Public Instances
Hydrapool the software and a host running Hydrapool are different things. This page lists the hostnames current public docs actually use.
Current as of 5 November 2026
Ports below were checked by opening a TCP connection. Nothing was sent that would start mining.
Read this before you point a miner
The Foundation's public instance pays the Foundation, not you. Details are below. A pool that pays connecting miners is one you run. Start with Name the pool.
The Foundation donation instance
| Stratum | stratum+tcp://pool.256foundation.org:3333 |
| Stats | dash.256f.org (Hashdash) |
| Who is paid | The 256 Foundation, if a block is found |
| Username | A label, not a payout address |
This is the host named by the Foundation FAQ, the projects page, Hashdash, the forum about post.
The FAQ calls it a hashrate donation: your miner adds work, and a block reward goes to the Foundation. The FAQ also describes TeleHash as an occasional Foundation event that uses this kind of instance. Visitors point hashrate at it. A block found there pays the Foundation.
On 5 November 2026, TCP port 3333 on pool.256foundation.org accepted a connection. Hashdash was serving its donation page, and that page's instructions were: stratum user username.workername, with the username a Nostr npub, an X handle, or a website token.
Do not add a Bitcoin address and expect this host to pay it. The 100% donation mode in the changelog exists so the username does not have to be an address.
test.hydrapool.org
The software README says: "We have an instance mining on mainnet at test.hydrapool.org." It does not say who is paid if that host finds a block.
On 5 November 2026:
- TCP 3333 accepted a connection.
- HTTPS on the same name redirected to
/loginand served a Grafana page.
The README sentence is not a payout policy. This site does not send miners there, and it does not invent who is paid.
If you operate that host, the payout rule belongs in the forum thread where miners will see it.
Your own instance
A self-hosted pool listens where you bind it. The v2.6.0 compose file publishes:
| Service | Port |
|---|---|
| Stratum | 3333 |
| API | 46884 |
| Grafana | 3000 |
| Prometheus | 9090 |
Those ports on localhost are your pool. They are not the Foundation's. Run with Docker is the setup. Point a miner is the connection, after you have set who gets paid.