EMCD pool review 2026: fees, payouts, network share and risks

EMCD is worth a look if you mine from Russia or the CIS and want Russian-language support, a regional stratum server, a 0.0001 BTC minimum payout and a built-in wallet. It is a weaker pick for new BTC miners chasing the lowest fee: new accounts pay 4% FPPS, and EMCD's network share cannot be confirmed on mempool.space.

POOL BTC is an independent comparison site. We are not EMCD and not a mining pool, and this is not financial advice. The facts below come from EMCD's help center and website, public block data on mempool.space and published reports, all checked on 2026-10-04. Where EMCD says nothing, we say that too.

What is EMCD?

EMCD is a mining pool founded in 2017 that also runs a crypto wallet, a savings product called Coinhold, a P2P exchange and a debit card. The pool supports nine coins, including BTC, LTC, DOGE and KAS. The company is EMCD Tech Ltd, and its about page names Michael Jerlis as CEO.

Where the company is based depends on the source. LinkedIn lists the headquarters in Dubai, UAE, while Hashrate Index described EMCD as Hong Kong-based in 2023. EMCD has not explained the move publicly. LinkedIn shows about 200 employees, and EMCD says it serves users in more than 80 countries, which is a self-reported figure. The help center is available in English and Russian, and support answers at support@emcd.io.

How much does EMCD charge, by coin and payout scheme?

Bitcoin costs 4% on FPPS for accounts created from 2026-01-12, with a 0.0001 BTC minimum payout. Every other coin costs 1.5%, but the scheme differs: BCH is FPPS, LTC and DASH are PPS+, and DOGE, ETC, KAS, FB and PEP are PPLNS. Payouts run once a day for all of them.

Fees and thresholds are taken from EMCD's help center as of 2026-10-04.

The BTC fee used to be lower. EMCD announced on 2026-01-09 that new users would pay 4% from 2026-01-12, while accounts registered earlier keep their previous terms. The earlier rate is not stated on the official site (checked 2026-10-04). Miners with large hashrate can ask a manager for custom terms, but EMCD does not publish the tiers or the hashrate needed to qualify.

Timing, per the help center: earnings sent to the internal EMCD wallet are credited between 06:00 and 09:00 GMT, and payouts to an external wallet go out between 12:00 and 14:00 GMT. On FPPS the pool carries the luck risk, so BTC miners are paid for accepted shares whether or not EMCD finds a block that day. On the PPLNS coins your income follows the blocks the pool actually finds, so it swings more from day to day.

To see what a 4% fee means for your own machines and electricity price, put your numbers into our mining calculator.

Who is EMCD a good fit for, and who should skip it?

EMCD fits small and mid-sized miners in Russia and the CIS who want Russian-language help, a nearby server, a low BTC payout threshold and a way to sell for rubles through P2P. It fits less well if your priority is the lowest BTC fee or a pool whose size you can check on public block explorers.

A good fit:

• One to a few ASICs. A 0.0001 BTC threshold is reached far sooner than the 0.005 BTC minimum at F2Pool.
• Miners who run LTC, DOGE or KAS rigs next to BTC and want everything in one account at 1.5% on the altcoins.
• People who want mining income, savings, P2P and a card in one app.

A weaker fit:

• New BTC miners comparing fees. EMCD lists only FPPS at 4% for bitcoin, while F2Pool and ViaBTC also offer PPLNS at 2%.
• Anyone who wants independent proof of pool size before pointing hashrate at it.
• Businesses that need to stay clear of any sanctions-related questions. See the risks section below.

Which countries can use EMCD, and is KYC required?

According to EMCD's documentation, the pool itself has no mandatory KYC: you sign up with an email. The wallet and the card do require KYC, which takes 3-5 business days. EMCD does not accept documents from North Korea, Iran, Iraq, Sudan or Myanmar, or from Crimea, DNR, LNR, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

That list is part of EMCD's KYC/AML policy as amended on 2024-08-10. Russia is not on it, and EMCD openly serves Russian miners, with a dedicated server for Russia. Being allowed by the pool is not the same as being allowed at home, though. Several Russian regions have banned mining, and Moscow and the Moscow region joined them from 2026-08-15, as Interfax reported. Check your region's rules before you plug anything in.

The P2P exchange works with an email only, without KYC, according to EMCD.

How safe is EMCD?

EMCD offers two-factor authentication and an encrypted TLS stratum connection, and says it complies with AML/CTF rules. It also claims zero security incidents since it was founded in 2017. That claim is self-reported: we found no independent security audit linked from the site, so it rests on EMCD's word.

What you can do yourself:

• Turn on 2FA before you add any payout address.
• If your firmware supports it, connect over TLS on port 13339. EMCD offers TLS on the eu and us servers.
• Remember the 24-hour hold after changing an external payout address. It protects you if someone gets into the account, and it also delays your own first payout to a new address.

A pool like this holds your earnings until it pays them out. If you keep coins in the EMCD wallet or in Coinhold afterwards, they stay with the same company, so you rely on one counterparty for mining, storage and savings.

How do you start mining on EMCD?

You need an email, a stratum address and a worker name. EMCD's servers are gate.emcd.network for Russia, plus eu, kz, cn and us subdomains. For BTC the ports are 3333, 3339 or 443, or 13339 over TLS on eu and us. Workers follow the login.workername format in Latin letters and digits.

1. Create an account with your email. If you want to support this site, you can sign up for EMCD through our referral link.
2. Turn on 2FA in the security settings.
3. In your ASIC's web panel, set the pool address to the nearest server, for example eu.emcd.network on port 3333, or gate.emcd.network if you mine in Russia.
4. Set the worker name as login.workername, for example yourlogin.s21pro01. Use Latin letters and digits only.
5. In the EMCD dashboard, choose where payouts go: the internal EMCD wallet or an external BTC address.
6. If you add or change an external address, expect a 24-hour security hold before payouts are sent to it.

Other coins use their own ports, for example 5555 for BCH, 3434 for LTC and 9999 or 9090 for KAS. According to EMCD's help center, a referrer receives at least 5% of the pool fee paid by the miner they referred.

How big is EMCD's share of the Bitcoin network?

We could not confirm it. EMCD said in July 2025 that it produced about 2% of the world's bitcoin, and its hashrate was reported to have grown from 12.5 to 19.8 EH/s during 2024. Both figures come from EMCD itself. Yet mempool.space's one-week pool ranking on 2026-10-04 does not list EMCD among the pools it shows.

For scale, that same ranking had Foundry USA at 26.26%, AntPool at 20.71%, F2Pool at 16.06%, ViaBTC at 9.81% and SpiderPool at 7.33%. Binance Pool appeared with 0.79%.

We do not know why EMCD's own figure and the public block data disagree, and we found no explanation from EMCD. If pool size matters to your decision, ask EMCD support directly and compare their answer with mempool.space.

What are the EMCD wallet, Coinhold and card?

The pool is one part of a wider app. Mining income can land in the internal EMCD wallet and move automatically into Coinhold savings. EMCD advertises Grow savings at up to 14% APR, a variable and promotional rate. There is also a P2P exchange and a Mastercard debit card in USD.

• Wallet. Receives daily mining payouts between 06:00 and 09:00 GMT. KYC is required.
• Coinhold Grow. Up to 14% APR according to the official page. The rate is variable and tied to promotions, and you can set mining income to transfer into it automatically.
• P2P exchange. Trades against RUB, UAH, EUR, USD, BRL, TRY and other currencies. No KYC, email only.
• EMCD Card. A Mastercard USD debit card issued by METABANK INC under the KazePay brand. KYC is required.

This setup is convenient: you can go from hashrate to spending without leaving the app. The flip side is concentration. Pool, wallet, savings and card all depend on the same company.

What are the risks of mining with EMCD?

The main risks are regulatory and counterparty, not technical. A 2025 TRM Labs report traced mining-linked wallets associated with EMCD sending funds to Nobitex, a sanctioned Iranian exchange, after a June 2025 hack, though EMCD was not named as a wrongdoer. New BTC users have also paid a higher fee since 2026-01-12.

• TRM Labs finding. The report links wallets, not the company, to Nobitex, and EMCD is not accused of wrongdoing. We could not confirm anything beyond what the report states.
• EU sanctions. The EU's 21st sanctions package in June 2026 banned 11 crypto platforms for helping Russia evade sanctions. The platforms were not named, and EMCD is not named in connection with the package.
• Russian regional bans. Mining is banned in several regions, including Moscow and the Moscow region from 2026-08-15.
• Fee changes. BTC rose to 4% for new users from 2026-01-12. Terms have changed before and can change again.
• Jurisdiction. The shift from Hong Kong to Dubai in public descriptions of the company has not been explained by EMCD.
• Unconfirmed size. The self-reported ~2% share does not appear on mempool.space.

How does EMCD compare with F2Pool, ViaBTC and Binance Pool?

For BTC, EMCD charges 4% on FPPS, the same as F2Pool's FPPS rate and ViaBTC's PPS+ rate. Its 0.0001 BTC minimum payout matches Binance Pool and is lower than both F2Pool and ViaBTC. Where EMCD falls behind is visibility: F2Pool and ViaBTC sit in mempool.space's top five, while EMCD is not listed.

EMCD and F2Pool figures were checked on 2026-10-04. ViaBTC and Binance Pool fees and thresholds come from a third-party pool database dated June 2026 that cites the pools' official pages. Network shares are for the week to 2026-10-04.

If fee is what matters most and you are comfortable with PPLNS, F2Pool and ViaBTC are cheaper for BTC. We cover the head-to-head in EMCD vs F2Pool and ViaBTC in detail in our ViaBTC review. If the low threshold, the Russian server and the wallet ecosystem matter more to you, you can open an EMCD account here and test it with one machine first.

FAQ

What fee does EMCD charge for bitcoin?

4% on FPPS for accounts registered from 2026-01-12. Accounts created earlier keep their previous, lower terms. Other coins cost 1.5%, and miners with large hashrate can negotiate custom terms through a manager.

What is the EMCD minimum payout for BTC?

0.0001 BTC. Payouts are daily: credited to the internal wallet between 06:00 and 09:00 GMT, or sent to an external wallet between 12:00 and 14:00 GMT.

Does EMCD require KYC?

Not for the pool, according to EMCD's documentation: an email is enough. The wallet and the EMCD Card require KYC, which takes 3-5 business days.

Can I use EMCD from Russia?

Russia is not on EMCD's list of prohibited document countries, and the pool runs a server for Russia at gate.emcd.network. Mining itself is banned in several Russian regions, including Moscow and the Moscow region from 2026-08-15.

How big is EMCD?

EMCD reported about 2% of world bitcoin production in July 2025, but mempool.space's one-week ranking on 2026-10-04 does not list it. We could not confirm why the two differ.

Is EMCD safe?

EMCD offers 2FA, TLS stratum and a 24-hour hold after a payout address change, and claims no security incidents since 2017. That claim is self-reported, with no independent audit linked from the site.

This article contains a referral link: we may receive a reward if you register through it. It does not change the figures or conclusions.

This article contains referral links to mining pools (marked as sponsored). We may receive a reward if you register through them. This does not change the figures or the order of rows in the tables: the terms are taken from the pools' official pages.