Pool Guide

Pool Guide

What is a Mining Pool?

A mining pool coordinates multiple miners to process astronomical data. Instead of each miner submitting directly to the blockchain (which can be slow and inconsistent), miners connect to a pool that:

1. Distributes work to miners
2. Validates shares (quality >= 50)
3. Batches submissions on-chain
4. Distributes rewards proportionally

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Pool Architecture

┌─────────────┐     ┌─────────────┐     ┌─────────────┐
│  Miner 1    │────▶│             │     │             │
│  (RTX 3080) │     │   Stratum   │     │  MiningPool │
└─────────────┘     │    Pool     │────▶│  Contract   │
┌─────────────┐     │   Server    │     │   (Base)    │
│  Miner 2    │────▶│             │     │             │
│  (RX 7900)  │     │   :3333     │     │  0x...      │
└─────────────┘     └─────────────┘     └─────────────┘
┌─────────────┐           │                   │
│  Miner 3    │───────────┘                   │
│  (M2 Pro)   │                               │
└─────────────┘                               ▼
                                        ┌─────────────┐
                                        │   VOID      │
                                        │   Tokens    │
                                        └─────────────┘

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Running a Pool

Start the Pool Server

cd miner
python stratum_pool.py --port 3333

Output:

  ◆ VOIDMAP STRATUM POOL ◆
  Port: 3333
  Difficulty: 50-100
  Anti-ASIC: cnn
  Reward: 98% to miners

  Stratum pool listening on 0.0.0.0:3333

Pool Configuration

Environment variables:

# Pool port
export VOIDMAP_STRATUM_PORT=3333

# Difficulty range
export VOIDMAP_MIN_DIFFICULTY=50
export VOIDMAP_MAX_DIFFICULTY=100

# Share difficulty
export VOIDMAP_SHARE_DIFFICULTY=16

# Job refresh interval (seconds)
export VOIDMAP_JOB_REFRESH=30

Pool Features

• Stratum protocol: Standard JSON-RPC mining protocol
• Dynamic difficulty: Adjusts based on miner performance
• Anti-ASIC: Model rotation, random batch sizes, memory-hard operations
• Share validation: Quality threshold >= 50
• Real-time stats: Hashrate, acceptance rate, connected miners

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Joining a Pool

Using Stratum Miner

python stratum_miner.py --pool ws://pool.voidmap.org:3333 --user YOUR_ADDRESS

Options:

• --pool: Pool WebSocket URL
• --user: Your wallet address or miner ID
• --worker: Worker name (default: worker1)

Stratum Protocol Flow

1. Connect: Miner connects to pool via WebSocket
2. Subscribe: Miner subscribes to work notifications
3. Authorize: Miner authenticates with pool
4. Receive work: Pool sends work unit (task, model, batch size)
5. Process: Miner runs ML model on GPU
6. Submit: Miner submits share (quality, output hash)
7. Accept/Reject: Pool validates and responds

Example Session

Miner → Pool: {"method": "mining.subscribe", "params": ["miner_1234"]}
Pool → Miner: {"result": [1, "extranonce", 4]}

Miner → Pool: {"method": "mining.authorize", "params": ["miner_1234", "worker1"]}
Pool → Miner: {"result": true}

Pool → Miner: {"method": "mining.notify", "params": ["job_001", ...]}
Miner → Pool: {"method": "mining.submit", "params": ["miner_1234", "job_001", ...]}
Pool → Miner: {"result": true}

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Pool Rewards

Reward Distribution

• Pool keeps 2% fee
• 98% distributed to miners based on shares
• Quality-weighted: higher quality shares earn more

Example

If 3 miners submit shares:

• Miner A: 100 shares, avg quality 80
• Miner B: 50 shares, avg quality 70
• Miner C: 200 shares, avg quality 90

Total quality-weighted shares:

• A: 100 × 80 = 8,000
• B: 50 × 70 = 3,500
• C: 200 × 90 = 18,000
• Total: 29,500

Reward distribution:

• A: (8,000 / 29,500) × 98% = 26.7%
• B: (3,500 / 29,500) × 98% = 11.6%
• C: (18,000 / 29,500) × 98% = 59.6%

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Pool Management

Adding Miners

Pool operator can add miners:

# Via contract
pool.createPool("My Pool", fee_recipient_address)
pool.addPoolMember(pool_id, miner_address)

Monitoring

# View pool stats
curl http://localhost:3333/stats

# View connected miners
curl http://localhost:3333/miners

Pool Fees

• Default: 2% (200 basis points)
• Configurable via contract
• Fees go to feeRecipient address

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Running Multiple Pools

You can run multiple pools with different configurations:

# Pool 1: High difficulty for experienced miners
VOIDMAP_STRATUM_PORT=3333 VOIDMAP_MIN_DIFFICULTY=70 python stratum_pool.py

# Pool 2: Low difficulty for newcomers
VOIDMAP_STRATUM_PORT=3334 VOIDMAP_MIN_DIFFICULTY=50 python stratum_pool.py

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Pool vs Solo Mining

Aspect	Pool	Solo
Reward consistency	Regular, proportional	Variable, all-or-nothing
Minimum payout	None	Full block reward
Fee	2%	None
Complexity	Higher	Lower
Best for	Most miners	Large operations

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Pool Security

• Stratum authentication: Miners must authorize
• Share validation: Quality threshold enforced
• Rate limiting: Prevents spam submissions
• Connection limits: Max miners configurable

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Troubleshooting

"Connection refused"

• Pool server not running
• Check port is open
• Verify firewall settings

"Authorization failed"

• Check miner ID is correct
• Pool may have access controls

"Shares rejected"

• Quality below threshold
• Job ID mismatch (stale work)
• Invalid output hash

"Low hashrate"

• Check GPU is available
• Verify PyTorch installation
• Reduce batch size if needed