Why do some pools offer 0% fees?

On small chains, running a pool costs a few dollars a month, so operators can charge nothing and still cover costs. Some 0% pools monetize through other services; others treat the pool as community infrastructure. The cost to verify is low, so check their payout history.

What does minersPayTxFees mean?

It's a MiningCore setting: when true, network transaction fees for payouts are deducted from miners' balances instead of the pool's funds. On low-fee chains it's negligible; on busy chains it can exceed the pool fee.

Is a 1% fee on new coins fair?

Usually yes — new chains need a funded buffer for the first payouts, and 1% until the buffer exists is a transparent way to bootstrap it. Established coins shouldn't keep the fee once funded.

The hidden cost of a 0% mining pool

MineCraft Pool · 2026-08-12 · fundamentals

TL;DR — A pool's stated fee (0–2%) isn't the whole cost: transaction-fee handling, minimum payout thresholds and orphaned blocks all quietly change your take. A 0% pool that makes you pay tx fees from your payout can cost more than a 1% pool that covers them. Here's how each mechanism works and what to check before connecting.

Every pool page shows a fee. Few explain what's behind it. Four mechanisms decide what actually lands in your wallet.

1. The pool fee itself

This is a cut of each block: 1% of a 100-coin reward means 1 coin to the operator. Established pools on small chains often run at 0% — the operator's costs (server, domain, a few hundred watts) are trivial and covered by other income. Newer coin sections usually carry a temporary 1% to fund a payout buffer, and drop to 0% once funded. Our OXC, BTCV and BTC1 sections run exactly that model: the fee switches off automatically when the wallet holds enough for the first transactions.

2. Transaction fees — the hidden line

Every payout is an on-chain transaction and costs network fees. Two models exist:

minersPayTxFees = true: the fee is deducted from your payout. On low-fee chains this is cents; on congested chains it can dwarf the pool fee itself.
pool absorbs tx fees: you receive the full reward amount. Cleaner for you, and viable when the chain's fees are negligible.

A '0% fee' pool that deducts tx fees on a busy chain can cost you more than a 1% pool that doesn't. Always ask which model a pool runs.

3. Minimum payout thresholds

Pools batch small balances to avoid drowning in dust transactions. A 100-coin minimum on a coin you mine at 0.5 coins/day means payments every few days — fine. A 5,000-coin minimum on the same setup means your earnings sit on the pool for months, exposed to operator risk. The rule: threshold should equal a few days of your expected earnings, not weeks or months.

4. Orphaned blocks

When two miners find competing blocks, the network keeps one; the loser is orphaned and pays nothing. Pools differ in how they report this — honest ones show orphaned blocks separately in stats instead of quietly deleting them. High orphan rates signal a badly connected node; a pool's blocks should propagate fast.

Checklist before you connect

Stated fee, and whether it's temporary (buffer-funded) or permanent.
Who pays transaction fees, and what they typically cost on that chain.
Minimum payout vs your daily earnings rate.
Whether orphaned blocks are shown honestly in the stats.
Public payment history — every payout should be traceable on-chain.

On transparent pools you can verify all five in ten minutes from the public stats and the chain's explorer. If you can't — that opacity is itself the fee.

FAQ

Why do some pools offer 0% fees?: On small chains, running a pool costs a few dollars a month, so operators can charge nothing and still cover costs. Some 0% pools monetize through other services; others treat the pool as community infrastructure. The cost to verify is low, so check their payout history.
What does minersPayTxFees mean?: It's a MiningCore setting: when true, network transaction fees for payouts are deducted from miners' balances instead of the pool's funds. On low-fee chains it's negligible; on busy chains it can exceed the pool fee.
Is a 1% fee on new coins fair?: Usually yes — new chains need a funded buffer for the first payouts, and 1% until the buffer exists is a transparent way to bootstrap it. Established coins shouldn't keep the fee once funded.