Mining involves using a computer to solve complex mathematical problems to authenticate transactions that are added to the blockchain, and receiving rewards for doing so. However, with the large hash rate , it is very unlikely that a single mining machine can receive this reward. (Occasionally, there are news reports of a single mining machine succeeding in mining.) Therefore, many people currently mine by connecting their own mining machines to a mining pool.
A mining pool is a mechanism for mining by combining the computing power of individual mining machines. The computing power of multiple computers is combined to perform mining as if it were one powerful computer. If a participating mining pool is the first to solve the computational problem to authenticate a new transaction, rewards are distributed to all computers participating in the mining pool according to their computing power (hash rate). Of course, you will need to pay the mining pool fee.
As of September 2024, Foundry USA has the largest market share among mining pools. The market share of mining pools can be confirmed on Hashrate Index and other sites.
You can also check which mining pool the latest block reward (the reward given to the first person to solve a calculation problem) was paid to on sites such as Mempool.space .
Mining pool where most recent block reward was paid
