As cryptocurrency prices plummet and network difficulty rises, profitability declines, making the selection of a mining pool critical. According to mining pool ViaBTC, reliability of the pool becomes more important than promised profits during such downturns. The company shared with ForkLog essential criteria for miners to consider when connecting their hash rate.
Risks of Joining a New Pool
The competition among mining pools intensifies in a bear market. To attract customers, smaller and newer services often offer zero or very low fees along with increased bonuses. ViaBTC identifies three key risks associated with these enticing offers:
- Failure to Distribute Rewards. Smaller pools may lack a reserve fund, making them unable to pay miners for their work during block delays or technical issues.
- Hidden Deductions. The advertised low fees might be offset by withdrawal charges. ViaBTC representatives note that some pools may also underreport a user's hash rate in their statistics.
- Vulnerable Infrastructure. Smaller platforms often skimp on security, making them more susceptible to DDoS attacks.
Factors to Consider When Choosing a Pool
Experience. Pools that have weathered several cycles of market highs and lows have demonstrated their resilience over time.
Payment Model. This determines who bears the risk of failure. With the PPS+ model, pools pay for every accepted share regardless of whether a block is found, adding transaction fees to the rewards. This makes miners' income predictable, albeit with higher fees. In contrast, the PPLNS model ties payouts to block discovery, shifting income variability to the miner.
Infrastructure Security. Having servers distributed across various regions and robust protection against network attacks ensures stable pings and minimal downtime.
Financial Tools. Features like an integrated wallet, automatic conversion of mined coins to stablecoins, and cryptocurrency-backed loans allow for revenue management within a single ecosystem without needing to withdraw funds.
"ViaBTC has been operational since 2016 and has survived several prolonged bear markets. In November 2025, the company underwent a SOC 2 Type II audit, which assesses the durability of security mechanisms over time rather than at a single point in time,” representatives of the pool noted.
By default, the service rewards miners using the PPS+ model. Transfers from the pool to the CoinEx exchange are fee-free. Automatic conversion changes mined coins into stablecoins, and crypto-backed loans can cover electricity bills without needing to sell assets during market lows.
Details on tariffs, supported coins, and a profitability calculator can be found on the ViaBTC website.
"Choosing a pool in a bear market is a matter of business survival. Saving a fraction of a percent on fees from a small pool does not justify the risk of losing an entire day’s or week’s earnings. Established and trusted platforms provide miners with the security, stability, and technological support needed to weather any market downturns,” concluded ViaBTC.
It is worth noting that mining companies are increasingly competing for energy resources amid rising demand for data centers.