Ethereum Classic (ETC) is a cryptocurrency and blockchain platform, a fork of Ethereum, which also provides the ability to launch decentralized applications and smart contracts. ETC operates on a Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism, on its own Etchash algorithm (similar to Ethash), which is ASIC-resistant. In August 2020, the network suffered a major 51% attack, after which the developers took action and reduced the size of the DAG file so that users could use video cards with a memory of 3 GB or more for mining.
In this article, the editors of Profinvestment.com will analyze the best ETC mining pools relevant in 2023. A pool is a service that brings together miners from all over the world for a more stable income than in solo mining.
Ethereum Classic Pool Comparison Chart
| Name | Cryptocurrencies | Commissions | Site |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binance Pool | ETH, BTC, BCH, LTC, ETC | up to 2.5% | https://pool.binance.com/ |
| Ethermine | ETC, ETH, ZEC, BEAM, RVN, ERG | 1 % | https://ethermine.org/ |
| 2miners | ETC and 17+ more coins | 1 % | https://eth.2miners.com/ |
| Hiveon | ETH и ETC | 0 % | https://hiveon.net/ |
| F2Pool | About 20 coins including ETC | 1% to 5% | https://www.f2pool.com/ |
| Nanopool | ETC and 6+ more coins | 1 % | https://eth.nanopool.org/ |
| Cellphone | ETC and 7+ more coins | from 0.5 to 3 % | https://www.kelepool.com/ |
| Ezil | ETH, ETC, ZIL | 1 % | https://ezil.me/ |
| MiningPoolHub | ETC and 30+ coins | 0,9 % | https://ethereum.miningpoolhub.com/ |
| Pool | ETC and 10+ coins | from 0 to 4% | https://hiveon.net/ |
Description of the top 10 pools
Let’s take a closer look at the features of the pools listed above.
Binance Pool
Binance Pool
The pool was launched in 2020 within the Binance ecosystem and allows you to mine the following cryptocurrencies:
- Ethereum Classic
- Ethereum
- Bitcoin
- Bitcoin Cash
- Litecoin
The pool’s basic commission is 2.5% of earnings. Binance Pool calculates and accrues mining income once a day. It is possible to create a link for a watcher – that is, an observer who can observe the mining performance without being able to make any changes to the process.
Ethermine
Go to the site: https://ethermine.org/
The pool is one of the most popular and makes it possible to mine the following coins:
- Ethereum Classic
- Ethereum
- Zcash
- Beam
- Ravencoin
- Ergo
In addition, the project launched a staking pool for Ethereum 2.0. The project provides detailed statistics about the mining process, the general state of the network: difficulty level, luck, average round time, etc. The service has an API and provides instant payments to user wallets.
2miners
Go to the site: https://eth.2miners.com/
Cryptocurrencies available for mining within this pool:
- Ethereum Classic
- Ethereum
- Monero
- Ravencoin
- Bitcoin Gold
- Zcash
- Beam
- Grin
- Aeternity and more than 10 more PoW cryptocurrencies
One of the most functional, as well as profitable, mining pools for GPUs and ASICs. Provides reliable servers in the US, Asia and Europe, equipped with protection against DDoS attacks. There is training, full Nicehash support (2Miners is officially recommended by the Nicehash platform). Regardless of the number of pieces of equipment, you can connect notifications in Telegram or by email.
Hiveon
Go to the site: https://hiveon.net/
The service is intended for mining:
Created by the developers of the HiveOS management and monitoring system. One of its significant advantages is the absence of commissions. Also, when mining a block, miners receive not only a network reward, but also transaction fees. The pool offers daily payouts to users, the minimum withdrawal amount is 1 ETC or 0.1 ETH.
F2Pool
Go to the site: https://www.f2pool.com/
The pool provides the opportunity to mine quite a few popular coins, including:
- Ethereum Classic
- Ethereum
- Bitcoin
- Litecoin
- Bitcoin Cash
- Ravencoin
- Zcash
F2Pool is a well-known and internationally recognized mining platform; was launched in 2013 in Beijing and over time entered the top 5 pools, and also expanded to other territories. F2Pool is quite technologically advanced, uses modern security measures for users, and has a multilingual user interface.
Nanopool
Go to the site: https://eth.nanopool.org/
Nanopool is a pool for collective cryptocurrency mining, operating since 2015. Available coins:
- Ethereum Classic
- Ethereum
- Ravencoin
- Zcash
- Monero
- Ergo
- Coinflux
Specializes in cryptocurrencies, the complexity of which allows them to be mined using video cards; At the same time, different mining options are available, including dual mining and solo. Thus, both miners with large farms and those who use only one graphics card can find their “place in the sun”.
Cellphone
Go to the site: https://www.kelepool.com/
Kelepool is a pool operating in Hong Kong that allows you to mine the following coins:
- Ethereum Classic
- Ethereum
- Bitcoin
- Starcoin
- Nervous
- chain
- Handshake
Supports a large number of powerful servers to host nodes, in addition, it can use carrier-grade data centers to provide high-speed and stable throughput. Provides a powerful hybrid monitoring system.
Ezil
Go to the site: https://ezil.me/
The Ezil mining pool is designed for mining:
- Ethereum Classic
- Ethereum
- Zilliqa
The Ezil pool works as follows: at the beginning of each cycle, ETH or ETC is mined, and then Zilliqa coin. Thus, every 1-2 hours the pool automatically switches to ZIL, then returns to ETC or ETH. This provides additional income. However, it is possible to disable this feature and mine purely ETC/ETH. Rewards are distributed every 30 minutes.
MiningPoolHub
Go to the site: https://ethereum.miningpoolhub.com/
The service supports many algorithms and cryptocurrencies for mining, including:
- Ethereum Classic
- Ethereum
- Bitcoin
- Bitcoin Cash
- Digibyte
- Monero
- Litecoin
One of the best platforms for mining altcoins using the PoW algorithm. Works with coins that are mined on any device: processors, video cards, ASIC. Charges a commission of 0.9% of earnings. The block reward is distributed depending on the number of shares (share) and the difficulty of mining in the last 30 minutes.
Pool
Go to the site: https://hiveon.net/
Poolin allows you to mine efficiently:
- Ethereum Classic
- Ethereum
- Bitcoin
- Zcash
- Litecoin
- Decred
- Dash
- Bitcoin Cash
Poolin is known for striving to optimize miners’ resources to provide them with stable and high profits. The Poolin team has participated in various international conferences, such as Bitcoin 2019, and also initiated a mining summit itself. The pool has a very loyal commission rate and auxiliary bonuses, for example, unification of mining of some currencies.
Reward distribution algorithms
There are over fifteen ways that pools distribute rewards among miners to make it as fair as possible. However, the vast majority of pools operate on a PPS, FPPS or PPLNS basis.
- Pay-Per-Share (PPS). Instant payments for each completed ball (share of participation in solving the block problem). Each share is valued at a certain amount of mined cryptocurrency. Miners receive a stable fixed income every day, but may not receive commissions for transactions in the block. The option is suitable during a bearish cryptocurrency cycle.
- Pay-Per-Last-N-Shares (PPLNS). Profits are distributed based on the number of shares contributed by the miner after mining each block. Accordingly, if the pool is active and mines several blocks per day, the profit of miners will be high. But if not a single block is mined for the entire day, then the miners’ earnings will be zero.
- Full Pay Per Share (FPPS). Block rewards and mining fees are calculated according to the theoretical profit, the average transaction fee over a certain period of time. It is distributed among miners according to their contribution to the pool hashrate.
The most significant advantage of PPS and FPPS over PPLNS is that you earn regardless of whether the pool finds a block.
How to choose a mining pool
The quality of the pool largely determines the profitability, stability and comfort of Ethereum Classic mining.
We can distinguish the following criteria by which the performance of a mining pool is determined:
- Reward scheme – the main schemes used are described above.
- Commission. Most pools have set transaction fees that range from 0.5 – 3%. There is also often a fee for withdrawing funds to the miner’s wallet (in addition to the network fee).
- Minimum withdrawal amount, that is, the amount of cryptocurrency that you need to earn before you are allowed to withdraw your earnings to your wallet. In addition, there are other restrictions, for example, payments are not instant, but are made by the pool once a day.
- Low ping. Good network conditions ensure that the data you send reaches the pool on time. If your share arrives when the pool has already switched to the next block, it is considered outdated and is not paid, or paid at a minimum.
- User identification requirements. Some pools allow you to work anonymously, and some require the user to reveal their identity.
Also, of course, the interface and ease of setting up the service are important. A beginner who sets the wrong settings can lose money. Some services allow you to set the optimal options automatically.
Features of ETC mining
Let’s briefly talk about how to mine Ethereum Classic.
You don’t need an ASIC to mine ETC, but you won’t need a processor. The best option is video cards. You can find the best options in terms of profitability using mining calculators. For example, a link to current calculations for Ethereum Classic on the Minerstat website.
Next you need to get the wallet address.
Examples of wallets for ETC:
The address in the wallet can be found by going to the “Receive” section or similar.
The next step is mining software. In the case of ETC, GMiner or NBMiner are often used. After installing the program, you need to find its start file and replace the commands in it with those provided by the pool (find instructions on the website of the pool you have chosen).
After this, all that remains is to run the modified program file for mining to begin.
FAQ
What is Ethereum Classic?
Blockchain platform, a fork of the Ethereum blockchain, its classic version – while the main Ethereum is a modified version after a rollback due to hacking in 2016.
What algorithm is used to mine ETC?
Etchash, similar to Ethash used in Ethereum, but with differences.
What equipment can be used?
The optimal choice is graphics cards (GPU).
What is a mining pool?
A service through which miners combine their efforts to mine cryptocurrency. This option provides a more stable income than going it alone.
How to choose a pool?
It is necessary to take into account the pool’s payout distribution scheme, its commissions, ease of setup, supported coins, and algorithms.
What is the payment plan?
A method for distributing rewards for a mined block among connected miners by the pool.
How to calculate the expected profitability of mining or choose the most profitable equipment?
For this, there are special mining calculators that allow you to conveniently do this based on the data that is available at the current moment in time.
Conclusion
Ethereum Classic is one of the coins that is still able to generate mining profits, even after taking into account electricity costs and pool fees. The network is not too demanding on equipment and allows you to start earning money with a relatively small investment. To increase profits, you can use programs and pools that make it possible to mine two cryptocurrencies at the same time – ETC and some other one. Detailed instructions for setting up the software for a specific mining pool are always provided on the website of the pool itself.
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