What happened to MineXMR?

MineXMR shut down on August 12, 2022, and no longer operates as a Monero mining pool. Its operators announced the closure in advance and encouraged miners to move to P2Pool, a decentralized alternative.

What happened when it closed?

MineXMR was a mining pool: a service that combined the computing power of many miners so they could earn smaller, more regular rewards instead of waiting to find a block alone. A block is a batch of transactions added to Monero’s public transaction record.

When MineXMR closed, it stopped providing that mining service. If your mining software still points to an old MineXMR server address, you need to change its settings. Leaving it connected will not earn you new MineXMR rewards.

The closure did not mean that Monero shut down or that XMR already in your own wallet disappeared. MineXMR was one service supporting the network, not the organization in charge of Monero.

Why did its shutdown matter?

MineXMR had become one of Monero’s largest pools. That raised concerns because too much mining power was concentrated behind one pool operator.

Mining power is often called hashrate. It measures how much work miners perform while competing to add the next block. If one operator controls a majority of that power, they could potentially interfere with transaction ordering or reverse their own recent payments. This is commonly called a 51% attack.

That does not mean a large pool can simply take coins from your wallet. It also does not mean MineXMR actually carried out such an attack.

The important distinction is that concentration was a widely discussed risk, but you should not treat it as a confirmed explanation for the shutdown. The operators’ closure announcement did not provide a detailed public reason.

Why were miners pointed toward P2Pool?

P2Pool combines shared mining rewards with a structure that avoids putting one central pool operator in control.

Rather than having a pool company hold your rewards until you request a withdrawal, P2Pool pays eligible mining rewards directly through the mining process. There is no central pool balance waiting for an operator to release it.

For miners leaving MineXMR, that addressed two concerns:

• Network concentration: Mining was less dependent on one central service.
• Custody of rewards: A pool operator did not hold accumulated earnings on miners’ behalf.

P2Pool does require setup and compatible mining software. It is not automatically available through every browser-mining service, so you should check what pool or payment system your service actually uses.

What if you had an old MineXMR balance?

Coins already paid to your wallet remain under your control, provided you still have your wallet keys or recovery phrase. An unpaid balance shown on an old pool dashboard is different: it was an amount owed by the service, not coins already in your wallet.

Check your wallet’s transaction history and any authentic shutdown records you saved. Do not assume an old dashboard balance is still withdrawable today.

Be especially cautious of anyone offering to “recover” MineXMR earnings for an upfront fee. Never share your wallet recovery phrase or private spending key.

The bottom line

MineXMR is a closed pool, not a temporary outage. If you used it, update your mining setup, check your wallet for past payouts, and treat claims of a MineXMR revival or balance-recovery service with caution.