The Great Debate: Go It Alone or Join Forces?
If you have just bought a Bitcoin miner – whether it is a powerful Antminer S19, a Bitaxe, or a small Nerdminer – you are faced with a critical decision: How do I configure my stratum settings? Should I try to find a block alone (Solo Mining) or join a group of miners (Pool Mining)?
The answer depends on your risk tolerance, your hardware, and your patience. In this guide, we break down the pros and cons of both methods and explain why Gokby Pool might be your best bet for consistent earnings.
What is Solo Mining? (The Lottery)
Solo mining means your hardware connects directly to a Bitcoin node. You are attempting to solve the cryptographic puzzle (finding the hash below the target) entirely on your own.
The Pros:
- Full Reward: If you find a block, you keep the entire reward (currently 3.125 BTC + transaction fees). That is over $200,000 USD in one hit.
- No Fees: You pay 0% pool fees because there is no pool.
The Cons:
- Extreme Variance: This is the biggest issue. With a single home miner (e.g., 500 GH/s or even 100 TH/s), the mathematical probability of finding a block is so low that you might mine for 10 years and earn absolutely nothing.
- Wasted Electricity: You are paying for power 24/7 with no guarantee of ever seeing a satoshi.
Verdict: Solo mining is only for people who treat mining like a lottery ticket and don't care about steady income.
What is Pool Mining? (Steady Income)
Pool mining involves connecting your hardware to a server (like btc.gokby.com) along with thousands of other miners. The pool acts as a single massive miner on the network.
How it works:
The pool assigns your miner "easier" work (shares). Even though these shares aren't difficult enough to solve a Bitcoin block, they prove that you are working. When anyone in the pool finds a block, the reward is distributed among all participants based on how much work they contributed.
The Pros:
- Consistent Payouts: You earn Bitcoin every day (or whenever the pool finds a block, depending on the scheme). You don't have to wait 10 years.
- Lower Risk: You are guaranteed to get paid for your electricity and hardware usage over time.
- Community: You are part of a team working together.
The Cons:
- Fees: Most pools charge a service fee. However, at Gokby Pool, we charge only 0.5%, which is significantly lower than the industry standard of 2%.
Why PPLNS is the Fairest System
Gokby Pool uses the PPLNS (Pay Per Last N Shares) payout scheme. Unlike PPS (Pay Per Share), where the pool pays you even if they have bad luck (which forces them to charge higher fees), PPLNS rewards loyal miners.
If you stay connected to our pool, you build up "shares". When we hit a block, your payout is calculated based on your contribution during the "shift". This system discourages "pool hoppers" (people who jump between pools) and ensures that consistent home miners get the highest possible reward.
Conclusion: Which One Should You Choose?
If you have a warehouse full of ASICs with Petahashes of power, solo mining might be an option. But for 99% of home miners using Bitaxe, Nerdminers, or single Antminers, Pool Mining is the only logical choice.
It turns mining from a gamble into a steady investment. Ready to start? Point your miners to:
stratum+tcp://btc.gokby.com:3333User: Your Wallet Address
