ViaBTC vs ckpool for solo mining

[BitcoinSoloMiner]

Lets say I want to send 1-20ph to a pool for solo...

I know I can see my best hash on ckpool...

ViaBTC is knocking out at least 1 block an hour...

What is behind the decision making when choosing between these 2 pools?

Perhaps there is a 3rd alternative, what would that be and why?

[NotFuzzyWarm]

ViaBTC is knocking out at least 1 block an hour...

Solo is <drumroll please> SOLO! How much total hash rate is pointed there does not matter because for solo mining size of the pool is irrelevant - all that matters is the amount of hash YOU are sending to it. If Via's solo part is hitting 1 block per hr it is only because they have a shitton of solo users pointed there.

As for 3rd choice use Kano's pool and set it up for solo. Unlike -ck or even Via, Kano has 10 nodes across the globe giving fastest network access and block distribution. FYI, -ck has just the one node which is located in the US, Via has at least 2 nodes.

[paid2]

Yeah as NotFuzzyWarm said, only the localisation of nodes matters, and we could add, of course, the fee that the pool owner is taking from your block reward, which is important too.

[BitcoinSoloMiner]

I was thinking along the lines of fact that ViaBTC is a well established pool.

I am aware that not all blocks mined with the ViaBTC coinbasemessage are solo blocks but they have some which indicate individual users and these are still quite common.

I was thinking that with ViaBTC being such a popular pool that they have a far better server implementation surrounding things like the process of propagation and higher spec hardware.

[NotFuzzyWarm]

I was thinking that with ViaBTC being such a popular pool that they have a far better server implementation surrounding things like the process of propagation and higher spec hardware.

Nope.
It's purely the size of their total hash rate that determines how often they find blocks. That applies to any pool. FYI: a block is found by a single chip in a miner. That's why even a 1-chip stick miner does occasionally find a block  

Via just has more miners pointed at it and remember that these days that usually means hundreds of chips in each miner. Same goes for -ck solo pool, for whatever reason folks love throwing tons of (most often rental) hash at it so they sometimes find several (say, more than 5) blocks each year - their last 3 were from a single user who pointed >1ExH at it for a total of maybe a week.

As far as infra goes, Kano actually has better network block work distribution than most much much larger pools do. It is not that difficult or expensive to setup but most pools do not bother because network distribution speed mainly only matters in an orphan race (which are fairly rare). Given the number of blocks they find it pretty much does not matter whereas for small pools they need every speed advantage they can get when they find a block. Kano's setup broadcasts the block found message to the Bitcoin network worldwide within just a few 10's of ms so as many other pools as possible pick it up and start building on it Same applies to getting the block found message from other pools and sending out new work to Kano users to start building on it.

As far as work generation goes - again not that complex or hard to do right. Safe bet that Kano's extraordinarily high-performance main server at least matches what any large pool is running and it certainly far exceeds -ck's setup...

[VKBIT]

Actually, is better to have peers than relays )
You should give a try to vkbit.

Cheers.

[philipma1957]

Lets say I want to send 1-20ph to a pool for solo...

I know I can see my best hash on ckpool...

ViaBTC is knocking out at least 1 block an hour...

What is behind the decision making when choosing between these 2 pools?

Perhaps there is a 3rd alternative, what would that be and why?

its a good question.

1 ph makes about 1000x.05=50 usd a day a block is 3.125x121000=378,125

and 378,125/50=7,562.5 days or twenty years time.

and 20ph would mean 20/20=1 year to hit that block.

my suggestion is point 1ph to ckpool and mine it solo while you mine 19ph to viabtc not solo.


all this is assuming it is your gear and not rentals.


if you rent the hash point it all to ckpool

why because you can give a virgin address with no one knowing who hit the block.


the fact that ckpool allows for a virgin address giving you privacy is good.

[kano]

Actually, is better to have peers than relays )
You should give a try to vkbit.

Cheers.

Considering that a single bitcoind can only handle a limited number of peers quickly,
the more 'relays' you have, the more peers you will have,
and having multiple steps through multiple peers, to get to the big pools, slows down your block distribution.

...

why because you can give a virgin address with no one knowing who hit the block.


the fact that ckpool allows for a virgin address giving you privacy is good.

Actually ck pool is one of the worst for privacy.
All your mining there, is clear text including your BTC address, over the internet, about 26000 times a day.
So it defines your miner IP address associated with that BTC address.
Of course no one would be silly enough to mine through tor or a vpn since that dramatically increases the chance of losing your block.

BTC addresses are not private unless you have your own custodial wallet, never use the address, never reuse the address, and thus never spend your BTC.

Also, being a 'virgin' address makes no difference to privacy.

The block still says it was mined at his pool, just the BTC goes only to your address, not via another trusted address.
e.g. at my pool it goes to the pool address first then directly to the BTC address in your account.
This also resolves a problem where some exchanges are problematic about coinbase transactions and require trusted BTC address sources.

Note also, my pool makes only 1 block difference to the timing of being able to use your BTC, since even if the block sends it directly to your wallet, you still have to wait 100 blocks before you can spend it (and then that will also guarantee it's no longer private )

[paid2]

e.g. at my pool it goes to the pool address first then directly to the BTC address in your account.
This also resolves a problem where some exchanges are problematic about coinbase transactions and require trusted BTC address sources.

Note also, my pool makes only 1 block difference to the timing of being able to use your BTC, since even if the block sends it directly to your wallet, you still have to wait 100 blocks before you can spend it (and then that will also guarantee it's no longer private )

I know you're right, and all your points are valid. However, is the payment to the user's wallet automatic after 100 confirmations? Otherwise, the weak point of your pool system, with non-automated payments managed by a single person, is that it requires trust that you won't have a car accident, motorcycle accident, or a heart attack, for example. We know you're online every day on Discord, so we would notice if you were unusually absent. But even though I wish you the best for the future, I can't help but think that life's accidents don't give a warning, which would introduce a slight risk (if it is not automatic).

[kano]

e.g. at my pool it goes to the pool address first then directly to the BTC address in your account.
This also resolves a problem where some exchanges are problematic about coinbase transactions and require trusted BTC address sources.

Note also, my pool makes only 1 block difference to the timing of being able to use your BTC, since even if the block sends it directly to your wallet, you still have to wait 100 blocks before you can spend it (and then that will also guarantee it's no longer private )

I know you're right, and all your points are valid. However, is the payment to the user's wallet automatic after 100 confirmations? Otherwise, the weak point of your pool system, with non-automated payments managed by a single person, is that it requires trust that you won't have a car accident, motorcycle accident, or a heart attack, for example. We know you're online every day on Discord, so we would notice if you were unusually absent. But even though I wish you the best for the future, I can't help but think that life's accidents don't give a warning, which would introduce a slight risk (if it is not automatic).

Well you could say the same about ckpool - it's only run by him - and only a couple of nodes doing block distribution.
In the past ckpool has stopped providing new work and people were mining garbage, that wouldn't produce a valid block, without knowing it coz he doesn't treat is as an on going 24/7 concern (Edit: or I should point out how he's lost around 5 blocks also due to negligence)

As is well known, if anything does go wrong with my pool/nodes I know within 60 seconds about it.
Yep I've been hit by a truck, even had open heart surgery, alas yes I am still here - and I've paid out all 2438 blocks we've found - oh well.

I can point out one fun thing to know about bitcoin
At one stage years ago, around 50% of all bitcoin mining was on a single pool run by one person - BTCGuild

[Danzotron]

e.g. at my pool it goes to the pool address first then directly to the BTC address in your account.
This also resolves a problem where some exchanges are problematic about coinbase transactions and require trusted BTC address sources.

Note also, my pool makes only 1 block difference to the timing of being able to use your BTC, since even if the block sends it directly to your wallet, you still have to wait 100 blocks before you can spend it (and then that will also guarantee it's no longer private )

I know you're right, and all your points are valid. However, is the payment to the user's wallet automatic after 100 confirmations? Otherwise, the weak point of your pool system, with non-automated payments managed by a single person, is that it requires trust that you won't have a car accident, motorcycle accident, or a heart attack, for example. We know you're online every day on Discord, so we would notice if you were unusually absent. But even though I wish you the best for the future, I can't help but think that life's accidents don't give a warning, which would introduce a slight risk (if it is not automatic).

Well you could say the same about ckpool - it's only run by him - and only a couple of nodes doing block distribution.
In the past ckpool has stopped providing new work and people were mining garbage, that wouldn't produce a valid block, without knowing it coz he doesn't treat is as an on going 24/7 concern (Edit: or I should point out how he's lost around 5 blocks also due to negligence)

As is well known, if anything does go wrong with my pool/nodes I know within 60 seconds about it.
Yep I've been hit by a truck, even had open heart surgery, alas yes I am still here - and I've paid out all 2438 blocks we've found - oh well.

I can point out one fun thing to know about bitcoin
At one stage years ago, around 50% of all bitcoin mining was on a single pool run by one person - BTCGuild

Subconsciously, no one holds respect for people who elevate themselves by slagging off others. And regardless of the fact you have paid out 2438 blocks, anything could happen on 2439. My advice if you are bitter about your pool having low hashrate would be to change the mechanics of it. For soho/hobby miners, getting a block is a once in a lifetime event (these days) and to bet that all on whether Kano still happens to be behaving ethically / morally is one not many will be willing to take.

[kano]

Subconsciously, no one holds respect for people who elevate themselves by slagging off others. And regardless of the fact you have paid out 2438 blocks, anything could happen on 2439. My advice if you are bitter about your pool having low hashrate would be to change the mechanics of it. For soho/hobby miners, getting a block is a once in a lifetime event (these days) and to bet that all on whether Kano still happens to be behaving ethically / morally is one not many will be willing to take.

Hmmm - how am I elevating myself?
I'm just pointing out known fact that noobs seem to not know.
I'm also one of the longest pool runners around, only a few pools have been around longer than mine.
I haven't shut down my pool for reasons of failure and negligence in that history either

Meanwhile since your post, a certain someone has done 2 things - had the pool fail - and accidentally deleted code from his pool that was fortunately not important

Low hash rate - yep - and most of it was mine until a couple weeks ago - as everyone mining on my pool knows.
Just got another PPLNS block - oh well - better hope it gets paid out hey