SmartPool Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):

Q: What is a SmartPool?

A: GetBlok.io SmartPool is a new smart-contract based mining pool that promotes transparency for miners.  Each action done by the SmartPool is visible on-chain, including changes in fees, distribution of payouts, and modifications made to the smart pool itself. The SmartPool provides the base framework for additional features that are to be built on top of it.

Q: How does the SmartPool work?

A: Each payment distribution handled by the Smart Pool is considered an “epoch”. Each epoch represents the state of the SmartPool and the distribution it performed at any given point. All of the important information used by the smart pool to distribute its payouts are stored on chain. This, in combination with the rules laid out by the smart contracts, ensure that changes made to the smart pool are visible by everyone.

In addition to the transparency it provides, the SmartPool is made to be modular and can change itself to support new payment methods and types of transactions. This ensures that new features can be added while still staying transparent about what these features can do.

Glossary of Terms available Below

-VS-

Q: What can the SmartPool do?

A: One of the initial goals of GetBlok.io is to provide miners a way to create Sub-Pools among themselves, thereby allowing miners to choose how they get paid. The SmartPool provides the base framework for sub-pooling to work and will ensure that smart contracts control the payment through every possible step.

Another use-case for the Smart Pool is the distribution of tokens. Many users of Cardano will be familiar with ISPOs or Initial Stake Pool Offerings. GetBlok’s answer to this is IMPOs, or Initial Mining Pool Offerings. This gives Ergo dApps another way to promote the fair distribution of tokens. The modular nature of the Smart Pool ensures that the distribution can be done in multiple ways (including distribution by hashrate, equal distribution to members, etc).

Governance, block bounties, programmable fees, and more are all possible within the Smart Pool framework. Stay tuned for more information about the first Smart Pool event in the coming weeks: governance tokens for the upcoming soft-fork emissions vote, backed by a Proof-Of-Vote mechanism. You can see the whitepaper/project proposal here.

Q: What coins are supported on SmartPool?

A: Currently we are supporting the Ergo Blockchain. GetBlok.io SmartPool was built and supported by Ergo community miners and developers alike.

Q: How do I connect my miner to the SmartPool?

A: We have several ways to connect.  We recommend following our how to connect guide (link below) to review the connection options available.

Q: What regions do you support?

A: Currently we have servers running in the following regions:

  • US East
  • US West
  • Germany West
  • APAC (Singapore)
  • Brazil
  • Middle East (UAE)

Q: What is the fee on GetBlok.io SmartPool?

A: Currently our fee is 1%

Q: What is the minimum payout on SmartPool?

A: Our min. payout is 0.1 ERG.  However, you can set your min. payout to anything >0.1

Q: What is the payment scheme for GetBlok.io SmartPool?

A: Our current payment scheme is PPLNS (N=50000).  See link below for further details regarding PPLNS

Q: What is the frequency of payouts?

A: Currently payments are processed after 720 confirmations from the block find.  This is typically 24hrs

Q: What are pending shares?

A: Pending shares are the shares you have accumulated towards PPLNS (50000 shares).   We are looking to modify the way this is displayed in our v2.0 of the dashboard

Q: Is there a dark mode?

A: Unfortunately, not currently.  We do plan to include this in v2.0 of the dashboard, although you may be able to enable dark mode in your web browser.

Q: When is the new UI “Dashboard v2.0” supposed to launch?

A: We are hoping to have this launched no later than the end of February.  Possibly sooner.

Glossary:

Block Candidate – A Block Candidate is a block that is found and sent to the node to either be confirmed or rejected by the network. 

Block Reward – A Block Reward is the reward provided to the miner for securing the blockchains network through solving complex equations.

Epoch – In simple terms, an Epoch measures a point in time.  With SmartPool an Epoch is measuring each block found by the SmartPool.

Miner – A person or entity securing a blockchains network by running specialized equipment (GPUs, ASIC, and FPGA) to solve equations (by submitting shares) in return for rewards (blocks).

Miner Rewards – Miner Rewards are distributed to the pool’s miners based on the shares that have been submitted to the pool. 

Node – A Node is typically an open-source program that is connected to a network that executes code outside of a web browser to provide persistent data in real time.   This technology is used for literally all web-based content delivered in real time from chat, gaming, streaming video and more.  In this case, the node is used as a p2p network to validate transactions on the Ergo blockchain.

Pool Operator Reward Wallet – This is the wallet that has been generated by the node to collect block rewards.  Rewards are received and distributed after 720 confirmations.

Shares – A share is submitted by the miner to the mining pool as a potential block solution.  Shares are also used to calculate the miner’s portion of block rewards as their contribution to the 

Smart Contract – A Smart Contract is written code that is meant to serve as a standard contract.  These series of codes can be used for endless use cases and should be viewed as a mutual agreement between parties.  In this case, it is done electronically on a blockchain.  

A classic example is any Point-of-sale system, such as a vending machine.  Money is deposited, and product comes out.  While this is a basic example, Smart Contracts can be used for very complex transactions.

SmartPool smart contracts are currently being used to process payments on-chain.  This is the foundation of SmartPool, and many tools will be built on top of this such as SubPooling, Token Distribution, Block Bounties, Adjustable Payments, and more.

Stratum Server – A stratum server is a server that is responsible for handling connections from miners and broadcasts accepted shares and block height for block candidates.

Subpool – Each SubPool is an individual Smart Contract that is currently being used to separate miners into “pools” for payment efficiency.   Future use will allow miners to form their own Subpools with friends and even control the payment scheme.