How to Set Up a Zcash Mining Pool Account

Why Pool Mining is Essential for ZEC

Solo mining Zcash with a single ASIC is economically irrational in 2025. With a network hashrate of approximately 9 GH/s (Equihash Sol/s), a single Antminer Z15 contributes around 0.005% of total network power. At those odds, you'd expect to find a block solo roughly once every 75,000 blocks — over 60 days of continuous solo mining to hit a single 3.125 ZEC block reward. Pool mining solves this by aggregating hashrate across thousands of miners and distributing payouts proportionally and consistently.

Choosing the right pool matters. Key factors are: pool hashrate (larger = more consistent payouts), fee structure (typically 1–4%), payout scheme (PPLNS vs PPS+), minimum withdrawal threshold, and geographic server locations (lower latency = fewer stale shares).

Comparing the Top Zcash Pools

Pool	Fee	Scheme	Min Payout	Notes
F2Pool	2.5%	PPS+	0.1 ZEC	Largest ZEC pool, global servers
2Miners	1%	PPLNS	0.01 ZEC	Low fee, low min payout, EU/US servers
Luxor	0.9%	FPPS	0.05 ZEC	North America focus, transparent stats
Viabtc	4% (rebate)	PPS+	0.1 ZEC	Established, good uptime history

PPS+ (Pay Per Share Plus) pays you for every valid share submitted regardless of whether the pool finds a block — more predictable. PPLNS (Pay Per Last N Shares) pays a proportion of each block found based on your recent contribution window — slightly more variable but often higher average yield during good luck periods. For single-machine hobbyist miners, PPS+ gives the most predictable income.

Setting Up an F2Pool Account

F2Pool is the most popular starting point due to its size and well-documented setup guides. Follow these steps:

1. Visit F2Pool's website and click Register. Create an account with your email and a strong password.
2. After email verification, log in and navigate to Mining Accounts → Create Sub-account.
3. Name your sub-account (e.g., "zcash-main"). This becomes your pool username prefix.
4. Go to Earnings → Payment Settings and add your ZEC wallet address. F2Pool pays to transparent t-addresses (z-addresses are not supported for pool payouts — shield your ZEC after withdrawal if privacy is a priority).
5. Set your payout threshold — 0.1 ZEC by default. Lowering it means more frequent but smaller transfers; raising it reduces network fees per withdrawal.

Your stratum connection details for F2Pool ZEC are: stratum+tcp://zec.f2pool.com:3333 with SSL available at port 3443. Worker name format: yourusername.w1.

Setting Up a 2Miners Account

2Miners uses a wallet-address-based system — no registration required. Simply use your ZEC wallet address as the username when configuring your miner:

1. Configure your Antminer pool URL to: stratum+tcp://zec.2miners.com:2020
2. Set the Worker field to: YourZECAddress.w1 (e.g., t1abc...xyz.rig1)
3. Password field: x
4. To monitor your stats, visit zec.2miners.com/account/YourZECAddress

2Miners pays out automatically once your balance reaches the minimum threshold (0.01 ZEC — one of the lowest in the industry). This makes it popular for single-machine miners who want to see earnings accumulate quickly without waiting for the larger minimums required by F2Pool.

Setting Up a Luxor Account

Luxor targets professional miners and offers a clean analytics dashboard. Setup requires account registration:

1. Register at Luxor's website and verify your email.
2. Create a Mining Profile and select Zcash (ZEC) as your coin.
3. Add your payout wallet address under Payment Settings.
4. Use stratum URL: stratum+tcp://zec.luxor.tech:700 or SSL port 7000.
5. Worker format: yourusername.workername

Luxor's dashboard stands out for its Hashrate Explorer (shows real-time per-worker stats), customisable alerts (SMS/email when a worker goes offline), and detailed earnings history. For miners running 5+ machines, these monitoring features alone justify using Luxor over simpler pools.

Verifying Your Setup Works

After configuring your miner (see our Antminer configuration guide), allow 5 minutes for the pool to register your worker. Then check:

• Pool dashboard → Workers: your worker name should appear as "online" (green indicator)
• Pool dashboard → Hashrate: should approximate your miner's rated Sol/s within 10–15% (pools display 30-minute rolling averages)
• Miner web interface → Real Hash Rate: compare the dashboard number with what the pool reports
• Accepted/Rejected ratio: under 1% rejected is excellent; over 3% suggests pool or network connectivity issues

Your first payout will arrive once your accumulated balance exceeds the minimum threshold. Track your estimated daily earnings with our profitability calculator.

Frequently Asked Questions