How to connect an ASIC to a mining pool: stratum URL, worker, password, backup pool

Pointing an ASIC at a pool comes down to four fields in the miner's web interface: the stratum address, the worker name, the password, and the order of your backup entries. Get any of them wrong and the symptom looks the same every time. The machine roars, and nothing shows up on the pool dashboard. Below is the generic procedure, then the actual endpoints for six pools, checked against their own documentation on 20 August 2026.

The generic procedure in 7 steps

1. Put the ASIC on the same router as your computer and power it up. Give it a minute or two to boot.
2. Find the miner's local IP. The DHCP client list on your router is the quickest route; the vendor's network scanner tool also works.
3. Open that IP in a browser and log into the web interface. Default credentials are on the device label or in its manual, and you should change them right after the first login.
4. Open the pool settings. Depending on firmware the page is called Miner Configuration, Pools or Settings, and it holds three slots: Pool 1, Pool 2, Pool 3.
5. Fill in Pool 1. The URL field takes `stratum+tcp://host:port`, the worker field takes the login format your pool uses, and the password field takes whatever the pool asks for, which is often anything at all or nothing.
6. Fill in Pool 2 and Pool 3. Usually the same pool on a different port or in a different region, less often a second pool tied to a separate account.
7. Save and reboot. Within 5 to 15 minutes the worker should appear on the pool dashboard with a steady hashrate.

Slot order matters. The miner stays on Pool 1 for as long as it answers and only falls through to Pool 2 when the connection drops. It will not always climb back on its own, since some firmware sits on the backup until you reboot.

Trustpool

BTC endpoints: `stratum+tcp://btc.trustpool.cc:3333`, plus ports 443 and 25 on the same host.

Worker format: `Username.WorkerName`, for example `TrustpoolTest.s19`. The dot is required, account name before it, any device label after it.

Password: on most pools this field is not verified at all and people put `x` or `123` in it. Trustpool does not publish a specific value in its openly available documentation, so check the instructions in your account dashboard after signing up.

Trustpool's connection page is JavaScript driven, so confirm the addresses against their current ASIC guide before you reconfigure a whole farm.

ViaBTC

BTC Mining primary: `stratum+tcp://btc.viabtc.io:3333`, with port 443 on the same host as the failover. Smart Mining uses `stratum+tcp://bitcoin.viabtc.io:3333` and the same 443.

Mirror domains for access problems: `stratum+tcp://btc.viabtc.cc:3333` and `stratum+tcp://btc.viabtc.top:3333`, each with its own 443 failover.

Worker format: `userID.workerID`, for example `viabtc.001`. Worker IDs go up to 64 characters, numbers and lowercase letters.

Password: optional, any value is accepted.

ViaBTC explicitly tells miners to configure several endpoints so the machine switches over by itself when one fails.

F2Pool

Global endpoint: `stratum+tcp://btc.f2pool.com:1314`, backup ports 25 and 3333.

Regional hosts, all on port 1314:

• Asia: `btc-asia.f2pool.com`
• North America: `btc-na.f2pool.com`
• Europe: `btc-euro.f2pool.com`
• Africa: `btc-africa.f2pool.com`
• Latin America: `btc-latin.f2pool.com`

Backup ports for the regional hosts: 25, 1315, 3333.

Worker format: `accountname.workername`, worker name 1 to 15 alphanumeric characters.

Password: your own choice, the guide uses `123456` as the example.

Stratum V2 deserves a separate note here, because the topic gets muddled. F2Pool joined the Stratum V2 Working Group around May 2026, alongside AntPool, Foundry, Spiderpool, MARA Foundation and DMND. That is a commitment to the standard, not a working SV2 endpoint for bitcoin. None of the six pools in this piece publishes an official page confirming a live SV2 endpoint for BTC, so configure your ASIC over plain stratum and stop hunting for a firmware toggle that has nothing to talk to.

EMCD

Regional BTC endpoints, all on port 3333:

• Russia: `gate.emcd.network`
• Europe: `eu.emcd.network`
• Kazakhstan: `kz.emcd.network`
• China: `cn.emcd.network`
• Americas: `us.emcd.network`

Worker format: `login.worker`, the dot is required, for example `emcdlogin.worker01`.

Password: can be left empty.

EMCD treats the second and third addresses as automatic fallbacks. If the primary region is unreachable, the miner moves to the next one, and the pool recommends filling all three slots.

Kryptex Pool

Global endpoint: `stratum+tcp://btc.kryptex.network:7014`. Regional hosts on the same port 7014: `btc-eu`, `btc-us`, `btc-br`, `btc-sg`, `btc-hk`, `btc-ru`, `btc-ae`, all under `kryptex.network`.

Worker format depends on the mode. Address based mining uses `WALLET.WORKER`; account based mining uses `Your_Email/Worker_Name`, and note the slash rather than a dot in that second form.

Password: `x` or blank.

Kryptex does not publish failover ordering instructions, only the regional list. The logic is the usual one: nearest region in Pool 1, the neighbouring region in Pool 2.

Luxor

Global endpoint: `stratum+tcp://btc.global.luxor.tech:700`. Port 53 is also documented, the same port DNS uses, which helps on networks that filter outbound traffic aggressively.

Worker format: `LuxorSubaccount.WorkerName`, and it is safer to keep special characters out of the name.

Password: documented as `123`.

Luxor's global endpoint proxies your miner to the nearest available region, and the pool states it redirects the ASIC to the closest available region when one goes down. No separate manual backup addresses are documented.

Various third parties describe Luxor as SV2 ready or in testing. Luxor's own docs do not confirm it, so this article does not treat SV2 as live there.

Cheat sheet

Check every address against the pool's current documentation before you type it in. Hosts and ports change without announcements, and a stale endpoint usually just goes quiet.

What goes in the password field?

For most BTC pools the worker password protects nothing and is not verified. ViaBTC accepts any value, EMCD allows an empty field, Kryptex suggests `x` or blank, Luxor documents `123`, F2Pool leaves the choice to you. Trustpool does not publish a value in its openly available documentation, so check the instructions in your account dashboard.

On some pools, mostly on altcoins, the field doubles as a parameter channel, carrying things like `d=` for fixed difficulty. None of the BTC endpoints listed here documents that syntax, so do not guess at it.

Why does a miner have three pool slots?

Pool 1, Pool 2 and Pool 3 exist so the miner does not sit idle when the primary endpoint drops. Firmware holds a connection to the first entry that answers and moves down the list when the current one stops responding. Leaving slots two and three empty means any outage on the pool side turns into a full stop for the machine.

How you fill the backups depends on what you are guarding against. A different port on the same host covers a blocked port at your ISP. A different region of the same pool covers a single data centre going down. A completely different pool covers a pool level outage, but it needs a second account, splits payouts across two balances, and on PPLNS style schemes it also resets whatever you accumulated in the current window. None of the six pools recommends a competitor as a failover; each points at its own infrastructure, so an external failover is your call, not theirs. The payout side of that decision is covered in the article on payout schemes: PPS, FPPS, PPLNS and SOLO.

A practical setup for a single site: Pool 1 and Pool 2 on your main pool with different ports or regions, Pool 3 on a second pool with its own account.

How do you know the ASIC actually connected?

Check three places. On the miner's pool status page the state should read Alive with a rising count of accepted shares. The device log should show accepted share lines without a stream of rejects. On the pool dashboard the worker shows up within a few minutes and settles into a sensible hashrate over the next 15 to 30 minutes.

If the machine is running but no worker appears, the login format is the usual culprit: a missing dot, the two halves swapped, or an email used where the account name belongs. Common causes of a silent worker are collected in why your worker is offline, and the cases where the network, not the login, is at fault are in what to do when a pool is blocked.

Why is the pool side hashrate lower than the miner's?

The local interface reports the raw speed of the chips. The pool reports an estimate derived from accepted shares, which is statistics: over short windows it wanders in both directions and only converges over several hours. A few percent of difference on a 24 hour window is normal on any pool.

A gap that persists past a day usually means losses on the network path: high latency to the server, stale shares getting discarded, an unstable link. Moving to the nearest regional endpoint from the lists above is the first fix worth trying. To see what a hashrate difference does to your income, use the profitability calculator, and to compare pools against each other, see the August 2026 comparison.

FAQ

Can Pool 2 point at a different pool?

Yes, firmware accepts any valid stratum address there. You need a working account and the right worker format on that second pool, otherwise the backup is dead at exactly the moment you need it. Test it in advance by putting it in slot one for 10 or 15 minutes.

Do you have to reboot after changing pools?

Most firmware applies pool settings on save and reconnects on its own. Reboot if the pool status stays Dead after saving, or if the miner keeps sending shares to the old address.

What if your ISP blocks port 3333?

Try an alternative port on the same pool: 443 on ViaBTC and Trustpool, 25 or 3333 on F2Pool, 53 on Luxor. Those ports were chosen precisely because they are rarely filtered.

One account for several ASICs, or separate ones?

One account, different worker names. Payouts land on a single balance while per device statistics stay separate, so you can see which machine dropped off.

Where to find the rest

Pool reviews, calculators and payout cards live in the site sections, and cards for withdrawals are in the card catalogue.