Mining Pool

Definition

A mining pool coordinates work from multiple miners and distributes proceeds according to an agreed payout method. Participants submit shares, which are proofs meeting a pool-defined target that is usually easier than the network's block target. Shares help estimate contributed work even when they are not valid network blocks. Pooling can make individual payouts less irregular than solo mining, but it does not increase the underlying probability that a given quantity of hashing work discovers a block. Payout methods differ in how they handle fees, variance, timing, and the operator's obligations. The pool's control over transaction selection can also matter for decentralization and censorship resistance. Mining protocols may give participants different levels of influence over templates. A pool account balance is a claim under the pool's arrangements, not an automatically enforced share of every coinbase output on the blockchain.