Not necessarily. If your ASIC is receiving current mining jobs and the pool is accepting its shares, it can continue mining even while the pool's website or dashboard is unreachable. The website displays account information, worker lists, and earnings; the ASIC communicates with the pool through a separate Stratum connection. To assess whether mining has stopped, check the miner itself.
The Website and the Mining Connection Are Different Systems
An ASIC is configured with a Stratum URL—a hostname and port—along with a worker name and any password required by the pool. This connection is used to receive mining jobs and submit shares. It does not require the pool's public website to load successfully.
Bitcoin's developer documentation describes how a pool supplies the information miners need to construct block headers and sets a target for submitted shares. Stratum uses a two-way TCP connection to exchange mining work (Bitcoin Developer Guide). A pool can therefore experience a website problem while its mining connections continue operating.
This separation does not mean the systems are fully independent in every incident. A website outage can occur in isolation, or it can be one visible symptom of a larger infrastructure problem affecting job distribution or share accounting. Check the ASIC's connection, recent jobs, and accepted shares together; connection status alone is insufficient.
How to Tell Whether an ASIC Is Still Mining
Most ASIC firmware exposes a local web interface or status page, separate from the pool dashboard. Three indicators are worth checking.
Connection status: Check whether the device is connected to its configured Stratum hostname and port, and whether the connection is stable or repeatedly dropping.
Job activity: Look for recent mining jobs, including updated work after a new Bitcoin block is found on the network.
Accepted shares: Where the firmware exposes this information, check that the accepted-share count continues increasing or that logs show recent acceptance responses. Historical totals alone do not establish current activity. Local hashrate shows that the chips are hashing, but does not confirm that the pool is receiving valid work.
If these indicators look normal, the ASIC is very likely still mining for its active pool, regardless of whether the pool's website loads. Accepted shares indicate that work is reaching and being accepted by the pool; they do not independently verify the final earnings credited to your account.
When Mining Actually Stops
Mining for a given pool stops, in a practical sense, when the ASIC can no longer reach its Stratum endpoint, receive current jobs, or have its shares accepted. Possible causes include an unreachable hostname or port, a routing or firewall problem, an incorrectly configured worker name, or a broader failure in the pool's mining infrastructure.
An occasional rejected share does not mean mining has stopped. For example, work submitted against an outdated job can be rejected as stale after a new block is found. Stale shares can occur while the website is fully available; persistent rejections or a lack of new accepted shares warrant investigation.
What Backup Pool Entries Can and Cannot Do
Many ASIC firmware interfaces allow multiple pool entries, typically in priority order. The exact switching behavior depends on the hardware and firmware.
ViaBTC's BTC Mining guide recommends configuring multiple ports so the miner can switch if one fails to connect. An alternate endpoint on the same pool can help with a failure affecting a particular hostname, port, or route. However, endpoints may share infrastructure, so they cannot guarantee continuity during a broader pool-side outage.
A backup entry for another compatible pool is a different arrangement: it may allow mining to continue if the original pool is unavailable, provided it is configured correctly and the firmware switches successfully. Neither arrangement prevents every interruption. Check which pool is actually active before assuming that work is still going to the original pool.
A Practical Checklist During a Website Outage
- Check current activity. Use the ASIC's local interface to review the connection, recent jobs, and accepted shares described above.
- Inspect errors. Look for timeouts, authorization failures, repeated reconnections, or persistent share rejections. Log wording varies by firmware.
- Check failover. If a backup entry is configured, confirm whether the miner has switched and whether the active entry is accepting shares.
- Keep a working configuration. Avoid changing Stratum settings solely because the website is inaccessible when jobs and accepted shares continue normally.
- Verify records when access returns. Review worker activity and credited earnings for the affected period. If records appear incomplete, check official updates or contact support rather than assuming a fixed recovery interval.
Configuring ViaBTC Endpoints Correctly
Use current official documentation when configuring a Stratum address. ViaBTC publishes global, regional, and failover options in its Mining Pools Information page. Verify the live page before updating settings, since documented hostnames and ports can change.
If a connection is failing, compare the configured endpoint and worker name with the BTC Mining guide. ViaBTC specifies the worker-name format as userID.workerID; the password is optional and may be set to any value. The guide also recommends multiple ports to help with connection failures. These setup instructions do not establish how long dashboard records take to recover after an outage.
FAQ
Does a pool website outage mean my ASIC has stopped earning?
Not necessarily. If the ASIC receives current jobs and the pool accepts its shares, mining can continue while the website is unreachable. Credited earnings depend on the pool's payment method and accounting; verify them in pool records when access returns.
How can I confirm my ASIC is still submitting shares?
Check recent submissions in the miner's local interface or logs. Where available, look for new acceptance responses or an increasing accepted-share count. This provides stronger evidence of useful mining activity than local hashrate alone.
Should I change my Stratum settings if the website is down?
Website downtime alone is not a reason to change them. If connections fail, current jobs stop arriving, or shares are persistently rejected, investigate the cause and check settings against official documentation.
Can a backup pool entry prevent all mining interruptions?
No. Another endpoint on the same pool may help with an isolated connection failure but may share the infrastructure affected by a broader outage. Another compatible pool may provide additional continuity, subject to correct configuration and firmware behavior.
Why might my shares be rejected even when my connection looks fine?
One possible reason is stale work: a share may refer to an outdated job after a new block is found. Occasional stale shares do not mean all mining has stopped. Persistent rejections require further investigation even if the connection remains active.