For Bitcoin miners, the questions that matter have always been simple: How much can I mine? How much will I actually take home? And how stable will that income be? A decade ago, the answers w
For Bitcoin miners, the questions that matter have always been simple: How much can I mine? How much will I actually take home? And how stable will that income be?
A decade ago, the answers weren’t especially satisfying. Most pool payout methods forced miners to choose between predictable payouts and a share of transaction fees. In 2016, ViaBTC, then a newly launched pool, introduced PPS+, aiming to combine the two in a single payout model.
By 2016, Bitcoin mining was already fiercely competitive, with around 18 pools vying for hashrate on the network. For miners, choosing a pool largely meant choosing a payout method, and there were really only two mainstream options:
If transaction fees had been a negligible share of block rewards, the choice would have been easy. But in July 2016, Bitcoin went through its second halving, cutting the block subsidy from 25 BTC to 12.5 BTC. With the subsidy halved, transaction fees represented a larger share of mining revenue, making it more important for miners to receive a share of those fees. Choosing PPS meant giving up this increasingly important source of income. Choosing PPLNS meant exposing the entire payout to fluctuations in the pool’s block-finding luck.
ViaBTC’s answer was PPS+: the block subsidy is paid on a PPS basis, while transaction fees are distributed using PPLNS, according to miners’ recent hashrate contribution.
Because the block subsidy is set by the protocol, a pool can calculate miners’ expected earnings from that subsidy using the current mining difficulty and the valid shares they submit. The pool then takes on the risk associated with differences between expected and actual block production, giving miners more predictable income. Transaction fees, by contrast, fluctuate with network congestion and are difficult to estimate precisely in advance, so miners receive a share based on their actual contribution.
The design also puts the pool’s technical capabilities to the test. Since fees are distributed based on blocks actually mined, every orphaned block (one discarded by the network) reduces the fees miners receive. Through optimized block propagation and a global node network, ViaBTC has long maintained the lowest orphan rate in the industry. For miners receiving a share of transaction fees, reducing these losses helps preserve the income they receive from those fees.
Miners are quick to notice changes in earnings and to move their hashrate accordingly. After PPS+ launched, they voted with their hashrate: just four months after going live, ViaBTC had climbed into the top five Bitcoin pools worldwide by hashrate.
Many major pools went on to adopt PPS+, and the model ViaBTC pioneered has become one of the most widely used payout methods in the industry.
Payout methods have continued to evolve. Today, many large pools use FPPS (Full Pay Per Share), which calculates the fee component based on network-wide averages. FPPS and PPS+ involve different trade-offs. FPPS folds fees into the per-share payment as well, further smoothing out payout fluctuations caused by the pool’s luck in finding blocks. PPS+ lets miners share in the fees the pool actually earns, so when the pool mines a high-fee block, miners benefit more directly.
The value of PPS+ came into sharp focus in April 2024.
On April 20, 2024, Bitcoin underwent its fourth halving. Block 840,000, which triggered the halving, was mined by ViaBTC. Amid the frenzy around the simultaneous launch of the Runes protocol, the block carried roughly 37.6 BTC in transaction fees, worth about $2.4 million at the time and more than ten times the new 3.125 BTC block subsidy. That day, fees accounted for over 60% of miners’ total revenue. ViaBTC miners using PPS+ received a share of those fees.
The right payout method still depends on how each miner balances cash flow needs against tolerance for volatility. ViaBTC continues to offer both PPS+ and PPLNS, letting miners choose the method that suits them.
ViaBTC has also extended PPS+ to other cryptocurrencies. As interest in networks such as Kaspa and Zcash grew, ViaBTC became the first to offer PPS+ for KAS and ZEC, while other pools still supported only PPLNS. This gave miners more predictable income. ViaBTC’s willingness to take on the risk of fluctuations in block production reflected its confidence in the reliability of its infrastructure and its ability to sustain the service over the long term.
Beyond Payouts: Helping Miners Manage Their EarningsPayouts are only one part of running a mining business. Once miners receive their coins, they still have to decide when to withdraw them, whether to convert them, and how to manage funds for day-to-day operations. To meet these needs, ViaBTC offers internal transfers, auto-withdrawal, auto-exchange, and crypto-backed lending. Miners can choose tools that suit the way they work and manage their funds, helping them respond more flexibly to market changes.
When ViaBTC launched PPS+ in 2016, transaction fees played only a supporting role in miners’ income. As the mining landscape has evolved, how those fees are distributed has become an increasingly important consideration when choosing a payout method. From payouts to managing the funds afterward, miners’ concerns remain practical: how much they earn, how much volatility they face, and whether those earnings can cover their day-to-day operating needs.
Also read: A Fresh Start with ViaBTC: New Users Get 50% Off Mining Pool Fees for 30 Days
