A mining pool is a group of miners who combine their computational power to find blocks more frequently.
As network competition increases, finding a block alone becomes more difficult and takes more time. For this reason, mining pools were created: blocks are found more often, but the reward is shared among all participants. This allows miners to earn smaller but more consistent rewards instead of large but very rare payouts.

What is a share?

A share is a partial proof of work that a miner submits to the pool. It is used to show how much work the miner is contributing toward finding a block.
Each share has a certain difficulty, and when a miner submits a share, it means they have found a valid solution for that difficulty. In many pools, rewards are calculated based on the number of shares submitted.

Main payment methods:

SOLO: if you find a block, you keep 100% of the reward.
PROP (Proportional): when the pool finds a block, the reward is divided based on each miner’s contribution during the round(a round is the time between two blocks).
PPLNS (Pay Per Last N Shares): similar to PROP, but rewards are based only on the last N shares submitted; this favors miners who stay connected longer and penalizes those who frequently join and leave.
PPS (Pay Per Share): each submitted share is paid immediately based on its difficulty; earnings are stable and independent of whether the pool finds a block.
FPPS (Full Pay Per Share): similar to PPS, but also includes an estimate of the transaction fees from the block, in addition to the base reward.

Mining pools charge a fee for their service, expressed as a percentage. The fee can be applied either to the block reward or to share-based payouts, depending on the payment method.

Typical fee ranges:

SOLO: 0.5% – 1%
PROP: 1% – 2%
PPLNS: 1% – 2%
PPS: 1% – 2%
FPPS: 2% – 4%

There are also anonymous pools, which do not collect personal data. The only required information is the wallet address for payouts, and it is not publicly exposed, providing greater privacy.

To view statistics and information about mining pools, you can use explorers such as: MiningPoolStats