Welcome to the multi-billion-dollar industry of cryptocurrency mining! Bitcoin was the first decentralized cryptocurrency with an unprecedented reputation that has spawned numerous copies and innovations. It remains the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization to this day. It singlehandedly helped create the blockchain industry and has continued to have a profound influence on the industry culture since its creation.
Founded in 2013, f2pool was one of the earliest Bitcoin mining pools. Use this comprehensive mining guide to kickstart your mining career and help secure the largest decentralized network with us!
What is Bitcoin mining?
General overview
On October 31, 2008, a programmer using the pseudonym of Satoshi Nakamoto released a document called “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System”—the Bitcoin whitepaper.
On January 3, 2009, Bitcoin’s genesis block was mined. This marked the birth of cryptocurrency, a trustless form of currency with no centralized governing body.
Bitcoin uses a distributed ledger to maintain the balances of every user. Each transaction is recorded and propagated to the network, where all block-producing network participants must confirm it.
This is where the miners come into play. Miners enable the fundamental security of the network by providing computer power, or hashrate, to validate these transactions and blocks of data. They are compensated with newly minted Bitcoin and transaction fees.
Basic information
| Items | Details |
|---|---|
| Website | Bitcoin.org |
| Block explorer | Blockchain.com |
| Total supply | 21 million BTC |
| Algorithm | SHA256d |
| Consensus | Proof of Work |
| Block time | 10 minutes |
| Current block rewards | 3.125 BTC |
| Mining device | ASIC miner |
| Mining channel | Bitcointalk thread |
| f2pool mining community | Reddit group |
| f2pool address | f2pool servers |
The economics of mining
There are some basic economics miners should be aware of in order to gain a clear understanding of the network and its revenue potential.
Bitcoin is a deflationary currency: Only 21 million Bitcoin will ever be mined. Currently, more than 89% of Bitcoin’s total supply has been mined. Every ten minutes, another 6.25 BTC will be generated. Block rewards are halved every 210,000 blocks, or roughly four years.
Today, hashrate contributed by miners is usually measured in Thash/s as the basic unit. The more hashrate in the network, the more difficult it becomes to mine a block. Network difficulty adjusts itself about every 14 days to fit the ten-minute block time.
Connecting your mining machines to a mining pool can make participating in the network easier and help you with achieving more stable returns.
What hardware do I need to mine Bitcoin?
✅ Bitcoin can be efficiently mined with SHA256d ASIC mining machines
❌ Bitcoin cannot be efficiently mined with GPUs
💡 Some models will fluctuate between profitability and unprofitability due to changes in the Bitcoin price
Hardware requirements
Today, after years of intense hashrate competition, only ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) mining machines are effective for Bitcoin mining.
Typically, machines are operated in mining farms in parts of North America, Asia, South America and other regions that can offer low electricity prices. Lower electricity prices mean lower operating costs and better profit margins. Many mining farms provide plug-and-play solutions, including device purchasing, hosting, transportation, deployment, maintenance, and so on.
If it is not feasible for you to purchase a mining machine or spend time maintaining the hardware, there are platforms that allow you to rent hashrate. Learn how to use popular hashrate rental platform NiceHash to mine with f2pool here.
Mine more efficiently
The lower the unit power consumption compared to the hashrate, the higher the mining efficiency.
The latest ASIC models can reach a unit power of about 12-19 W/T. Check out the f2pool Popular Miners page for detailed information such as hashrate and power consumption for Bitcoin mining machines.
How do I set up the software and create an account?
Step 1: Create a wallet address
Creating a wallet address is always the first step when diving into a new blockchain network. You’ll need a wallet address to check and receive payouts to mine Bitcoin with f2pool.
You can choose to run a full node as a wallet or use another wallet solution. An extensive list of wallet options is available on the Bitcoin.org website. You can also choose an exchange address. Note: You should always do your own due diligence when choosing a wallet provider or exchange.
Step 2: Create an f2pool account
You’ll need to create an f2pool account before mining Bitcoin. If you don’t have one yet, please click here to register.
Set an accountname. This will be required for configuration. You are free to create multiple subaccounts to monitor your workers/miners.
Now add your Bitcoin wallet address created in Step 1 and enter it in your Payout Settings. You can set a payout threshold and check hashrate changes and your rewards once you start contributing mining power.
You can add or change your payout address in your Payout Settings. f2pool distributes mining revenues on a daily basis to every user who reaches the payout threshold.
Step 3: Configuration
Now that you have a wallet and an f2pool account name, you can proceed to configure your mining device.
ASIC miners are the easiest mining devices to use compared to GPUs and CPUs, which are no longer profitable for mining bitcoin. No mining software is required to be run on your computer. All you need is the proper electricity setup to meet the power consumption requirements and a reliable internet connection.
Please note that your ASICs should have a wired connection to your local network and that your computer and your ASICs should be on the same network.
Use any modern browser that accesses the IP address of your machine, then connect to an f2pool server. You’ll need to enter the following information into your mining device:
URL: stratum+tcp://btc.f2pool.com:3333
Username: accountname.workername
Password: Your choice
Please note
1. Alternative ports can be used for the server. Please refer to the backup ports in the pool URL lists following the example configuration.
2. Your accountname is provided in your Account Settings.
3. workername is optional, but we recommend labeling each of your mining devices with a separate workername for more efficient monitoring.
Example configuration
A miner with the mining account username oceanminer and a worker named bigfish1 who wants to connect to our pool server would configure his device as follows:
URL: stratum+tcp://btc.f2pool.com:3333
Username: oceanminer.bigfish1
Password: 123456
There are general and region URLs that you may choose from:
General:stratum+tcp://btc.f2pool.com:1314 (Backup: 25,3333)
stratum+ssl://btcssl.f2pool.com:1300 (Backup: 1301)
Asia:stratum+tcp://btc-asia.f2pool.com:1314 (Backup: 25,1315,3333)
North America:stratum+tcp://btc-na.f2pool.com:1314 (Backup: 25,1315,3333)
Europe:stratum+tcp://btc-euro.f2pool.com:1314 (Backup: 25,1315,3333)
Africa:stratum+tcp://btc-africa.f2pool.com:1314 (Backup: 25,1315,3333)
Latin America:stratum+tcp://btc-latin.f2pool.com:1314 (Backup: 25,1315,3333)
ASICs take just a few steps to configure. Once you’ve configured your device and saved your settings, you’re ready to start mining and earning rewards. You are not locked into f2pool and can enter and exit the pool freely at any time. However, you will only earn mining rewards from f2pool while connected to an f2pool server.
How do I check my mining data?
You can view your hashrate, mining rewards and more mining information on the f2pool website or app.
After signning in to your f2pool account, You can navigate to the Home page (on webpage) or Dashboard (on app) to monitor your hashrate.
You can navigate to the Worker page to
On the Revenue page, you can check your mining rewards and the payouts.
For mining Bitcoin, users can choose a payout scheme of FPPS (Full Pay Per Share) with a 4% commission rate or PPLNS (Pay Per Last N Share) with a 2% commission rate. When the balance in your account reaches the minimum threshold, you will receive a payout for your mining rewards within 24 hours. Users can select a payout threshold from 0.005 (default) / 0.01 / 0.05 / 1 / 5 BTC in their payout settings. Learn more about payout schemes here.
You can check the payout status on your Revenue page. For on-chain details, you can get the TXID in the payout records on the Bitcoin block explorer.
Increase your earnings by merged mining
We want to introduce merged mining as a way to help you get the most out of your mining activities.
Merged mining
Merged mining is “The act of using work done on one blockchain on more than one chain.” In other words, merged mining enables you to receive mining rewards for multiple coins without adding any extra hashrate or diminishing your rewards for the primary coin you are interested in mining (such as Bitcoin).
When you mine Bitcoin with f2pool, you can receive payouts from several different merged mining coins, such as Fractal Bitcoin (FB), Hathor (HTR) and more.
To set up your wallet addresses for merged mining coins, please refer to this guide for settings. You can check more information about merged mining on this page.
Please note, merged mining rewards will start accruing only when each corresponding wallet address is successfully added.
Start mining today!
Now that you have all the info you need, it’s time to start securing the network!
If you run into any problems mining Bitcoin, please feel free to reach out to our customer service team at support@f2pool.com, open a support ticket, or start a conversation on Reddit or Discord.
To stay updated with the latest Proof of Work news and developments, follow us on Twitter.
Happy mining!
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