I updated the pool to point to https://btc.com for external stats such as block info and estimated difficulty.  Previously it was pointed at bitcoin wisdom for the difficulty tracker.  I don't know if the devs abandoned it, or simply don't care any more, but the tracker is way off and the price hasn't moved from $2546 in forever.

Bitcoin is still hovering near $12,000.  I'm still giving away 1BTC to the next block finder.

Good luck everyone!  Hope I can make someone's Holidays a little brighter

1.5T is better than 0T .  Who knows, maybe that crippled miner will be the lucky one.

BTC is almost 12k... 

Your portion of the block depends on how much hashing power you have, and the payout method used by the pool.  In general, the larger a pool is, the less variance you see.  In other words, they tend to close around 100% luck, finding about as many blocks as you would expect.

All things being equal (which they aren't in reality, but for this example, we'll assume they are), if you have two pools, one that is 10 times the size of the other...

You would expect to find 10 times as many blocks in the larger pool.  You would receive a 10x smaller reward per block.
You would expect to find 10x fewer blocks, but each block would pay you 10x more in the smaller pool.

The net result?  You earn the same in either pool.

Now, I did mention that's a very simplified case where we assumed all things are equal.  They never are.  Some pools charge fees.  Some pools give their miners the transaction fees from mined blocks.  They can very drastically alter your earnings.  For example, AntPool doesn't charge you any fees, but they don't give you the transaction fees from blocks.  That little hidden fee costs you a lot (it also makes Bitmain a BOATLOAD of coin).  Look at the latest blocks that AntPool has mined.  As of this post, AntPool has found 16 blocks today alone.  They have made 23.71029199BTC.  For themselves.  Today.  At an exchange rate of $10000 per coin, Bitmain has made $237,102.92.  In 11 hours.  That's effectively 11.85% fees they are charging miners.

Had those same blocks been found on my pool, the miners would have made that extra coin.  My fee is 0.5%.  Huge difference.

Moral of the story?  Don't mine on the biggest pool simply because it's the biggest.

Whenever anyone (be it solo or pool) finds a block, the newly minted coins from that block cannot be spent until 100 confirmations.  That means, the network must find an additional 100 blocks.  Once it has, those coins become spendable.  Nobody can spend newly generated coins prior to the 100 confirmations.

Quick update...

All underlying bitcoin core instances have been updated to 0.15.1.

Folks, Bitcoin is hovering around that $10,000 mark.  Yesterday it came close to $12,000!  I am still offering up a full 1BTC bonus to whoever finds the next block.

How'd you like to get a nice $10,000 holiday bonus?  Point your miners to the pool and find a block.  That's all there is to it.

BTC is over $6100.  Want an extra $6100 for your holiday shopping, travel, bills, whatever?  Be the person that solves the block and I will send you 1BTC.

They took credit for code they didn't write... not too much of a stretch to think they might take blocks that don't belong to them as well.

You all are welcome to join my pool... not only has it been around for a couple years, but it's also paid every miner for every block solved.  Oh, and there are bonuses and promotions as well that come from MY pocket.

While I appreciate the shout out, you're posting on the MMPool thread, Phil

PS - if you really *do* point your 32000GH (are you sure you got that number right - that's 32TH) to my pool, then there's a serious issue... since I've never seen you on my pool 24/7/365.  I see you on there quite a bit with rentals, but not a constant 32TH.

Good luck, Phil!  May the block gods shine upon this rental

The pool stats page shows the percentage of round completion and a breakdown of the top 15 contributors for the round.

Yes it is still going.  And the stats are accurate.  With so little regular hush rats we haven’t found a block.  Jump on in and bring your friends.  Find the next block and the bonus is yours.

Huh, that's odd... let me check.  I'll do a quick rental to see if I can catch anything in the logs.  I remember a year (or maybe it was 2 now) ago when NH bitched about starting and variable diff levels.  If that's the case again, I'll change it on port 3334 and let you know.

Edit: that's likely the case.  I ran the pool verification from NH and it says min diff should be 262144.  I'll change it on port 3334 and restart the servers.  That should take care of the problem, Phil.

Edit2: Done.  The new configuration on port 3334 is as follows:

Starting diff: 524287
Min diff: 262145
Max diff: 4194305

Should take care of the disconnects NH has been giving you

Here's to hoping your lucky S7 finds another block!

My Avalons are still hashing away here as well.  One was lucky last year, but since then...

That 1BTC block finder bonus is still up for grabs... and with BTC around $6000, that's a pretty nice chunk of change.  Holidays are coming up.  Who would like to have an extra $6000 to spend?

Welcome aboard BigIron.  Who knows... that 22GH might hit the big one.  If it does, you will get a 1BTC bonus.

That goes for everyone by the way.  I’m still offering the bonus to whoever finds the block.

USMC 1989-1993

Semper Fi

Any Air Force mining on here?  Coast Guard?

Hi Lexs163,

Take a look at the very first post of this thread to get all the information you will need to connect to the pool.  It also contains all payout and fee information.

My fearsome drilling machines?  Unfortunately they've been quiet as of late

I don't understand what you're asking, sorry.

Hi Gamora,

There's nothing wrong.  Because the pool has such a low hash rate, and the network difficulty is so high, it takes a very long time to find blocks.  The only way to offset the time is to increase the hash rate.

Some pools do in fact take a percentage of the shares from the rest of the miners in order to give a bonus to the person who found the block.  I don't feel that's fair to the rest of the miners.  Any and all promotions that I run are solely funded from my own wallet.  To date, I've give well over 10BTC to miners on my pool.

Regarding pool payouts, you are correct.  Until a block is found, nobody gets paid.  Because the hash rate is so low, that could be a year or two.  It could also be tomorrow.  Statistically, that's unlikely, but it is not impossible.  Finding a share with a good enough difficulty is a matter of luck.  The more shares you find (i.e. the more hash rate you have), the better the chance of finding one that solves the block.  There are no guarantees - there are only statistical likelihoods.

The bonus is paid out of my own pocket.  When I first offered the 1BTC bonus, the price was considerably lower than it is now.  While I would much rather keep that coin for myself, I'm offering it up to whoever finds the block.  I have in the past upped the bonus for limited time promotions, and may do so again in the future.

Why not point your 14TH here anyway?  Who knows... you might get lucky and hit that block.  Even if you don't, your shares are recorded and saved, just like everyone else's, and when the block is hit, you'll get the appropriate amount of coin for your shares.

Hi...

Yes, I'm still on the pool.  I had been out of the country and my home internet went down.  It's been pretty flaky, so that's why you see me pop on and off the pool.  Comcast swears there's nothing wrong...

Anyway, I'm still here.  And yes, that 1BTC bonus is in fact still available to whoever finds the block.

Yes, that 1BTC block finder bonus is still applicable to whoever solves the block.

Also, I'm updating the servers to 0.14.2.  There should be no downtime at all.  I'll post back when the update is completed.

EDIT: done.  Servers are now running 0.14.2