Does a pool see my IP address when I mine Monero?

Yes. When you connect directly to a Monero mining pool, the pool can normally see your public IP address—the internet address your connection uses. Monero’s transaction privacy does not hide that connection, though a browser mining service, VPN, or other intermediary can change which IP address the pool sees.

What your IP address tells a pool

A mining pool combines work from many miners and shares the rewards. To receive your work and send instructions back, its server needs a working network connection to you. That connection exposes a source IP address.

Your public IP can often reveal your internet provider and an approximate location. It does not automatically reveal your name, exact street address, or everything you do online. Location estimates can also be wrong.

An IP address is not always unique to you. Your household may share one, and some internet providers put many customers behind the same public address. Your address may also change over time.

Still, you should treat it as information that could help identify you when combined with other records.

What the pool can connect to that address

Depending on its software and settings, a pool may associate your IP address with:

• Your payout address—the Monero address where you receive rewards.
• A worker name, which is a label you give your mining device.
• Your connection times and submitted mining work.
• Your reported or estimated mining speed.
• Account details, if the service requires registration.

Monero hides important payment details on its public transaction record. That does not erase information you voluntarily give a pool or information its servers observe.

For example, knowing your payout address does not let the pool browse your wallet balance. But the pool can still keep its own records of rewards it credited or payments it sent to you.

Whether it stores IP addresses, and for how long, depends on its practices. “No registration” does not mean “no logs.”

How browser mining changes the picture

If you mine through a website, your browser may connect to the website’s server rather than directly to the pool. That server can forward your mining work.

In that setup:

• The website or its connection provider can normally see your IP.
• The upstream pool may see the forwarding server’s IP instead.
• The website may still pass identifying details to the pool.

You cannot tell which arrangement a service uses just because it runs in your browser. Look for a clear explanation of its connection path, logging, and data sharing. Do not assume browser mining makes you anonymous.

Ways to limit exposure

A properly configured VPN routes your connection through another server, so the pool normally sees the VPN server’s IP instead of yours. This shifts trust to the VPN provider; it does not remove the need for trust.

Tor can also hide your source IP when your mining connection actually travels through it. However, mining software and browser connections need suitable configuration, and some pools block these connections.

Neither option hides your payout address or worker label from a pool that receives them. Avoid putting your real name or email in worker labels. Be wary of services promising “complete anonymity” or asking for your wallet’s recovery words—a pool never needs those to pay you.

The bottom line

Assume a pool sees your public IP when you connect directly. With browser mining or a privacy service, check who receives your connection: your IP may be hidden from the pool but visible to an intermediary.