F2Pool

F2Pool is a Bitcoin company in the Mining Pools category, founded in 2013 by Chun Wang, Mao Shihang.

The Idea

China's first Bitcoin mining pool. The idea was to pool the hashrate of China's fast-growing base of ASIC miners so they earned steady, predictable income, and to serve them in Chinese where Western pools did not. Wang had been GPU mining since 2011 but realized ASICs made solo mining a lottery only the biggest operators could win. He coded the backend; Discus Fish (who had built a 50,000-member Chinese mining community on QQ) handled operations.

Early Traction

Grew explosively as China became the epicenter of Bitcoin mining, becoming the country's largest pool by 2014 as miners plugged their Bitmain and Canaan rigs straight into it. At peak, commanded roughly one-third of Bitcoin's entire network hashrate.

Peak Stats

One-third of global Bitcoin hashrate at peak. Mined over 1.3 million BTC total. Expanded beyond Bitcoin into the world's largest multi-currency mining pool and one of the oldest still operating.

Status Today

Active. Still one of the top mining pools globally. Wang became notable for his colorful personality. He later went to space on a commercial flight.