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Antpool is one of the world's largest Bitcoin mining pools, founded in 2014 by Bitmain Technologies, the dominant manufacturer of application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) mining hardware. A mining pool aggregates the computing power of many individual miners, increasing the collective probability of successfully mining a block and receiving the associated block reward. When the pool mines a block, the reward is distributed among all participating miners in proportion to the computing power each contributed. Antpool was originally created to provide mining services to owners of Bitmain's Antminer product line but is open to miners running any compatible SHA-256 hardware.
Miners connect their hardware to Antpool using the Stratum protocol, which coordinates the distribution of work units called shares. Each time a miner's hardware produces a valid share — demonstrating that it performed the required computational work — the pool records it. When the pool collectively solves a block, the reward is split according to each miner's contribution as measured by shares. The pool deducts a fee before distributing rewards to cover operational costs.
Antpool's structural advantage comes from its parent company relationship with Bitmain. Because Bitmain is the world's dominant ASIC manufacturer, many of the most powerful mining machines in operation globally run Antminer firmware, and their operators frequently direct their hashrate to Antpool by default. This creates a natural flywheel that reinforces Antpool's market share in global Bitcoin mining hashrate.
| Payout Method | How It Works | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| PPLNS (Pay Per Last N Shares) | Pays based on shares contributed during a sliding window around the time of each block found; rewards depend on pool luck | 0% |
| FPPS (Full Pay Per Share) | Pays for each valid share at a predictable rate that includes both block subsidy and transaction fee components; eliminates luck variance | Up to 4% |
As of early 2026, Antpool commands approximately 19% to 30% of the total Bitcoin network hashrate depending on the measurement period, making it consistently one of the two or three largest mining pools globally alongside Foundry USA and F2Pool. Its network hashrate output has been measured in the range of 130 to 335 exahashes per second (EH/s) at various points in 2025. Antpool also supports mining for several other proof-of-work cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Ethereum Classic, Zcash, and Dash, among others. Minimum payout thresholds are set at 0.001 to 0.005 BTC, with daily automatic distributions available once the threshold is reached.
Antpool's scale raises legitimate concerns within the Bitcoin community about mining centralization. If any single entity controls more than 50% of the network's hashrate, it theoretically has the ability to execute a 51% attack — rewriting recent transaction history and double-spending coins. Antpool and Bitmain collectively (through BTC.com, another Bitmain-affiliated pool) have at various times approached or briefly exceeded this threshold when their combined hashrates are measured together, which has prompted ongoing debate about the degree of real versus nominal decentralization in Bitcoin mining. At the individual pool level, Antpool has generally remained below the 51% threshold.
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