger pools provide more consistent payments. However, the payout is smaller because it’s shared among more members. Less frequent payments are made in smaller pools, but payouts are higher. Whichever option you select, the return ought to balance out over time.
Fees: Some Bitcoin mining pools impose fees, while others do not. As little as 0% and as much as 4% of the reward can be charged in fees.
Reliability and security — It’s crucial to consider whether you can rely on the pool to be honest and not steal your money or to avoid being hacked and losing your earnings.
Joining a pool with more experience and established is a good way to reduce such risks. Prior to joining, be sure to read user reviews; however, keep in mind that nothing should be taken at face value as there will always be irate users.
Payout policy: Do your research before joining a pool, regardless of whether you want to receive payments on a daily basis or whenever the pool solves a block.
Read more: What If the Bitmain Antminer S17 Can’t Connect to the Mining Pool?
How Bitcoin Mining Pools Distribute Rewards: Methods
Pay Per Share: Each pool member contributes their hash rate as shares for each round, and accepted shares are immediately paid an equivalent portion of the total rewards earned for the mining round. An equal portion of the mining reward is distributed to each pool member. For those who mine intermittently, it is best to use a backup power source.
Score: Mining rounds are not a factor in the scoring hash rate method. The reward is based on the actual hash rate’s moving average calculation, with a ramp-up or ramp-down period when the user stops mining.
Full Pay Per Share or Pay Per Share+: Similar to Pay Per Share, but pool members are paid both the mined rewards and the mined block’s included transaction fees.
Pay Per Last N Shares: Members are only paid when a pool is discovered, but they also paid all of your shares in earlier blocks where a block was not discovered by the pool after the next block was discovered. Best for those who mine 24/7 without connections dropping regularly.
Other variations, such as Recent Shared Maximum Pay-Per-Share (RSMPPS), give more importance to recent hash rate shares.
Conclusion
If you want to earn money using your Antminer S17 series to mine Bitcoin, joining a mining pool makes the most sense. As you can see, the pools’ sizes, payment options, and costs vary.
Joining a big, well-known mining pool would probably be best if you’re just getting started so you can gain some experience. After you feel secure, you can maximize your earnings by selecting smaller or lower-cost pools. Please feel free to comment below if you’d like to share your experience with one of the pools mentioned above or let us know about a new pool.
FAQs
How Often Do Mining Pools Pay Out?
The best Bitcoin mining pools pay out daily, with some capping the payout at a certain threshold while others pay out daily regardless of earnings. The latter types are paid when they reach a certain amount.
Is Joining a Mining Pool Worth It?
Absolutely, if it enables you to mine the cryptocurrency you want to mine profitably using the equipment you already have. Additionally, it should be true, especially for cloud mining pools.
What is the Advantage of a Mining Pool?
The main benefit of group mining over solo mining is that your hash rate can be combined with others’ hash rates to create a larger total that has a higher chance of winning a block and, consequently, more rewards. When mining in a pool, you don’t have to invest in an extremely high hash rate like you would if you were mining alone in order to win a block.
