On August 12, 2022, MineXMR — Monero's largest mining pool at the time — permanently closed its operations. Its announcement was brief and directed all remaining miners toward P2Pool: "We regret to inform our valued miners that the pool will be closing on August 12. We recommend transitioning to the decentralized p2pool. There are no pool fees when using p2pool and the decentralized pool helps to support the Monero network. Any remaining pending rewards left after the pool closes will be sent automatically."
MineXMR offered no explanation for the decision. The context, however, was well understood by the community: six months earlier, in February 2022, MineXMR had controlled approximately 44% of Monero's total hash rate — dangerously close to the 51% threshold that would have enabled a potential double-spend attack. The Monero community had responded with sustained calls for miners to leave the pool, and MineXMR's dominant position had been eroding steadily since. The announcement of the pool's closure was met with an immediate positive market response: XMR rose approximately 8% within the first hour.
What Is a Monero Mining Pool?
New XMR enters circulation through mining — the process by which computers compete to validate and record transactions on the Monero blockchain. Monero uses a proof-of-work consensus mechanism in which miners repeatedly hash candidate blocks until one produces a result that meets the network's current difficulty target. The miner who finds a valid block receives the block reward, currently around 0.6 XMR, plus transaction fees from that block.
A mining pool is a cooperative arrangement in which multiple miners combine their hash rate, increasing the group's collective probability of finding a block. When the pool finds a block, the reward is distributed among all contributing members in proportion to their hash rate contribution, minus a pool fee that typically ranges from 0% to 2%. A pool contributing 7% of the network's total hash rate will, on average, find roughly 7% of all blocks. For individual miners with limited hardware, pools deliver far more consistent income than solo mining, where long stretches without rewards are common.
Six Factors to Consider When Choosing a Monero Mining Pool
With MineXMR no longer operating, over 50 alternative pools remain active. Before committing your hash rate, evaluate the following:
- Trustworthiness: Check the pool's track record for paying out earned rewards accurately and on time. Community forums and Reddit are useful sources of miner experience with specific pools.
- Fees: Pools typically charge 0–2%. Lower fees directly improve your net earnings. P2Pool charges no fee at all.
- Server location: Network latency between your miner and the pool's servers affects effective hash rate. Choose a pool with servers geographically close to you for the lowest latency and best share submission rates.
- Minimum payout threshold: Pools with lower minimums allow you to withdraw more frequently. This matters if you prefer liquidity or are cautious about leaving earnings on a pool for extended periods.
- Pool hash rate (for decentralization): Avoid joining the largest pool. The MineXMR episode demonstrated why no pool should approach 50% of Monero's total hash rate. The Monero community considers 30% an informal threshold beyond which a pool's growth becomes a concern. Use smaller or mid-sized pools — or P2Pool — to preserve network health.
- Pool uptime: A pool that experiences frequent outages is not mining during those periods. Higher historical uptime directly translates to more consistent earnings.
How to Start Mining Monero in a Pool
Step 1: Create a Monero wallet to receive your payouts. XMRWallet takes under two minutes, requires no registration, and gives you a permanent wallet address. Copy that address — you will need it in your mining software configuration.
Step 2: Download mining software. XMRig is the most widely used and actively maintained option, available for Windows, Linux, and macOS. Other options include XMR-Stak-RX and the built-in miner in the official Monero GUI wallet.
Step 3: Configure the software with your chosen pool's address and your XMRWallet payout address, then start mining.
The Monero community specifically recommends P2Pool as the first choice for new miners — it requires running a local Monero node but eliminates pool fees and centralization risk entirely.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happened to miners' pending balances when MineXMR closed?
MineXMR's closure announcement stated that all pending rewards would be automatically sent to miners' payout addresses after the pool closed. This is standard practice for pool closures — earned but unpaid balances are distributed before the operator shuts down infrastructure.
Is P2Pool suitable for miners with low hash rates?
Yes, but with a caveat. P2Pool has a separate internal share chain — the lower your hash rate, the less frequently you submit accepted shares, and the less frequently you receive small payouts. Very low hash rate miners may find that traditional pools with lower minimum payouts offer more frequent reward distribution. However, P2Pool is specifically designed to accommodate a wide range of hash rates, and many miners with consumer hardware use it successfully.
