Braiins Pool review 2026: fees, FPPS, Stratum V2, Lightning payouts, who it fits

Braiins Pool suits bitcoin miners who want FPPS at 2.5%, no KYC, small payouts from 0.0002 BTC on-chain or 1 satoshi over Lightning, and Stratum V2 through Braiins OS firmware. It fits less well if you want a pool fee under 2%, payouts straight from the coinbase, or any coin other than bitcoin.

POOL BTC is an independent comparison site for bitcoin mining pools. We are not Braiins and not a mining pool, and nothing here is investment advice. The facts below come from Braiins' official site and Braiins Academy, checked on 2026-10-16, plus public block data from mempool.space.

What is Braiins Pool?

Braiins Pool is a bitcoin-only mining pool operated by Braiins Mining Limited, registered in the British Virgin Islands. It began in Prague at the end of 2010 as Bitcoin.cz Mining Pool, founded by Marek "Slush" Palatinus. It was renamed Slush Pool in 2016 and Braiins Pool in September 2022.

Braiins calls it the first public bitcoin mining pool, which is the company's own claim. Slush developed the Stratum V1 protocol for this pool in 2012. Braiins bought the remaining stake in September 2020, and the pool's blocks still carry the old "/slush/" coinbase tag.

The same company makes Braiins OS, firmware for ASIC miners, and Braiins Toolbox for managing firmware across a fleet. Both matter here: the 0% fee offer and Stratum V2 depend on Braiins OS.

Our pool comparison table lists Braiins Solo, the 0.5% solo mining option on Braiins. This review covers the main pooled FPPS service.

How much does Braiins Pool charge, and what are the payout limits?

The bitcoin pool fee is 2.5% on FPPS. On-chain payouts start at 0.0002 BTC and are free from 0.005 BTC; smaller ones cost 0.0001 BTC. Lightning payouts run from 1 satoshi to 0.005 BTC per payout with no fee. With Braiins OS on the whole fleet, the pool fee is rebated to 0%.

If you run one or two machines, watch the on-chain fee. On a minimum payout of 0.0002 BTC, 0.0001 BTC is half the amount. Either let the balance grow to 0.005 BTC or use Lightning.

Payouts can be triggered by time (daily, weekly or monthly) or by an amount. Before the switch to FPPS they went out hourly; now there is one batch a day. To see what 2.5% means in coins for your hashrate and power price, use our mining calculator.

How does FPPS work on Braiins Pool?

Braiins Pool pays only FPPS. You earn the block subsidy plus average daily transaction fees, calculated each day after midnight UTC, whether or not the pool finds blocks. The older Scoring method was dropped in December 2023, after Braiins announced the change under the headline "Goodbye luck, hello consistency".

With FPPS the pool carries the luck risk and charges a fixed 2.5% for it. Your revenue follows network difficulty and fees, not Braiins' block luck.

One conflict: the pool's terms still describe a Scoring method, while the academy says Scoring is no longer offered. The terms were most likely not updated. Our guide to payout schemes explains how FPPS differs from PPS+, PPLNS and TIDES.

Is the 0% fee with Braiins OS really free?

No. Braiins charges the 2.5% pool fee and refunds it at the end of each day, based on your Braiins OS hashrate. But Braiins OS has its own dev fee of 2-2.5% of hashrate, depending on the hardware model, and that fee applies on any pool.

• Stock firmware on Braiins Pool: 2.5% pool fee.
• Braiins OS on Braiins Pool: 0% pool fee plus a 2-2.5% dev fee.
• Braiins OS on another pool: that pool's fee plus the same dev fee.

So the saving is at most 0.5 percentage points, and zero on models where the dev fee is 2.5%. The offer pays off mainly for miners who already run Braiins OS for its tuning: on Braiins Pool they stop paying twice.

Luxor does something similar with a different result: it waives its 2.5% pool fee for LuxOS users, but LuxOS costs 2.8%. Details are in our Luxor review. One technical note: Braiins OS older than 22.08.1 must use the old slushpool.com address to get the 0% fee.

How do Stratum V2 and Braiins OS work on Braiins Pool?

Stratum V2 is live on Braiins Pool, but only for machines on Braiins OS, because stock firmware does not support it. With Stratum V2 and Braiins OS, miners can use job declaration to pick the transactions in their own block templates instead of taking the pool's set.

This is the part of Stratum V2 that matters most. On Stratum V1 the pool builds the block and the miner only hashes; job declaration gives part of that choice back to the hardware owner. The address uses the stratum2+tcp scheme on stratum.braiins.com with the pool's authority key, so copy the exact string from the official Stratum V2 manual.

The catch is the dependency: no Braiins OS, no Stratum V2. For a fleet, Braiins Toolbox installs and updates firmware in batches, so you do not have to open every web panel by hand.

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

Braiins Pool fits home miners and small farms that want low payout thresholds and Lightning, miners who prefer registration without KYC, and fleets already on Braiins OS. It fits less well if you want a fee clearly below 2.5%, mine coins other than bitcoin, or need payouts made directly from the coinbase.

A good fit:

• One or a few ASICs at home. With a 1 satoshi Lightning minimum you get paid daily even at small hashrate.
• Fleets on Braiins OS, where the rebate removes the double charge.
• Miners who want Stratum V2 and their own transaction selection now.

A weaker fit:

• Fee hunters. Ocean charges 2% on TIDES, or 1% with DATUM, and F2Pool offers PPLNS at 2%.
• Lightning users whose wallet works only with invoices. Braiins pays to a Lightning Address only.
• Farms earning more than 0.005 BTC per payout, which is over the Lightning cap.

Which countries can use Braiins Pool, and is KYC required?

Braiins Pool does not require KYC: you sign up with a username, email and password, and Braiins markets the pool as "Secure & Non-KYC". The terms do not ban Russia, the CIS, Argentina or Brazil by name, but they do block individuals and entities on OFAC sanctions lists.

The operator is registered in the British Virgin Islands. The terms say it is not subject to OFAC but chose not to do business with anybody within OFAC sanctions programs. A sanctioned user's account can be suspended, and funds may be forfeited after one year in that status.

Russian is one of the support languages, along with English, Spanish, Farsi and Chinese. Our inference, not Braiins' statement: a miner from Russia or the CIS who is not on a sanctions list is not excluded by the published terms, but the OFAC clause leaves the operator room to act. Keep a backup pool configured and do not let a large balance build up.

For Argentina and the rest of Latin America we found no stated restriction and no special terms, and support works in Spanish. One connection URL serves the whole world and picks servers by your location; the old regional URLs are deprecated.

How safe is Braiins Pool?

Braiins Pool offers 2FA with one-time codes and U2F keys, required for important changes but not for login. Access profiles come as full, read-only or limited read-only, plus API tokens and anonymous watcher links. A payout setup lock can only be removed with a wallet signature.

That lock is worth turning on right after you add a payout address: even with your password, an intruder cannot change where the coins go without your wallet. Give monitoring tools a read-only profile or a watcher link, and since 2FA does not cover login, use a unique password.

No setting removes custody risk. The pool holds your earnings until the payout, which is a day at most on daily payouts and longer on weekly, monthly or high thresholds. Braiins' own blog says about 3,000 BTC were stolen from the pool wallet in the March 2012 Linode hack, and the terms still warn that attacks may cause a loss of mined funds.

How do you start mining on Braiins Pool?

You need an account at pool.braiins.com, a BTC address or Lightning Address, and access to your miner's settings. The Stratum V1 address works with any firmware, and workers are named accountName.workerName. Full hashrate can take up to an hour to appear in the dashboard, so do not panic in the first minutes.

1. Create an account at pool.braiins.com with a username, email and password, then confirm it through the email link.
2. In Funds > Wallets, add a BTC on-chain address or a Lightning Address.
3. In the account detail under Funds, set the payout trigger (time or amount) and the network (on-chain or Lightning).
4. In the miner's web panel, set the pool to stratum+tcp://stratum.braiins.com:3333, the backup to stratum+tcp://stratum.braiins.com:443, the user to yourAccountName.workerName and any password.
5. Start the miner and check Dashboard > Mining.

Braiins says it was the first pool to pay over Lightning, starting in April 2024. Before choosing it, read our overview of Lightning payouts at mining pools.

How big is Braiins Pool's share of the Bitcoin network?

On mempool.space on 2026-10-16, Braiins Pool showed 13.1 EH/s over 24 hours and 18 blocks over seven days, a 2% share. All-time it has found 42,157 blocks. Braiins' own page shows 13.91 EH/s without a timestamp, likely a different time window. Under FPPS, share does not change your payout, since you are paid on expected value.

What are the risks of mining with Braiins Pool?

The main risks are custody and policy, not hashing. You rely on Braiins to pay what FPPS owes, the terms allow suspension under OFAC rules, and small accounts pay a noticeable on-chain fee. Everything below comes from the terms and the academy.

• Sanctions. Users within OFAC sanctions programs can be suspended, with possible forfeiture after one year.
• Inactivity. An account inactive for one year is deleted, and the remaining balance is donated to the pool.
• Attacks. The terms warn of possible loss of mined funds; the 2012 theft shows it has happened.
• Fees. The terms reserve the right to change fees, and the Braiins OS dev fee of 2-2.5% applies on any pool.
• Payout limits. Lightning tops out at 0.005 BTC per payout, and on-chain payouts below 0.005 BTC cost 0.0001 BTC.
• Outdated terms. They still mention Scoring, which the academy says is gone.

How does Braiins Pool compare with Luxor, Foundry USA and F2Pool?

Braiins Pool and Luxor both charge 2.5% on FPPS, but Braiins has a lower payout threshold, Lightning and Stratum V2. Foundry USA does not publish a flat fee, requires KYC and pays from 0.01 BTC. F2Pool charges 4% on FPPS or 2% on PPLNS, with a 0.005 BTC minimum.

"Not stated" means the official site gives no information on that point (checked 2026-10-16). If custody worries you more than steady income, Ocean is a fourth option: 2% on TIDES, 1% with DATUM, non-custodial payouts from the coinbase, no KYC and Lightning via BOLT12.

Braiins and Luxor are the closest pair, and we compare them in detail in Luxor vs Braiins Pool.

FAQ

What fee does Braiins Pool charge?

2.5% on FPPS. With Braiins OS on the whole fleet the pool fee is rebated to 0% daily, but the firmware takes its own 2-2.5% of hashrate. Braiins Solo charges 0.5%.

What is the minimum payout on Braiins Pool?

0.0002 BTC on-chain, with a 0.0001 BTC fee below 0.005 BTC. Over Lightning it is 1 satoshi, up to 0.005 BTC per payout, with no fee.

Does Braiins Pool require KYC?

No. A username, email and password are enough. People and companies on OFAC sanctions lists are blocked.

Can I mine on Braiins Pool from Russia or Argentina?

The terms do not ban either country by name, and support speaks Russian and Spanish. The OFAC clause still applies, so miners in Russia should keep a backup pool and small balances.

Do I need Braiins OS?

No. Stock firmware works over Stratum V1 at the standard 2.5%. Braiins OS is needed for the 0% rebate and for Stratum V2.

Is Braiins Pool the same as Slush Pool?

Yes. It was Slush Pool from 2016 until the rename in September 2022, and its blocks still carry the "/slush/" tag.

Is Braiins Pool worth it in 2026?

For home miners and small farms, Braiins Pool is one of the easiest FPPS pools to live with: 2.5%, no KYC, daily payouts and Lightning from 1 satoshi. For fleets on Braiins OS it adds Stratum V2 and removes the double fee. If the lowest fee is your priority, look at Ocean or F2Pool on PPLNS instead.

If it looks like a fit, create an account on Braiins Pool, point one machine at stratum.braiins.com:3333 and check the first daily payout before moving the rest.