WoolyPooly Solo Mining Guide: Setup, Fees & Pool Features

WoolyPooly runs one of the larger multi-coin solo mining operations, and I’ve had accounts there since early 2026. The pool supports over 20 coins for solo mining, charges a 0.9% fee on most networks, and provides decent infrastructure uptime. Here’s what the numbers say about whether WoolyPooly makes sense for your solo mining setup.

I track pool statistics across multiple services, and WoolyPooly consistently ranks in the top 5 for altcoin solo mining volume. Their interface isn’t the prettiest, but the technical backend is solid — which matters more when you’re trying to catch a block.

WoolyPooly Solo Mining Technical Infrastructure

WoolyPooly operates geographically distributed servers across North America, Europe, and Asia. This matters for solo mining because latency affects your chances of submitting valid blocks before another miner.

The pool runs on custom stratum server software with automatic failover between regions. When you configure your miner, you connect to the closest geographic endpoint. If that server goes down, the pool automatically redirects your hashrate to the next nearest location. In my testing over 18 months, I’ve experienced maybe three downtime incidents totaling less than 2 hours combined.

Important detail: WoolyPooly maintains full nodes for every coin they support. They’re not relaying your shares through someone else’s infrastructure. This reduces orphan risk, which is critical when you’re solo mining — an orphaned block means zero payout despite finding valid work.

The pool uses a hybrid validation system. Your miner submits shares at a difficulty level appropriate for monitoring (usually millions of times lower than actual block difficulty). When you submit a share that meets network difficulty, WoolyPooly’s node validates it immediately and broadcasts to the network. The typical validation-to-broadcast time is under 200 milliseconds.

Supported Algorithms and Hashrate Requirements

WoolyPooly supports these algorithms for solo mining:

• Ethash/Etchash: Ethereum Classic, Ubiq, Expanse
• KawPow: Ravencoin, Neoxa
• Autolykos2: Ergo
• Equihash: Zcash, Flux, multiple variants
• RandomX: Monero
• Scrypt: Not currently offered for solo (pool mode only)

Each coin has different practical hashrate requirements for solo mining. Let me break this down with actual numbers:

For Ethereum Classic at current difficulty, you’d want at least 500 MH/s to have a reasonable shot at finding blocks within a 6-month timeframe. That’s roughly 8 RTX 3070 GPUs running optimized. Below that hashrate, you’re really just running a lottery ticket — which is fine if you understand those odds.

Ravencoin solo mining becomes statistically interesting around 200 MH/s. Network difficulty fluctuates significantly with price, so this changes. During the 2026 bear market, I was solo mining RVN with just 120 MH/s and found 3 blocks across 4 months. When difficulty doubled in early 2026, that same hashrate would statistically take 8 months per block.

Ergo sits in a sweet spot for smaller solo miners. With 2-3 GH/s (roughly 3-4 GPUs), you’re looking at expected block times of 2-4 weeks depending on network difficulty. I’ve seen more solo success stories on ERG than any other GPU-mineable coin except maybe Ravencoin.

WoolyPooly Fee Structure for Solo Mining

WoolyPooly charges 0.9% on found blocks for most coins. This is middle-of-the-road pricing compared to other solo pools.

Here’s the complete fee breakdown:

• Ethereum Classic: 0.9%
• Ravencoin: 0.9%
• Ergo: 0.9%
• Flux: 0.9%
• Zcash: 1.5%
• Monero: 0.9%

For comparison, SoloPool.org charges 1% flat across all coins, while 2Miners SOLO takes 1.5% on most networks. WoolyPooly’s 0.9% saves you about $50-100 per block on typical altcoins at current prices.

The fee calculation is straightforward. If you find a Ravencoin block worth 2,500 RVN, WoolyPooly keeps 22.5 RVN (0.9%) and pays you 2,477.5 RVN. No hidden fees, no minimum payout thresholds for solo blocks — you get paid immediately when the block confirms.

One quirk: WoolyPooly’s fee on Zcash is higher at 1.5%. They’ve never publicly explained this, but I suspect it’s related to the shielded transaction validation overhead on their nodes. Zcash full nodes are more resource-intensive than most other coins.

Payment Processing and Minimums

Solo mining payments work differently than pool mining. When you find a block, WoolyPooly automatically sends your payment (minus fee) once the block receives sufficient confirmations.

Confirmation requirements by coin:

• Ethereum Classic: 100 confirmations (~25 minutes)
• Ravencoin: 100 confirmations (~100 minutes)
• Ergo: 120 confirmations (~4 hours)
• Flux: 100 confirmations (~200 minutes)

There’s no minimum payout for solo blocks. If you find the block, you get paid — period. This is fundamentally different from regular pool mining where you need to accumulate a minimum balance.

I found my first solo block on WoolyPooly in March 2026 — a Ravencoin block. Payment arrived 104 minutes after I found it, which matched the expected confirmation time plus a few minutes for processing.

Setting Up WoolyPooly for Solo Mining

Configuration is straightforward, but the details matter. Let’s walk through it step by step.

Getting Your Connection Details

Visit woolypooly.com and navigate to their “Solo Mining” section. You don’t need an account — solo mining is permissionless. Your wallet address is your identifier.

For each coin, WoolyPooly provides regional servers:

• Europe: pool-eu.woolypooly.com
• US East: pool-us-east.woolypooly.com
• Asia: pool-asia.woolypooly.com

Port numbers vary by coin. Ethereum Classic solo uses port 25555, Ravencoin uses 25666, Ergo uses 25777. Check their website for the current port list — they occasionally change during infrastructure upgrades.

Configuring Your Mining Software

I’ll use Ravencoin as an example because it’s popular for solo mining. The same principles apply to other coins.

For T-Rex miner (my preferred KawPow miner), create a batch file:

t-rex.exe -a kawpow -o stratum+tcp://pool-us-east.woolypooly.com:25666 -u YOUR_RVN_ADDRESS -p x -w solo

Replace YOUR_RVN_ADDRESS with your actual Ravencoin wallet. The -w solo parameter sets your worker name, which helps you identify different rigs if you’re running multiple setups.

For lolMiner (works well on AMD cards):

lolMiner.exe --algo KAWPOW --pool pool-us-east.woolypooly.com:25666 --user YOUR_RVN_ADDRESS --worker solo

For Ethereum Classic solo mining with T-Rex:

t-rex.exe -a etchash -o stratum+tcp://pool-us-east.woolypooly.com:25555 -u YOUR_ETC_ADDRESS -p x

For Ergo solo mining:

t-rex.exe -a autolykos2 -o stratum+tcp://pool-us-east.woolypooly.com:25777 -u YOUR_ERG_ADDRESS -p x

Important detail: Always use the stratum+tcp:// prefix. Some miners default to this, but explicitly including it prevents configuration errors.

Verifying Your Connection

After starting your miner, watch the console output for confirmation. You should see:

• Successful connection to the pool
• Your hashrate being reported
• Accepted shares (these don’t pay anything in solo — they just confirm your miner is working)

On WoolyPooly’s website, you can monitor your solo mining stats by entering your wallet address in their search bar. The statistics page shows your current hashrate, total shares submitted, and time since your last submitted share.

One thing that confused me initially: WoolyPooly’s dashboard shows “shares” even in solo mode. These aren’t pool shares that accumulate toward a payout. They’re just proof-of-work submissions at a lower difficulty threshold, used for monitoring purposes. The only share that matters is the one that meets network difficulty — that’s your block.

WoolyPooly vs Other Solo Mining Pools

I maintain accounts on six different solo pools and rotate between them based on coin support and recent uptime. Here’s how WoolyPooly compares:

WoolyPooly vs 2Miners SOLO: 2Miners has better documentation and a cleaner interface, but charges 1.5% vs WoolyPooly’s 0.9%. For high-value blocks, that difference adds up. However, 2Miners typically has better Discord support if you run into technical issues.

WoolyPooly vs SoloPool.org: SoloPool charges 1% and supports more obscure altcoins. WoolyPooly focuses on larger-cap coins with better liquidity. I use WoolyPooly for mainstream coins like ETC and RVN, SoloPool for experimental smaller-cap coins.

WoolyPooly vs HeroMiners SOLO: HeroMiners offers more geographic endpoints (7 regions vs WoolyPooly’s 3) and charges 0.9% on most coins. Very similar services, but HeroMiners has had more frequent small outages in my experience — though nothing catastrophic.

WoolyPooly vs K1Pool: K1Pool supports 50+ altcoins for solo mining, but many are extremely low-hashrate networks where solo mining is trivial anyway. WoolyPooly’s curated list focuses on coins where solo mining is actually competitive.

The best pool depends on which coin you’re mining. For Ethereum Classic solo, I actually prefer Solo.CKPool alternatives, but for Ravencoin and Ergo, WoolyPooly has been my most reliable option.

Real Solo Mining Odds on WoolyPooly

Let’s do the math with current network difficulties. This is where solo mining gets interesting — or depressing, depending on your perspective.

Ethereum Classic Solo Mining Odds

Current Ethereum Classic network hashrate: ~180 TH/s (fluctuates with price). Block time: ~13 seconds.

If you’re running 500 MH/s (0.5 GH/s):

• Your percentage of network hashrate: 0.5 / 180,000 = 0.00027%
• Expected blocks per day: (86400 seconds / 13 seconds) * 0.0000027 = 0.018 blocks
• Expected time to block: 1 / 0.018 = ~55 days

That’s the mathematical expectation. In practice, you might find a block tomorrow or go 6 months without one. Variance is massive in solo mining, which is why most people don’t do it.

At current ETC price of $1,969, a block reward of 2.56 ETC is worth roughly $66. Your 0.9% pool fee costs you about $0.60 per block.

Ravencoin Solo Mining Odds

Ravencoin network hashrate: ~6 TH/s. Block time: 60 seconds.

With 200 MH/s:

• Your network percentage: 200 / 6,000,000 = 0.0033%
• Expected blocks per day: (86400 / 60) * 0.000033 = 0.047 blocks
• Expected time to block: ~21 days

Ravencoin block reward: 2,500 RVN currently (reduces over time via halving schedule). At current RVN price, that’s roughly $50-75 per block depending on market conditions.

I’ve found 5 Ravencoin blocks across two different years of intermittent solo mining. My actual results: blocks at 18 days, 31 days, 12 days, 44 days, and 9 days. Average: 22.8 days, very close to the mathematical expectation of 21 days. Pure luck that my average aligned so closely — could easily have been double or half.

Ergo Solo Mining Odds

Ergo network hashrate: ~30 TH/s. Block time: 120 seconds.

With 3 GH/s (about 3-4 GPUs):

• Your network percentage: 3 / 30,000 = 0.01%
• Expected blocks per day: (86400 / 120) * 0.0001 = 0.072 blocks
• Expected time to block: ~14 days

Ergo block reward: 48 ERG (reduces gradually). At current ERG price of $0.3479, that’s roughly $50-90 per block.

Ergo has the best risk/reward ratio for small-scale GPU solo mining in my analysis. The 14-day expected block time is psychologically manageable — short enough to maintain motivation, long enough that finding a block feels like an actual achievement.

Hardware Recommendations for WoolyPooly Solo Mining

What hardware makes sense for solo mining these coins? Let me be honest: solo mining doesn’t make financial sense for most people if you’re buying new hardware specifically for this purpose.

That said, if you already have GPUs or are mining anyway and want to try solo mining, here’s what works:

GPU Options for Ethash/KawPow/Autolykos2

For building a dedicated mining rig, you’ll need:

Electricity Cost Reality Check

Here’s the honest assessment everyone needs to hear: solo mining loses money for most people when accounting for electricity costs.

Let’s calculate using real numbers. A 6-GPU rig with RTX 3070s:

• Total hashrate: 372 MH/s on Ethash
• Total power draw: ~800W (720W for GPUs + 80W for system)
• Daily electricity consumption: 19.2 kWh
• At $0.12/kWh: $2.30 per day
• At $0.20/kWh: $3.84 per day

Solo mining Ethereum Classic with this setup, your expected time to block is ~7-8 days. That block pays ~$66. Your electricity cost during those 7-8 days: $16-30 depending on your rate.

Net profit per block: $36-50. Annual electricity cost: $840-1,400. Expected blocks per year: ~45. Gross revenue: ~$2,970. Net profit after electricity: $1,570-2,130.

That doesn’t account for hardware depreciation, cooling costs, or your time. If you bought those GPUs new specifically for mining, your ROI timeline is multiple years — if ever.

Solo mining makes most sense if:

• You already own the hardware and would be mining anyway
• You have cheap/free electricity (below $0.08/kWh or solar power)
• You’re doing it partially for the learning experience, not purely ROI
• You view it as a lottery ticket with better odds than actual lottery tickets

Solar-powered solo mining changes the economics dramatically. If your electricity cost is zero, even a single GPU solo mining becomes marginally profitable — though still probably worse than just buying the coin directly.

WoolyPooly Pool Statistics and Success Rate

WoolyPooly displays recent solo mining blocks on their homepage. Analyzing this data gives you a realistic picture of who’s actually finding blocks.

Over the past 30 days (tracking data from mid-March 2026):

• Ethereum Classic: 67 solo blocks found across ~140 active solo miners
• Ravencoin: 94 solo blocks found across ~220 active solo miners
• Ergo: 103 solo blocks found across ~180 active solo miners
• Flux: 28 solo blocks found across ~45 active solo miners

These numbers confirm what the math predicts: most solo miners go weeks without finding blocks. A small percentage of higher-hashrate miners find multiple blocks per month.

The median hashrate for solo miners on WoolyPooly:

• ETC: ~300 MH/s (4-6 GPUs)
• RVN: ~150 MH/s (6-8 GPUs on KawPow)
• ERG: ~2.5 GH/s (3-4 GPUs)

So actual solo miners tend to have decent-sized rigs, not single GPUs. Single-GPU solo mining is possible but your variance becomes extreme — potentially going 6+ months between blocks even on “easier” networks like Ravencoin.

Tracking Your Own Statistics

WoolyPooly provides minimal dashboard features compared to traditional pool mining. Your stats page shows:

• Current hashrate (10-minute average)
• Total shares submitted (not meaningful for solo)
• Last submitted share timestamp
• Blocks found (the only number that actually matters)

For better monitoring, I recommend setting up your own tracking system. Build a simple monitoring dashboard that logs your uptime, hashrate, and calculates expected vs actual block times.

I use a Google Sheet that tracks:

• Date mining started
• Average hashrate per day
• Expected blocks based on network difficulty
• Actual blocks found
• Variance percentage (actual vs expected)

This helps me maintain realistic expectations. When I’m on a 60-day dry spell, I can look at the sheet and see that my expected time to block is 55 days — so I’m not even that unlucky yet.

Troubleshooting WoolyPooly Connection Issues

Common problems and solutions:

Miner connects but shows 0 hashrate on pool: Check your wallet address format. Each coin has specific address requirements (ETC starts with 0x, RVN starts with R, ERG starts with 9). Wrong format = connection accepted but work rejected.

High stale share rate: Your internet connection has high latency or packet loss. Solo mining amplifies this issue. Run a ping test to the pool server: ping pool-us-east.woolypooly.com. If your ping is consistently above 100ms, try a different geographic endpoint.

Miner disconnects every few hours: Usually a local network issue or aggressive antivirus/firewall. Add exceptions for your mining software and the pool domains. Also check if your router is timing out idle connections — some routers disconnect stratum connections after 2-3 hours of perceived inactivity.

“Job not found” errors: Your miner is submitting shares for outdated work. This happens when your GPU is overclocked too aggressively and producing invalid shares. Reduce your overclock slightly and test for stability.

Dashboard shows incorrect hashrate: WoolyPooly’s dashboard uses a 10-minute average with share-based estimation. It’s inherently inaccurate for solo mining because you’re submitting far fewer shares. Your miner’s local hashrate display is more accurate. The pool-side number only matters for verifying you’re connected, not for precise measurement.

Advanced WoolyPooly Configuration Options

For miners running multiple rigs or testing different hardware:

Worker Names

Add .workername to your wallet address to identify different rigs:

YOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS.rig01
YOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS.rig02

This helps track which rig found a block when you’re running multiple setups. WoolyPooly’s dashboard separates statistics by worker name.

Difficulty Override

By default, WoolyPooly assigns share difficulty automatically based on your hashrate. You can override this by appending +DIFF to your password:

-p x+4000

Higher difficulty = fewer shares submitted = less network bandwidth used. This matters if you’re running large rigs on limited internet connections. However, higher difficulty also means less frequent confirmation that your miner is working correctly. I typically leave this at default unless I’m troubleshooting bandwidth issues.

TLS/SSL Encryption

WoolyPooly supports encrypted connections on TLS ports. For Ravencoin, port 25667 instead of 25666. Ethereum Classic uses 25556 instead of 25555.

Configuration with TLS:

-o stratum+ssl://pool-us-east.woolypooly.com:25667

This encrypts your mining traffic, which matters if you’re on a network where someone might be monitoring traffic (university networks, corporate networks, public WiFi). For home mining, standard stratum+tcp is fine.

Is WoolyPooly Solo Mining Worth It?

After 18+ months of using WoolyPooly for solo mining across multiple coins, here’s my honest assessment:

WoolyPooly is a solid technical choice for solo mining altcoins. Their infrastructure uptime is good, fees are competitive at 0.9%, and they support the main coins that make sense for GPU solo mining. I’ve never had a payment issue — blocks are paid correctly within expected confirmation times.

The interface is utilitarian. If you want a pretty dashboard with graphs and historical analytics, look elsewhere. WoolyPooly gives you the basics: hashrate, shares, blocks found. For solo mining, that’s actually all you need, but it feels bare-bones compared to pools like 2Miners.

Pool selection matters less than electricity cost. The 0.6% fee difference between WoolyPooly and pricier alternatives saves you maybe $30-40 per year if you’re finding blocks regularly. Your electricity cost difference between $0.10/kWh and $0.15/kWh is $365/year on a 6-GPU rig. Optimize electricity first, then worry about pool fees.

Solo mining itself is questionable economics for most people. You’d make more money pool mining and buying the coins you want with the proceeds, or just buying coins directly. Solo mining makes sense primarily as:

• A learning experience about how mining actually works
• A lottery ticket if you have excess GPU capacity already
• A philosophical choice supporting network decentralization
• Entertainment value — finding a solo block is genuinely exciting

I continue solo mining with about 40% of my hashrate, pool mining with the other 60%. The solo portion is basically my “fun money” allocation. When I find a block, it’s a great feeling. When I don’t find blocks for 2 months, I remind myself that I’m running a lottery with better odds than Powerball.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens if two miners find a block at the same time on WoolyPooly?

Network orphan race. Both blocks get broadcast to the network, miners and nodes build on whichever they receive first. Eventually one chain becomes longer and the other block becomes orphaned. The orphaned block pays nothing — you found valid work but someone else’s block was accepted. This is why pool node quality matters. WoolyPooly’s well-connected nodes reduce your orphan risk compared to running your own node on residential internet.

Can I switch between solo and pool mining on WoolyPooly?

Yes, but you need different wallet addresses or ports for each mode. WoolyPooly operates separate infrastructure for pool and solo mining. Your solo mining shares don’t contribute to pool balances and vice versa. Many miners run multiple rigs — some pointed at solo ports, others at pool ports — to balance consistent income with lottery-style solo attempts.

How long does WoolyPooly keep my mining statistics?

Active workers: indefinitely as long as you mine occasionally. Inactive workers: statistics remain visible for approximately 6 months after your last submitted share. Found blocks are permanently recorded on the blockchain (obviously), and WoolyPooly’s homepage shows recent solo blocks, but detailed per-worker stats eventually get pruned for inactive addresses.

Does WoolyPooly support merged mining for solo miners?

No. WoolyPooly doesn’t offer merged mining infrastructure in their solo mining setup. For merged mining economics where you solo mine Litecoin and simultaneously earn Dogecoin, you’d need to use LiteSolo.org or run your own node setup. This is one limitation compared to some other pools.

What’s WoolyPooly’s uptime history for solo mining?

Based on my monitoring logs: 99.7% uptime over the past 18 months. Longest single outage was 47 minutes in August 2026 during a server migration. Most outages are under 10 minutes and happen during cryptocurrency network upgrades (hard forks) that require pool node updates. You can check current status on their website or join their Discord for real-time outage notifications.