Key Takeaways:
- The biggest mining pool for Monero, MINEXMR, has stated that it would shut down on August 12.
- The group advised its miners to switch to the p2pool decentralised pool.
In some cryptocurrency communities today, Monero (XMR) is still regarded as one of the best cryptocurrencies as it is at times untraceable. The announcement that MineXMR, the biggest monero mining pool, would close on August 12 hit this community particularly hard.
A mining pool is a network of cryptocurrency miners who pool their computer power in order to increase their chances of finding a block or mining money successfully.
According to the most recent data on the Monero network’s hash rate, as of July 31, 2022, Minexmr represented 43%:
The company responsible for mining the cryptocurrency monero (XMR) has announced it would cease operations. We regret to announce that the pool will close on August 12 for our cherished miners.
MineXMR asked its miners to move their operations to other organisations by August 12 in response to the plan to close. The organisation informed the users that any leftover incentives at the end of the contest will be immediately sent. The organisation also expressed gratitude to its miners for their continuous support and participation in the pool.
Minexmr is the biggest Monero mining pool, and its 1,051 MH/s total power ensures it will make a lot of money when mining awards are distributed. Nanopool, at 19 percent, is much below Minexmr and is a much less concerning statistic. The Proof-of-Work (PoW)-based Monero protocol encountered issues in recent months due to the network’s growing centralization.
In any situation, MineXMR has advised its miners to join a new pool. It was recommended that the present MineXMR miners transfer to the decentralised pool operated by p2pool, which is ranked seventh in terms of hashrate.
The decentralised pool helps maintain the Monero network and there are no pool fees while utilising p2pool, according to them. This project is entirely peer-to-peer, open-source, community-driven, and operated on a voluntary basis.
Only 3% of the Monero network’s hash rate is now in the control of p2pool, which has a firing rate of 75.01 MH/s. It would be beneficial for Monero’s health to see p2pool gain strength rather than Nanopool, which already controls 19% of the network’s hash rate.
The official announcement was quite brief; MineXMR omitted to mention the shutdown’s cause. It was made clear to miners that any prizes remaining due after the closing date would still be given as they were urged to shift their activities to alternative pools. The fact that MineXMR supplies the majority of the hash rate for the Monero network is what makes this news so concerning.
Larger mining pools seem to represent a threat to network decentralisation, yet Minexmr’s activities coming to a stop is good news for Monero. Despite Minexmr’s advice, the community is concerned that migrants may select pools with more strength than p2pool in order to maximise their earnings. This would be bad for Monero’s Hash Rate concentration.