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For most miners choosing between the two documented options, 2Miners is the lower-fee choice (1%, PPLNS, 0.1 ZEC minimum and processing every two hours), while f2pool is the more predictable-accounting choice (3%, PPS+, 0.1 ZEC minimum and daily payouts during 00:00–08:00 UTC). Neither is automatically “safest.” Your best pool depends on payout variance, fees, latency, transparency, wallet privacy and how much hashpower you operate.
Pool terms and live hashrate can change, so treat the figures below as the operators’ pages accessed on October 18, 2026, and confirm them before pointing hardware at a pool.
Quick comparison: 2Miners and f2pool
These are the two Zcash pools in the available operator documentation with complete, current terms. A live pool directory also lists ViaBTC, Foundry, Luxor and AntPool among active Zcash pools, but their exact fees, payout rules and thresholds must be checked on each operator’s own site before you configure a miner. A directory snapshot is not a guarantee of uptime, solvency or payout performance.
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2Miners | PPLNS | 1% | 0.1 ZEC | Automatic processing every two hours | EquiHash; Europe, USA and Asia endpoints; optional SSL |
| f2pool | PPS+ | 3% | 0.1 ZEC | Daily payouts between 00:00 and 08:00 UTC | stratum+tcp://zec.f2pool.com:3357 |
2Miners states that it pays no ZEC payout fee. f2pool’s support material separately confirms a 3% Zcash fee and a 0.1 ZEC threshold. Both pools’ published minimums are one-time thresholds: your balance generally needs to reach the threshold before an automated payout can be sent.
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Which pool is best for your situation?
Choose 2Miners when lower fees and frequent processing matter
At the documented 1% fee, 2Miners leaves more of each gross reward before electricity and hardware costs than f2pool’s 3% fee. Its two-hour processing schedule can also reduce the time you wait after reaching 0.1 ZEC. The trade-off is PPLNS accounting: your reward depends on the shares you contributed in the pool’s last-N-share window when a block is found. A miner that has just connected, disconnected frequently or experienced poor luck can see more variation from one payout period to the next.
2Miners documents EquiHash for Zcash, regional endpoints in Europe, the USA and Asia, and an optional SSL connection. Its own guidance says, “Choose Pool by default. Go Solo only if you have enough hashpower and know how does Solo works.” For ordinary miners, that means selecting the pool mode rather than attempting solo mining.
Choose f2pool when predictable share accounting matters more than fee
f2pool publishes PPS+ accounting for ZEC. PPS+ generally makes payment accounting more predictable than PPLNS because accepted work is paid under the operator’s formula rather than waiting for the pool to find a block before the reward is allocated. The price of that predictability is the published 3% fee, three times 2Miners’ stated fee.
f2pool lists a 0.1 ZEC payout threshold and a daily payout window from 00:00 to 08:00 UTC. Its documented Zcash endpoint is stratum+tcp://zec.f2pool.com:3357. Confirm the current endpoint, account requirements and any worker-name format in f2pool’s current instructions before starting.
When another large pool deserves consideration
The current directory also displays ViaBTC, Foundry, Luxor and AntPool as active examples. Their presence in a directory is useful for discovering alternatives, but the directory values are live snapshots. Do not infer their current Zcash fee, payout model, minimum payout or reliability from the listing alone. Open the operator’s own documentation, check the date of its terms and compare the same five items: accounting model, fee, threshold, payout schedule and nearest stratum region.
Understand payout models before comparing fees
PPLNS: lower stated fee, higher timing variance
Pay Per Last N Shares (PPLNS) calculates a miner’s reward from the shares submitted during the pool’s last-N-share window when a block is found. Your effective result therefore depends on recent participation and block luck. A continuously connected worker with stable accepted shares may experience less practical variation than an intermittently connected worker, but no PPLNS pool can promise the same amount every hour.
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Do not compare a 1% PPLNS fee with a 3% PPS+ fee as if the percentages were the only difference. The first changes the expected deduction from rewards; the second changes how much short-term variance the operator absorbs and how your balance behaves while blocks are found at an uneven rate.
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PPS+: more predictable accounting, higher deduction
Pay Per Share Plus (PPS+) pays according to accepted work under the operator’s published formula, with the pool charging its stated fee. f2pool explicitly says, “ZEC adopts the PPS+ scheme.” Predictability does not remove market or operational risk: ZEC’s price, network difficulty, your hashrate, rejected shares and the operator’s continued operation still affect the result.
How to evaluate a pool safely
1. Compare the complete payout equation
- Record the fee and accounting model together: 2Miners publishes 1% PPLNS; f2pool publishes 3% PPS+.
- Check the minimum payout: both documented examples use 0.1 ZEC.
- Check when payouts are processed: 2Miners says every two hours; f2pool says daily between 00:00 and 08:00 UTC.
- Check whether a payout fee is charged: 2Miners states there is no ZEC payout fee.
- Calculate how long your hardware is likely to take to reach 0.1 ZEC. A threshold that takes weeks can expose you to more operational and price risk than a lower threshold, even when the pool’s fee is small.
The threshold is not a profitability guarantee. Reaching it depends on your accepted hashrate, network conditions and the pool’s accounting rules.
2. Check scale and transparency
A live directory can show current pool hashrate, miner count, block history, fee, payout method, minimum payout and region. Use those figures as a starting snapshot, not a promise. On the operator’s own site, look for a functioning statistics page, recent block and payout history, clear support channels, an explanation of the reward formula and a visible status page or incident history.
A large hashrate can reduce the time between pool blocks, but size alone does not establish solvency, security or fair accounting. Conversely, a smaller pool may be technically sound but produce more irregular block-related results under a variance-based model.
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Network distance and route quality affect share submission. Use the nearest region that the pool documents, then watch your rejected-share rate after the miner has run long enough to stabilize. 2Miners lists Europe, USA and Asia endpoints. Do not choose a server solely because its name looks familiar; compare measured latency and rejected shares from your actual location.
A low ping is useful but not sufficient. A route can have low idle latency and still drop packets or produce stale shares under load. Judge the connection by accepted shares, rejected shares, worker hashrate and uptime over a meaningful operating period.
4. Prefer documented TLS and verify hostnames
When an operator publishes an SSL or TLS endpoint, use it where your mining software supports it. 2Miners documents SSL as an option. Type the pool domain yourself or create a bookmark from the operator’s official page; do not copy a stratum hostname from an anonymous video, forum post or downloadable configuration file.
Before starting, compare the hostname character-for-character, port, algorithm and SSL setting with first-party instructions. A convincing-looking hostname can redirect work or credentials to an attacker. SSL protects the connection in transit, but it does not make a fraudulent pool domain legitimate.
5. Separate mining credentials from wallet secrets
Use a dedicated payout address that you control. Never enter a seed phrase, private key or wallet-recovery words into pool software, a mining dashboard or a support chat. A pool needs a payout address and, depending on its account system, a login or worker identifier; it does not need control of your wallet.
Start with a small test balance. Let it pass through a complete payout cycle, verify that the amount and destination are correct, and only then commit substantial hashpower. Keep a record of the address you entered and compare it with the payout history rather than trusting a copied screen image.
Zcash address privacy and mining payouts
Zcash distinguishes transparent t addresses from shielded z addresses. Transparent addresses work similarly to Bitcoin addresses and do not offer privacy for users: transaction activity and balances associated with them are publicly visible on-chain.
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Mining coinbase rewards are sent to transparent addresses first. Zcash documentation describes a workflow in which those funds can then be shielded, and the official z_shieldcoinbase command is designed to sweep coinbase unspent transaction outputs into a shielded address.
A privacy-conscious payout workflow
- Create or select a wallet you control and confirm that it supports the address type and shielding workflow you intend to use.
- Use a dedicated transparent payout address for the pool rather than reusing an address tied to unrelated activity.
- Send a small test payout and confirm the address and amount before increasing your mining balance.
- After the transparent reward arrives, use the wallet’s documented shielding process. With compatible Zcash software, the official
z_shieldcoinbaseworkflow sweeps eligible coinbase UTXOs to a shielded address. - Keep backups of wallet-recovery material offline. Never paste that material into a pool, miner, website or support ticket.
Shielding improves on-chain privacy but does not make the mining operation anonymous. Pool accounts, IP addresses, exchange records and reused addresses can still create links.
Setting up a Zcash miner without taking unnecessary risks
Prepare the hardware and network
- Confirm that the miner supports Equihash 200,9, the Equihash variant used for Zcash mining.
- Use the manufacturer’s firmware and a well-known mining software project. Avoid modified binaries from unverified download pages.
- Provide an electrical circuit, power supply and connectors rated for the miner’s continuous draw.
- Plan ventilation and physical placement before powering on. ASICs produce substantial heat and noise.
- Place the miner on a network segment you can monitor, change default credentials, and restrict administrative access to trusted devices.
Enter pool settings
- Open the miner’s local management interface and locate its pool or worker configuration page.
- Choose the EquiHash or Equihash 200,9 algorithm label used by your firmware.
- Enter the exact stratum hostname and port from the pool’s official documentation. For f2pool, the published endpoint is
stratum+tcp://zec.f2pool.com:3357. - Choose the nearest documented region. For 2Miners, the available regional choices include Europe, USA and Asia.
- Enable SSL only when the operator documents the matching secure endpoint and your firmware supports it correctly.
- Enter the dedicated payout address and a worker name. Do not enter a seed phrase or private key.
- Save, restart the mining process if required, and watch the first connection in the pool dashboard and miner log.
Validate the first operating day
- Confirm the pool recognizes the worker and reports a hashrate close to what the hardware is designed to deliver.
- Check accepted and rejected shares. Investigate persistent rejection before assuming the miner is profitable.
- Compare local temperature, fan speed, power draw and noise with the manufacturer’s operating limits.
- Check the payout address displayed by the pool character-for-character.
- Record the first payout and compare its timing with the pool’s published schedule.
Can you mine Zcash with an Antminer?
Yes, an Antminer Z11 is named in the Zcash Community mining guide as a Zcash hardware option, and 2Miners specifies EquiHash for ZEC. Before buying an “Antminer Z11 Zcash ASIC miner,” verify all of the following on the exact listing and seller documentation:
- Equihash 200,9 compatibility, not merely a generic claim that the device mines “Equihash.”
- Measured or specified power draw and the voltage, amperage and connector requirements for your electrical circuit.
- Cooling requirements, ambient-temperature limits and expected fan noise. f2pool notes that ASIC miners are powerful and stable but produce substantial heat and noise.
- Firmware provenance, warranty terms, return conditions and seller history.
- Serial-number or authenticity checks where the manufacturer provides them.
- Shipping condition and the availability of replacement fans, power supplies and other service parts.
ASIC compatibility does not establish profitability. Your result depends on electricity price, network difficulty, ZEC price, pool fee, hardware efficiency, downtime and rejected shares. A calculator estimate is only as good as the assumptions it uses, and none of those variables is fixed.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Profitability: the numbers you must measure
Before purchasing or operating hardware, estimate gross ZEC production from the miner’s accepted hashrate and current network conditions, then subtract the pool fee and electricity. Include the power supply’s losses, cooling energy, internet equipment and expected downtime. Compare the result with the hardware’s purchase price, shipping, repairs and resale value.
Use the pool’s own statistics to replace assumptions with observations after startup. Track:
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- Accepted hashrate and its variation over time.
- Rejected or stale shares and the percentage they represent.
- Gross rewards, pool-fee deductions and net payouts.
- Time from connection to the 0.1 ZEC threshold.
- Electricity consumption and local energy price.
- Downtime, thermal throttling and maintenance events.
Do not treat a short run or a directory snapshot as an independent profitability statistic. Mining economics change rapidly as difficulty, price, pool participation and electricity costs move.
Common failure modes and fixes
The miner connects but rejected shares are high
First verify the algorithm, hostname and port. Then test a nearer documented region, inspect packet loss, update firmware from the manufacturer and check that the miner’s clock is correct. Excessive temperature or unstable power can also cause invalid work. Change one variable at a time so you can identify the cause.
The pool shows no worker
Check that the worker name and payout address were entered in the expected fields, that the miner actually saved the configuration, and that outbound traffic to the documented port is allowed. Confirm the endpoint character-for-character; a typo can leave the miner working against an unreachable server.
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The balance has not reached the payout threshold
Both documented pools use a 0.1 ZEC minimum. Check accepted hashrate and the pool’s accounting model rather than restarting repeatedly. Under PPLNS, intermittent participation and block luck can make balances less regular. Under PPS+, the fee is higher but accepted-work accounting is generally more predictable. Once the threshold is reached, compare the observed payout with the stated processing window: every two hours for 2Miners or 00:00–08:00 UTC daily for f2pool.
A payout arrives at an unexpected address
Stop mining, preserve pool and wallet logs, and check whether the payout address was changed in the account or miner configuration. Do not provide a private key to anyone claiming to recover funds. If the destination was not yours, treat the account or configuration as compromised and rotate passwords and credentials from a clean device.
The machine overheats or becomes intolerably loud
Power down safely, clear restricted airflow, verify fan operation and move the ASIC to a ventilated location. Do not operate it in a living area without accounting for continuous heat and noise. Follow the manufacturer’s thermal limits rather than lowering fan speed blindly.
Scam indicators and operational safeguards
- Unusually high or guaranteed returns that ignore electricity, difficulty and ZEC price.
- Urgent requests to download a wallet or “verification” program from an unfamiliar domain.
- Any request for a seed phrase, private key or wallet backup.
- Pool URLs or stratum settings that differ by one character from the operator’s official documentation.
- Pressure to send a large balance before a small payout has completed.
- Statistics that cannot be reconciled with accepted shares, blocks or payout history.
No pool is risk-free. A safer process is to use first-party documentation, a dedicated wallet address, a small test balance, current firmware, network isolation and continuous monitoring of shares and payouts.
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Quick Recap
A practical decision checklist
- Decide whether you prefer lower fees with PPLNS variance or higher fees with PPS+ accounting.
- Confirm the current fee, minimum payout, payout schedule and any payout charge on the operator’s own page.
- Choose the nearest documented stratum region and record the exact hostname and port.
- Enable the documented SSL/TLS option where supported.
- Verify Equihash 200,9 support, power, cooling, noise and seller legitimacy before buying hardware.
- Use a dedicated transparent payout address that you control; plan how you will shield received funds.
- Run a small test, monitor accepted and rejected shares, and wait for a complete payout cycle.
- Scale only after the observed operation matches the pool’s published terms and your electricity-cost calculation.
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