Welcome to mkpool

Published June 7, 2026

If you have spent any time around Bitcoin mining, you have probably run into ckpool. It is the small, fast, no-nonsense pool software written by Con Kolivas, and for years it has quietly powered a huge amount of solo mining. I have a lot of respect for that project. mkpool exists because of it.

So let me be honest about where this started: I got inspired by ckpool. I spent a long time reading it, running it, and learning from how it solved problems. When I finally decided to build my own pool, I did not want to copy it. I wanted to take the ideas I admired and build something new on top of a modern foundation. mkpool is the result.

What mkpool actually is

mkpool is a solo mining pool. You point your miners at it using your own wallet address as the username, and if you find a block, the reward goes to you. No pool wallet holding your coins, no waiting for payouts, no trust required. You mine, you win, you get paid directly by the network.

Under the hood it is a fresh codebase written in modern C++23. It is fully asynchronous, multi threaded, and built to stay fast and stable whether one miner connects or thousands do. The one piece I deliberately carried over from ckpool is its variable difficulty math, because Con got that right and there was no reason to reinvent it. That part is credited in the source, and like ckpool, mkpool is released under the GPLv3.

mkpool keeps a small 2 percent coinbase donation from found blocks to cover the servers and fund ongoing development. Everything else in the block reward goes straight to the miner who found it.

What makes it a little different

A few things I cared about while building it:

More than just Bitcoin. mkpool runs nine coin families from one engine: Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, BitcoinII, Bitcoin Cash II, eCash, DigiByte, Litecoin, Dogecoin (merge mined on Litecoin), and Zcash.
Encryption that actually exists. You can connect over plain Stratum, over Stratum with TLS, or over native Stratum V2 with full Noise encryption. Your mining traffic does not have to travel in the clear.
Difficulty tiers that fit your gear. Instead of one port for everyone, there are separate ports for vardiff and for fixed high difficulty hardware, so big farms and single miners both get sane work.
Built carefully. Hardened compiler settings, rate limiting, sanitizer and unit test coverage. The boring stuff that keeps a pool honest and online.

Open and transparent

I publish the pool engine on GitHub under the GPLv3. Not because I expect everyone to read C++, but because if you are going to trust a pool with your hashrate, you should be able to see exactly how it builds blocks and how it pays you. The operational side stays private, but the part that touches your mining is out in the open.

While I am here: thank you to Con Kolivas and the ckpool project, and to the maintainers of the open source libraries mkpool is built on. None of this happens in a vacuum.

Come mine with us

That is the welcome. If you want to try it, head to the homepage, pick your coin, open its Connect page, grab the port for your hardware, and plug in your address. If mkpool finds you a block, that is the whole point.

Happy mining.

Frequently asked questions

What is mkpool?

mkpool is a non-custodial solo mining pool written from scratch in modern C++23 and inspired by ckpool. You mine with your own wallet address, and if you find a block the network pays you the full reward directly.

Is mkpool open source?

The pool engine is published on GitHub under the GPLv3, so you can read exactly how it builds blocks and pays miners. The operational side stays private, but the part that touches your mining is open.

Which coins can I mine on mkpool?

mkpool runs nine coin families from one engine: Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, BitcoinII, Bitcoin Cash II, eCash, DigiByte, Litecoin, Dogecoin (merge mined on Litecoin), and Zcash.

What does mkpool charge?

The pool fee is 0 percent. mkpool keeps only a small coinbase donation from blocks it finds to cover servers and development. Everything else in the block reward goes to the miner who found it.

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Welcome to mkpool

What mkpool actually is

What makes it a little different

Open and transparent

Come mine with us

Frequently asked questions

What is mkpool?

Is mkpool open source?

Which coins can I mine on mkpool?

What does mkpool charge?

Mining insights in your inbox

Comments

Leave a comment

Keep reading

mkpool Goes Global: Anycast Mining With Lower Ping and DDoS Protection

Where to Buy a Bitaxe in 2026: Trusted Vendors and Models Compared

We value your privacy

What mkpool actually is

What makes it a little different

Open and transparent

Come mine with us

Comments

Leave a comment