Help Center

Everything you need to know about mining with Forge Pool

⚒ Mining Modes

Forge Pool offers two mining modes to suit different mining strategies and risk preferences.

Feature PPLNS Pool Solo Mining
Pool Fee 1% 0.5%
Payout per Block 49.5 BCH2 (shared among miners) 49.75 BCH2 (full reward to finder)
Payout Frequency Every block the pool finds Only when YOU find a block
Variance Low - steady income High - feast or famine
Best For Most miners, consistent returns Large hashrate, risk-tolerant miners

PPLNS (Pay Per Last N Shares)

PPLNS rewards miners based on their contribution to finding blocks. When the pool finds a block, the reward is distributed proportionally among all miners who submitted valid shares during the scoring window.

  • Fair distribution: Your payout is proportional to your hashrate contribution
  • Reduced variance: Get paid regularly even with smaller hashrate
  • Pool luck shared: Bad luck is spread across all miners

Solo Mining

In solo mode, you mine independently using the pool's infrastructure. If you find a block, you keep the entire reward (minus 0.5% fee). However, you get nothing if someone else finds the block.

  • Maximum reward: Keep 49.75 BCH2 per block you find
  • High variance: May go long periods without finding blocks
  • Recommended for: Miners with significant hashrate (>10% of network)

Mode Switching Cooldown

To prevent abuse, there is a cooldown period when switching between PPLNS and Solo modes. This ensures fair share distribution in the PPLNS pool.

💰 Payouts

How Payouts Work

Forge Pool automatically sends payouts to your configured BCH2 wallet address. Here's how the process works:

  1. Block Found: When the pool finds a block, it's broadcast to the BCH2 network.
  2. Confirmation Period: The block must receive 100 confirmations before the coinbase reward can be spent. This takes approximately 100 blocks (~16-17 hours at current block times).
  3. Payout Processing: Once mature, payouts are automatically sent to miners' addresses.
  4. On-Chain Confirmation: Your payout appears in your wallet after the transaction confirms.

Why 100 Confirmations?

BCH2 (like Bitcoin) requires coinbase transactions to mature for 100 blocks before they can be spent. This protects against blockchain reorganizations that could orphan blocks.

PPLNS Payout Calculation

Your share of each block reward is calculated based on your contribution to the pool's total shares:

Your Payout = (Your Shares / Total Pool Shares) × Block Reward × (1 - Pool Fee)

For example, if you contributed 10% of the pool's shares and the pool finds a block:

Your Payout = 0.10 × 50 BCH2 × 0.99 = 4.95 BCH2

Minimum Payout

The minimum payout threshold is 0.01 BCH2. Smaller amounts are accumulated until they reach this threshold.

Payout Status

Status Description
Pending Block found but waiting for 100 confirmations
Confirmed Block mature, payout sent to your address

⚙ Configuration

Get Started Page Options

The Get Started page lets you configure your mining settings before connecting your miner.

Step 1: Wallet Address

Enter your BCH2 wallet address. This is where your mining rewards will be sent. The address must be a valid BCH2 CashAddr format starting with q (or bitcoincashii:q with prefix).

  • Your address is your unique identifier on the pool
  • Recently used addresses are saved for convenience
  • The pool validates your address before saving

Step 2: Mining Mode

Choose between PPLNS and Solo mining (see Mining Modes above for details).

Step 3: Difficulty Settings

Configure how the pool assigns work difficulty to your miner (see Difficulty section for details).

Step 4: Miner Configuration

Use these settings in your mining software:

Stratum URL stratum+tcp://forge.bch2.org:3333
Username YOUR_BCH2_ADDRESS.workername
Password x (can be anything)

Worker Names

Add a worker name after your address (separated by a dot) to identify different mining rigs. Example: bitcoincashii:qz...abc.rig1

📈 Difficulty Settings

What is Mining Difficulty?

Difficulty determines how hard the mathematical puzzles are that your miner must solve. Higher difficulty means fewer shares submitted but each share represents more work.

Variable Difficulty (Recommended)

The pool automatically adjusts difficulty based on your miner's hashrate. This ensures:

  • Optimal share submission rate (not too fast, not too slow)
  • Reduced network overhead
  • Accurate hashrate measurement

The pool targets approximately 1 share every 10-15 seconds per worker.

Static Difficulty

Advanced users can set a fixed difficulty value. This is useful if:

  • You have very consistent hashrate
  • You want to control share submission rate precisely
  • You're troubleshooting miner issues

Choosing Static Difficulty

If difficulty is too low, you'll submit shares too frequently (wasted bandwidth). If too high, share submission will be slow and hashrate estimation inaccurate. When in doubt, use Variable.

Difficulty Guidelines

Hashrate Suggested Difficulty
< 100 TH/s 8,000 - 32,000
100 - 500 TH/s 32,000 - 128,000
500 TH/s - 1 PH/s 128,000 - 512,000
> 1 PH/s 512,000+

🚀 Getting Started

Quick Start Guide

  1. Get a BCH2 Wallet: You need a BCH2 wallet address to receive payouts. You can use the official BCH2 wallet or any compatible wallet.
  2. Configure on Pool: Visit the Get Started page, enter your address, select your mining mode, and save settings.
  3. Configure Your Miner: Enter the stratum URL, your address as username, and any password in your mining software.
  4. Start Mining: Power on your miner and verify it connects. Check your miner dashboard to see stats.
  5. Get Paid: Payouts are automatic after blocks mature (100 confirmations).

Compatible Mining Hardware

BCH2 uses the SHA-256 mining algorithm. Compatible hardware includes:

  • Bitmain Antminer S19, S19 Pro, S19 XP series
  • MicroBT WhatsMiner M30S, M50 series
  • Canaan AvalonMiner series
  • Any SHA-256 ASIC miner

Viewing Your Stats

After connecting, view your mining statistics at:

  • PPLNS miners: /miner/YOUR_ADDRESS
  • Solo miners: /solo/YOUR_ADDRESS

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

Why haven't I received my payout yet?
Block rewards require 100 confirmations before they can be paid out. This takes approximately 16-17 hours after a block is found. Check the block status on your dashboard - if it shows "Pending", the confirmations are still accumulating.
What is "Pool Luck" and why does it matter?
Pool luck measures how many shares were needed to find a block compared to the statistical expectation. 100% luck means we found the block exactly when expected. Lower is better (found faster), higher means it took longer. Over time, luck averages out to 100%.
Why is my hashrate different on the pool vs my miner?
The pool estimates hashrate based on submitted shares, which naturally varies. The 5-minute average fluctuates more than longer averages. Hardware hashrate is theoretical; actual rates depend on network conditions, share luck, and miner efficiency.
Can I mine with multiple rigs to the same address?
Yes! Use different worker names for each rig (e.g., address.rig1, address.rig2). All workers' hashrate combines, and payouts go to the same address.
What happens if my miner disconnects?
Shares you've already submitted still count. When you reconnect, mining continues. Workers are marked "offline" after 5 minutes without shares, but your accumulated shares remain.
How is the pool fee deducted?
The pool fee (1% for PPLNS, 0.5% for Solo) is deducted from block rewards before distribution. For a 50 BCH2 block reward, PPLNS miners share 49.5 BCH2, and solo miners receive 49.75 BCH2.
Why can't I switch mining modes immediately?
There's a cooldown period to prevent abuse. Frequently switching between solo and PPLNS could be used to unfairly benefit from pool shares while taking solo rewards. The cooldown ensures fair participation.
What is "Effort" shown on the dashboard?
Effort shows how much work has gone into the current round as a percentage of expected work. 100% effort means you've submitted statistically enough shares to find one block. Effort resets when a block is found.
Is there a minimum hashrate requirement?
No minimum hashrate is required. However, very low hashrates may result in infrequent share submissions and less accurate statistics. ASIC miners are recommended for meaningful BCH2 mining.