Hydrapool

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Name the Pool ​

In this lesson you decide which pool you are about to join, and who gets paid if it finds a block. You will not start a miner. You will not send hashrate anywhere.

Expect about ten minutes. You need a browser.

Current as of November 2026

The Foundation pages and Hashdash were checked on 5 November 2026. The software notes match Hydrapool v2.6.0 (f7674e4 on main, 12 June 2026).

Two different computers ​

A mining pool has a bookkeeper. Someone's computer stores the shares and builds the coinbase. Before you point a machine at a host, name that computer.

There are two you will meet in these docs:

  1. The Foundation's public instance, at pool.256foundation.org.
  2. An instance you run, from the Hydrapool source, on a machine you control.

They can run the same software. They do not pay the same people.

The Foundation's instance ​

Read this, then check it on the pages that publish it.

The Foundation FAQ says a hashrate donation is pointing a miner at pool.256foundation.org:3333. If that instance finds a block, the reward goes to the Foundation. Hashdash is where you watch that hashrate. The projects page lists the same host.

100% to the Foundation

This instance is not a miner-paid pool. Connecting does not mean you are owed a share of a block. The whole winning goes to the Foundation.

Hashdash tells donors to set the stratum user to username.workername. The username is a label: a Nostr npub, an X handle, or a website token. One example on that page is @256foundation.bitaxe-1. That string is not a payout address. The software changelog describes why a label works here: a 100% donation setting skips Bitcoin-address checks on usernames (entries 2.1.4 and 2.1.5).

The forum about post (25 March 2026) calls this host a live test instance. It does not restate the payout. Use the FAQ and Hashdash for that.

Write down, in your own words:

  • Who keeps the ledger.
  • Who is paid if a block is found.
  • What the username is for.

If any answer is "the miner who connected," read the warning again.

An instance you run ​

On a pool you operate, you edit the config before anyone else connects. The v2.6.0 example file sets mode = "hydrapool" and its comment says that mode uses PPLNS based on shares. It tells you to replace bootstrap_address with your own Bitcoin address. Donation and fee lines in that example are comments. You choose whether to turn them on.

The README also names solo mining. The example file does not show a separate solo key. Confirm the setting you need in the current README before you rely on solo. Details are on the config reference.

The coinbase can pay miners directly, so you need not hold those coins in a wallet afterward. That says who received the outputs in that block. It does not, by itself, prove the split matched the work. What a check can show is the longer version. Read it before you invite other people onto a pool you run.

Stop here if you only wanted the map ​

You now know which host pays whom.