Understanding Public Pool: 0% Fee Solo Mining with 98% Reward Retention
Public Pool (public-pool.io) is a fully open-source, decentralized solo mining pool that charges no pool fees. Its core philosophy is to let miners keep the full value of their block rewards.
If your miner (such as a Starminer 601 or Bitaxe) finds a block while solo mining on Public Pool, here is exactly how the reward is distributed:
1. Block Reward Allocation — 98% Goes to You
Your reward: 98% of the block reward (including the base block subsidy plus transaction fees) is sent directly to the Bitcoin address you configured.
Pool fee: 0%. The pool itself does not take any cut of the block reward. Public Pool is operated as a community service with zero fees on both its hosted and self-hosted versions [citation:2].
2. Where Does the Other 2% Go?
If the pool charges 0% fees, why do you receive only 98%? According to Public Pool's open-source design, the remaining 2% is automatically sent as a donation to the developers of the open-source project (such as @skot and other contributors).
This donation supports the ongoing development and maintenance of the Bitaxe hardware and the Public Pool software ecosystem. It ensures that the tools you rely on remain open, auditable, and continuously improved [citation:1].
Summary for Miners: You can think of it as a 2% developer donation. After this deduction, the remaining 98% of the block reward belongs entirely to you. The pool operator (the middleman) does not take any profit from your mining efforts.
Key Features of Public Pool
- 0% Pool Fee: You keep the full reward minus the transparent 2% developer donation.
- Fully Open Source: The code is public, auditable, and can be self-hosted on your own node [citation:4].
- No Registration: Simply point your miner to the pool and provide your Bitcoin address to receive rewards [citation:4].
- Community-Oriented: It is the default pool for Bitaxe and other open-source mining hardware, fostering a decentralized ecosystem.
For individual miners looking to participate in Bitcoin block discovery without trusting a third party, Public Pool offers a transparent, zero-fee entry point. While the chances of finding a block with a small miner are low, the reward—when it comes—is almost entirely yours.
