XBT pool payouts explained: PPLNS vs FPPS vs TIDES vs solo
Every XBT pool says it pays you, but they do it in very different ways. Some split each block between hundreds of miners right in the block itself. Some hold your balance in a pool wallet. Some don't pool at all. We counted who got paid in the last 1,008 XBT blocks (about 7 days, to block 981,167). Here's what each payout type means and what the chain shows.
The four payout types in one table
| Type | How you get paid | Good for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| TIDES | Each block's reward is split across recent work (about 8 blocks' worth) and paid straight into the block's coinbase. No pool wallet. | Anyone who doesn't want to trust a pool with a balance | Pay arrives per block, so a pool that finds few blocks pays lumpy |
| PPLNS | "Pay per last N shares." When the pool finds a block, recent shares split it. The pool holds your balance until you pass the minimum. | Steady miners who stay on one pool | You trust the pool wallet. Hopping pools costs you |
| FPPS / FPPS+ | "Full pay per share." The pool pays a fixed rate for every share, whether it finds blocks or not, plus a cut of fees. | Predictable daily income | Higher fees. The pool takes the luck risk, so it has to hold XBT to pay you |
| Solo | You get the whole block (about 3.125 XBT plus fees) if you find it, and nothing if you don't. | Big farms, or a lottery ticket | Small miners can go months or years with nothing |
What the chain shows: most XBT blocks pay miners directly
The first transaction in every block, the coinbase, lists who got the reward. In the last 1,008 blocks:
- About 79% of blocks paid 10 or more addresses straight from the coinbase. That's TIDES-style pools like Lazarus (median 83 addresses per block), AlphaPool (134), B2Pool (209), CONVOY (36), DxPool (32) and RIPTIDE (41).
- About 14% paid a single address. That's solo miners and pools that pay from their own wallet. 30-plus different names found blocks this way.
- About 7% paid a handful (2 to 9 addresses).
That's unusual. On bitcoin, almost every block pays one pool address and the pool pays miners later. On XBT, most miners get paid by the block itself.
Real blocks, real payouts
| Block | Pool | Outputs | Smallest payout | Biggest share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 981,166 | AlphaPool | 133 | 1,201 sats | 8% |
| 981,162 | B2Pool | 221 | 10,241 sats | 22% |
| 981,161 | Lazarus | 86 | 0.010 XBT | 10% |
| 981,150 | CONVOY | 54 | 0.011 XBT | 58% |
| 981,165 | Omega Pool | 11 | 740 sats | 98% |
The smallest payout tells you about the pool's minimum. B2Pool's smallest output sits just above its posted 10,000-sat minimum. AlphaPool paid out as little as 1,201 sats. "Biggest share" shows how much one address took: when it's high, one big miner (or the pool itself) found most of the work behind that block.
See the live version, updated every 15 minutes: who pays miners straight from the block.
The 180-day lock changes the math
Every reward mined from block 979,919 on can't move for 25,920 blocks, about 180 days. Lock tracker
- TIDES and solo: your share lands in your own address right away, but it's locked. Nobody holds it for you, and nobody can run off with it.
- PPLNS: the pool's block reward is locked too, so your balance waits the same 180 days before the pool can pay it.
- FPPS: a pool that pays you today is paying from XBT it already holds, because the reward it just mined can't move. Ask how it funds that before you trust a big balance to it.
Which one should you pick?
- One or two home miners: TIDES. You get paid in the block, there's no pool balance to trust, and a pool that finds blocks often keeps it steady. Look for a 7-day block count above 50.
- You want a fixed daily number: FPPS, if you're fine with a higher fee and trusting the pool's wallet.
- Lottery: solo. Check your real chances first with the solo odds calculator.
- Run your own node: DATUM pools let you build your own block templates and still get TIDES payouts. How to choose a pool
How to check your own payout
Paste your payout address into mempool.guide ↗. Coinbase payouts show up as incoming transactions with no sender. Each one is a block your pool found while your work was in its window.
Counts are coinbase addresses, not people. One miner can use several addresses, and a pool's own fee address counts as one. Data from mempool.guide, blocks 980,160 to 981,167. Not affiliated with any pool. Not financial advice.
Live pool payout statsMiner profitability
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