With the advent of Bitcoin in 2009, one of the first professions in the cryptocurrency sphere emerged — mining. At the initial stage of blockchain development, any computer owner could become a miner, but over time, mining cryptocurrencies became more difficult, and it requires significant computing power. Therefore, individual mining, even with the use of powerful equipment, became unpromising for most users.
To solve this problem, mining pools were created — associations of miners who jointly search for blocks and distribute rewards in accordance with the contribution made. In this article, we will consider how mining pools work, what reward distribution models they use, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of participating in them.
