Which Bitcoin mining pools find the most blocks?
Definition · Mining pool
A service that combines the hashrate of many miners, builds blocks for them to work on, and shares each block reward by the work every miner proved. It smooths out luck: small, steady payments instead of a rare whole block.
Nobody can count a pool’s machines from outside. What everyone can see is who found each block, so rankings use the share of recent blocks. Over the last month (live, last 30 days), the order was:
| Pool | Blocks | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Foundry USA | 1,121 | 25.2% |
| AntPool | 934 | 21.0% |
| F2Pool | 732 | 16.5% |
| ViaBTC | 422 | 9.5% |
| SpiderPool | 308 | 6.9% |
| MARA Pool | 226 | 5.1% |
| SECPOOL | 182 | 4.1% |
| Luxor | 156 | 3.5% |
| OCEAN | 125 | 2.8% |
| Braiins Pool | 59 | 1.3% |
How payouts work inside a pool (PPS, FPPS, PPLNS and who carries the luck) is in our mining pools explainer. This page is about who the pools are.
Who runs the big pools, and how do they pay?
One card per big pool, in live ranking order. Everything on a card comes from the pool’s own website, linked at the bottom. Where a pool doesn’t publish something, the card says so. Tap a feature to see which pools offer it.
Ranked by share of blocks in the last month. Facts from each pool’s own site.
#1
Foundry USA
25.2%
1,121 blocks
- Run by
- Foundry Digital, a US company
- Payout
- FPPS
- Fees
- Not on a public page we found
- Built for institutional miners. Members go through KYC and AML checks.
- Holds SOC 1 Type 2 and SOC 2 Type 2 reports.
- Foundry Donate lets members send part of their earnings to nonprofits that fund Bitcoin Core developers.
#2
AntPool
21.0%
934 blocks
- Run by
- AntPool, which lists Bitmain as a strategic partner
- Since
- August 2014
- Payout
- FPPS, PPS or PPLNS
- Fees
- Not on a public page we found
- Offers FPPS since July 2020, next to PPS and PPLNS.
- Minimum BTC payment is 0.005 BTC, with daily settlement.
- Also merge-mines NMC and other coins alongside BTC.
#3
F2Pool
16.5%
732 blocks
- Run by
- Founded by Chun Wang and DiscusFish, now run by Fram Farm Inc.
- Since
- May 2013
- Payout
- FPPS or PPLNS
- Fees
- FPPS 4%, PPLNS 2%
- Says it has mined more Bitcoin blocks than any other pool.
- Had up to 30% of the network in 2014, after overtaking GHash.IO.
- Mined block 629,999, the last block before the 2020 halving.
- Default payout threshold is 0.005 BTC.
#4
ViaBTC
9.5%
422 blocks
- Run by
- ViaBTC
- Since
- May 2016
- Payout
- PPS+ (default) or PPLNS
- Fees
- PPS+ 4%, PPLNS 2%
- PPS+ pays the subsidy part every hour and shares transaction fees PPLNS-style.
- PPLNS pays after the block has 6 confirmations, over the last 5 difficulty rounds.
- Merge-mines NMC and Fractal Bitcoin with BTC.
#5
SpiderPool
6.9%
308 blocks
- Run by
- SpiderPool
- Payout
- FPPS or PPLNS
- Fees
- FPPS 4%, PPLNS 1%
- Minimum payout 0.005 BTC, paid daily between 02:00 and 10:00 UTC.
- Servers in North America, Asia and Europe.
#6
MARA Pool
5.1%
226 blocks
- Run by
- MARA Holdings (Nasdaq: MARA), a US Bitcoin miner
- Since
- 2021
- Payout
- Not published on a page we could reach
- Fees
- Not on a public page we found
- Announced in March 2021 as a North American pool built to follow US rules, including OFAC sanctions screening.
- The plan was MARA's own fleet first, then other US-based miners.
#7
SECPOOL
4.1%
182 blocks
- Run by
- SECPOOL
- Payout
- FPPS or PPLNS
- Fees
- FPPS 4%, PPLNS 0%
- Minimum payment 0.002 BTC, paid daily.
- Merge-mines Fractal Bitcoin and NMC.
#8
Luxor
3.5%
156 blocks
- Run by
- Luxor, a US company
- Payout
- FPPS
- Fees
- Not on a public page we found
- Holds a SOC 2 Type 2 report.
- Also makes LuxOS firmware and runs hashrate derivatives markets.
#9
OCEAN
2.8%
125 blocks
- Run by
- Bitcoin Ocean, LLC, part of Mummolin, Inc. (Wyoming)
- Since
- 2023
- Payout
- TIDES
- Fees
- 2%, or 1% if you build your own blocks with DATUM
- Payouts come straight from the block's coinbase transaction, so the pool never holds your coins.
- No account: you mine to a Bitcoin address. Lightning payouts use BOLT12.
- DATUM lets miners build block templates from their own node.
#10
Braiins Pool
1.3%
59 blocks
- Run by
- Braiins. Called Slush Pool until 2022
- Since
- 2010
- Payout
- FPPS
- Fees
- 2.5%, or 0% on machines running Braiins OS
- The longest-running Bitcoin mining pool. It says it has mined over 1.3 million BTC.
- Lightning payouts from 1 satoshi, free. On-chain payouts from 0.0002 BTC.
- Supports Stratum V2, with a setup manual in its academy.
#12
Binance Pool
1.0%
44 blocks
- Run by
- Binance, the exchange
- Payout
- FPPS
- Fees
- Not on a public page we found
- Settles BTC on FPPS, so the pool carries the luck.
- You mine into a Binance mining account, part of the exchange.
What do the big pools charge?
The fee only means something next to the payout method. FPPS pools pay you whether or not they find blocks, so they charge more. PPLNS pools pass the luck to you and usually charge less.
| Pool | Method | Fee (own site) |
|---|---|---|
| F2Pool | FPPS or PPLNS | FPPS 4%, PPLNS 2% |
| ViaBTC | PPS+ (default) or PPLNS | PPS+ 4%, PPLNS 2% |
| SpiderPool | FPPS or PPLNS | FPPS 4%, PPLNS 1% |
| SECPOOL | FPPS or PPLNS | FPPS 4%, PPLNS 0% |
| OCEAN | TIDES | 2%, or 1% if you build your own blocks with DATUM |
| Braiins Pool | FPPS | 2.5%, or 0% on machines running Braiins OS |
How do we know which pool found a block?
The pool tells us. Its first transaction in each block, the coinbase, carries a free-text tag and pays the reward to addresses the pool controls. Explorers such as mempool.space match both against a list of known pools.
Latest block #972,082
LiveText the miner wrote into the coinbase
S3h/Foundry USA Pool dropgold/
Reward paid to 1 output.
What an explorer shows
Foundry USA
Explorers keep a list of known tags and addresses per pool. A block that matches nothing is “Unknown”.
The tag is voluntary, so a pool could leave it out or copy another’s. Over the last month, 29 blocks (0.7%) matched no known pool. Some “pools” are also proxies that pass work on to a bigger one, which the tag can hide.
Why does a pool’s share jump from week to week?
Luck. A week is only about 1,000 blocks, and each block is a lottery that a pool wins in proportion to its hashrate. A pool with 10% of the hashrate can land anywhere from about 8% to 12% of a week’s blocks. Tap a pool in the chart at the top for its likely range.
Share of blocks: last week vs last 3 months
- Foundry USA-1.6
- AntPool+2.9
- F2Pool+0.6
- ViaBTC+1.1
- SpiderPool-2.4
- MARA Pool+0.4
- SECPOOL-0.5
- Luxor+1.3
The three-month view is the steadier one. For how luck works inside a single pool, see solo mining and the difficulty guide.
Is Bitcoin pool mining too centralised?
It’s the most common worry about pools, and the numbers explain why. Here’s the last month:
25.2%
Foundry USA alone
live, last 30 days
46.2%
top 2 pools
79.1%
top 5 pools
3 pools
to pass 50% of blocks
The risk isn’t that a pool owns the hashrate. It doesn’t. The risk is that the pool builds the block template. Under Stratum V1, which most pools still use, the pool’s node decides which transactions go in, and every miner hashes that same job.
Stratum V1: most pools today
The pool’s node builds the block template and sends every miner the same job. A few pools pick the contents of most blocks.
Stratum V2 and DATUM
The miner builds the template from its own node and declares it to the pool. The pool still smooths out payouts, but no longer decides what goes in.
Pool names can also overstate how many separate template builders there are. In 2024, researcher b10c found AntPool, BTC.com and Poolin sending near-identical templates, 98% to 99% alike, and that group had about 26% of the network between June and September 2024. That doesn’t prove one owner, but it’s why people watch templates, not only names.
- 1
Stratum V2
Encrypts the miner to pool link and adds job declaration, so a miner can build its own template. See stratumprotocol.org.
- 2
OCEAN and DATUM
OCEAN’s DATUM lets miners build templates from their own node, with a lower fee for those who do.
- 3
Running your own node
Building a template needs a full node. The Bitcoin node guide covers what that takes.
- 4
Miners can move
Pointing a machine at another pool takes minutes. Above 50% a pool could attack recent blocks; see proof of work.
What should you compare if you mine?
No pool is the right one for everybody, and we don’t recommend one. These are the questions that separate them:
| Question | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| FPPS, PPS+, PPLNS or TIDES? | Steady pay with a higher fee, or luck with a lower one. |
| What’s the fee on that method? | Compare FPPS with FPPS. The table above has the published ones. |
| Minimum payout and Lightning? | A small miner can wait weeks for a 0.005 BTC threshold. Lightning payouts can go much lower. |
| Account and KYC? | Some pools need identity checks, OCEAN needs only an address. |
| Who builds the template? | Stratum V2 or DATUM give the choice back to you. |
Hardware comes first, though. Our hardware comparison and cost to mine a bitcoin show whether a machine covers its power at your price.
Where does the CloudMineCrypto app fit?
It isn’t a pool, and you don’t need one to try mining with it. Start free with the free plan, then add more from ads, games, offers and the daily check-in. Your estimated BTC ticks up while plans run, worked out from your plan’s share of the live network hashrate, and you withdraw to your own wallet over Lightning, Bitcoin on-chain or BNB Smart Chain. Want more speed? Paid plans are an optional boost for fun. They usually mine less than they cost, and the price is shown before you confirm.
Rewards are estimates and aren’t guaranteed. A plan isn’t a share in any pool or machine. Terms apply.
Frequently asked questions
What is the biggest Bitcoin mining pool?
Foundry USA, by share of blocks. It found 25.2% of blocks over the last month (live, last 30 days), ahead of AntPool at 21.0%.
What is the best Bitcoin mining pool?
There isn’t one for everybody, and this page doesn’t pick one. Pools differ in payout method, fee, minimum payout, KYC rules and who builds the block template. Decide which of those matter to you, then compare like with like.
How many Bitcoin mining pools are there?
Dozens exist, but few find blocks regularly. Over the last three months mempool.space linked blocks to 20 named pools, and 3 pools found more than half of the last month’s blocks.
What are ViaBTC and F2Pool?
Two of the older large pools. F2Pool launched in May 2013 and charges 4% on FPPS or 2% on PPLNS. ViaBTC was founded in May 2016 and charges 4% on PPS+ or 2% on PPLNS, according to their own fee pages.
What is OCEAN mining?
OCEAN is a pool running since 2023 that pays miners straight from the block’s coinbase with its TIDES scheme and needs no account, only a Bitcoin address. Its fee is 2%, or 1% for miners who build their own block templates with DATUM.
Can a mining pool take over Bitcoin?
A pool, or pools working together, with more than half of the hashrate could censor transactions or rewrite recent blocks. Pools don’t own their miners’ machines, though, and miners have left pools that grew too big.
What is Stratum V2?
The successor to the protocol miners use to talk to pools. It encrypts the connection and, with job declaration, lets miners choose the transactions in their blocks instead of the pool.
Sources and further reading
- Mining dashboard: pools ranked by blocks found · mempool.space
- REST API: mining pools by period · mempool.space
- Mining pool centralization: template similarity with AntPool (2024) · b10c
- Stratum V2: the next-generation mining protocol · Stratum V2 working group
- DATUM: decentralized alternative templates · OCEAN
- Braiins Pool: rewards, payouts and fees · Braiins
- Comparison of mining pools · Bitcoin Wiki
- Majority attack · Bitcoin Wiki
Live figures on this page come from the CloudMineCrypto API or from the public blockchain data services named next to them, refresh on a schedule, and are labelled where they appear. This guide is educational and not financial advice. CloudMineCrypto is not an investment product; rewards in the app are estimates and aren’t guaranteed.
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