SlushPool

SlushPool Review

The emergence of mining pools marked a
dynamic shift in the way one-person mining ventures sought to remain
competitive in the ever-growing mining economy. Interestingly, the platform
that brought about this change is SlushPool, the very first platform to
support cooperative mining frameworks. In this Slush Pool review, we will
explore the operations of this mining pool and highlight its benefits and
drawbacks.

What is SlushPool?

Launched in 2010, SlushPool is widely
known as the very first cryptocurrency mining platform to provide a “Bitcoin
Pooled Mining Server”. And although it has operated for around a decade, it
remains one of the biggest and most popular mining pools to date. Slush Pool’s
long-lasting prominence is down to the management’s penchant for incorporating
innovative features. SlushPool site undergoes upgrades regularly to ensure that
users enjoy the best of mining functionalities without running the risk of
becoming susceptible to attacks.

With over 1.25 million BTC mined since it
launched in 2010, Slush Pool has successfully democratized Bitcoin and Zcash
mining by providing individual miners with an enabling environment to compete
with institutional mining farms. According to the information on its website,
SlushPool currently has over 140,000 active bitcoin mining rigs connected to
its network while over 4,000 machines make up its Zcash mining pool.

SlushPool also allows a politically
neutral voting system. All you have to do is direct your hash rate towards your
favorite protocol proposals to vote. In other words, SlushPool utilizes a
community-based governance framework that gives participants some level of
influence over the development of the platform. Slush Pool’s users get to vote
on upgrades and future developments. The management team commits more resources
and time to protocols or upgrades that attract the highest votes. That said,
the hash rate contributed by each member to the network determines their voting
power.

What about mining efficiency and
accessibility?

SlushPool ensures a 99.9% uptime. It
achieves this by implementing the most innovative load balancing and fail-over
systems. The decision to spread its servers across several regions has helped
the pool to maintain significantly high uptime.

SlushPool is Asic-boost compatible, and
it continually adds new features to optimize the operations of users. Examples
of such implementations are the Braiin OS and Braiin OS+ systems. The latter is
an advanced autotuning firmware that increases the efficiency of selected
models of ASIC mining machines by 25%.

SlushPool claims that using Braiin OS+
when mining via Slush Pool optimizes profitability. Apart from this benefit,
SlushPool offers zero commission for Braiin OS+ users.

User Experience

From all indications, SlushPool has shown
its commitment to providing user-friendly and intuitive solutions to miners.
The website’s design embodies this notion as the platform ensures that users
can navigate seamlessly and access vital features from anywhere on the website.
Furthermore, Slush Pool offers a beginner-friendly mode so that new miners can
quickly set up their accounts, link their mining equipment, and start mining
instantly. It also allows users to activate a demo account so they can check
out all of the settings and see what slush has to offer before going all out to
use a live account.

Another development achieved over the
years as regards user experience is the introduction of mobile apps for both
iOS and Android devices. SlushPool mobile app allows miners to monitor their farms or
mining equipment even when they are on the move. SlushPool sends notifications
via the mobile app to alert users when the pool finds a new block or when
payouts are sent.

SlushPool Transparency

SlushPool has implemented various
features to enable a transparent ecosystem for miners. Located at the top of
the website is a transparent pool statistics section detailing vital data,
including hash rate proof, block history, JSON stats, and more. The platform
does not expect users to rely on unproven data. Therefore, it has created a
stat page where they can access real-time data on the performance of the mining
pool. With this, participants can track the total hash rate of the mining pools
and the percentage committed to productive mining.

In the block history section of Slush
Pool’s stats page, you will find the pool luck, which shows the average time it
takes for the mining pool to find a new block. Another useful piece of
information here is the data showing whether found blocks have been confirmed
or not. For a new block to be confirmed and payouts sent to miners, SlushPool
waits for 100 additional blocks to be created by mining nodes on the bitcoin
blockchain. You can also track the number of Bitcoin earned by Slush Pool for
creating a new block and loading transactions on it.

More importantly, the dashboards on the
desktop app and mobile app log mining machine or software defects and notify
miners immediately. This is possible because SlushPool implements 24/7
monitoring to promote a transparent system. The platform tracks each mining rig
separately and provides miners with customizable monitoring configurations.
With this, miners can receive alerts via the app or email whenever issues that
could potentially lead to losses are logged.

Rewards, Commission, and Fees

Due to the transparency of SlushPool, it
is easier to understand the fee policy and have an idea of what you could earn
at a given time. Apart from the mining rewards earned by Slush Pool, users also
receive a share of the revenue generated via network fees. And as mentioned
earlier, payouts depend on the confirmation time of blocks. More often than
not, it takes about an hour for SlushPool to process payouts. Besides, users
can set the threshold for withdrawals by customizing the settings that apply to
their payment method or selected coin.

Recall that SlushPool supports two
mineable cryptocurrencies – Bitcoin and Zcash. The pool fee for mining bitcoin
is set at 2%. Hence, SlushPool will deduct 2% of your earnings as commission.
The minimum payout threshold for bitcoin withdrawals is 0.001 BTC and every
withdrawal below 0.01 BTC attracts a transaction fee of 0.0001 BTC.

For Zcash operations, the pool fee is
also fixed at 2%, while the minimum withdrawal limit is 0.001 ZEC. Likewise,
the platform deducts a fee of 0.0001 ZEC for all withdrawals lower than 0.01
ZEC.

Customer Support

The SlushPool website supports 4
languages including English, Spain, Russian, and Chinese. This implementation
gives credence to the global status of the mining pool. Besides, it provides a
help center that details most of the technicalities involved in using Slush
Pool’s features. Here, you will find guides on how to start mining with SlushPool, how to set up your mining farm, and how to troubleshoot. There are also
various articles detailing the workings of the platform’s features, including
the mobile app, the dashboard, and payout settings. In addition to this, you
can access documents on core products like Braiin OS, Brain OS+, and Stratum
V2.

For its customer support framework, SlushPool seems to only provide an email ticketing system and social media support
for submitting complaints. You will expect a mining pool that provides 24/7
services to at least offer a live chat option to cater to users who need
instant resolutions.

What Are the Pros and Cons of
SlushPool?

After researching the workings of this
mining pool thoroughly, we went further to compile its strengths and drawbacks.
Below are our findings.

What Are the Advantages of Using
SlushPool?

It is an established and
reputable mining pool

With over 10 years’ experience under its
belt, SlushPool has proven beyond any reasonable doubt that it is a viable
mining pool. The ability of the management team to reinvent this platform has
helped Slush Pool to stay relevant even after 10 years of operation.

It is transparent

As highlighted in this guide, SlushPool
has provided several features to boost the confidence of miners in its system.
Miners have access to a 24/7 tracking tool. You can also access vital data on
the real-time performance of Slush Pool. It has gone the extra mile to detail
its payout policy such that miners can have an accurate knowledge of the
earnings of the platform and in turn, use this information to project their
income.

Slush Pool has impressive uptime
figures

By combining a load balancing
infrastructure and a fail-over system, SlushPool delivers impressive uptime.

It offers advanced mining
products

With the launch of its autotuning system,
miners can boost the efficiency of their mining rigs and become more
profitable. It is also worth mentioning that Stratum V2 makes pool mining a lot
easier and safer.

SlushPool is community-oriented

Another advantage is that miners get to
be an integral part of the platform’s governance as regards development. Slush
Pool allocates voting rights to miners according to their hash rate. This
initiative allows the mining pool participants to vote on upgrades and decide
the ecosystem’s development roadmap.

SlushPool is beginner-friendly

It is commendable that a crypto platform
tries as much as possible to offer simple solutions and provide a quality user
experience. Based on the website design, Slush Pool scores some points for
opting for a user-friendly approach to running a mining pool. Also, the
provision of a demo account allows new users to have a feel of the features
beforehand. The launch of its mobile app is another show of Slush Pool’s
commitment towards improving user’s experience.

What Are the Cons of SlushPool?

It does not have a robust
customer support system

Although Slush Pool has provided a help
center that demystifies most of the intricacies of its features, there are not
enough options as regards customer support channels. Apart from the option to
utilize email tickets and social media as support channels, Slushpool is yet
to enable an instant form of communicating with its representatives. The
absence of a live chat portal on its website could be detrimental to users.

It supports the mining of just 2
coins

SlushPool limits mining activities within
its ecosystem to the Bitcoin and Zcash networks. This business model may not
appeal to miners that intend to switch between a wide range of mineable
cryptocurrencies for a good profit margin.