Security and mining risks

Understand the risks

• Costs and uncertain rewards. Electricity, rented hardware, developer fees and exchange costs can exceed earnings. Prices, network difficulty and block discovery vary. Estimates and accepted shares do not guarantee income.
• Heat and hardware. Sustained GPU use increases power consumption, heat and fan use. Inadequate cooling, unsuitable power settings or overclocking can cause instability, hardware damage or additional wear. Follow your hardware manufacturer’s guidance and monitor your computer.
• Software and security warnings. Mining tools can be detected as unwanted software, and malicious miners also exist. A warning is not proof that a file is harmless. Review the publisher, source, license and file before allowing it to run. Keep security software enabled.
• Wallet and network mistakes. Transactions can be irreversible. Use the correct coin’s native network and a receiving wallet you control. A token with a similar name on another network is not the same coin. Keep recovery phrases and private keys private and backed up.
• Pool and service failures. Rejected work, outages, software faults, chain reorganizations and payment failures can delay or prevent rewards. Pool balances depend on the operator and are not protected bank deposits. Read the fees and reward terms.

Beware of anyone promising guaranteed returns or demanding a payment to unlock rewards. The FTC explains common cryptocurrency scams.

What you download

Our setup ZIPs contain the IntelligentPool graphical wizard, GPU launcher and readable application source under cryptopool/. They do not bundle a miner, wallet, GPU driver or Python runtime. The wizard opens publisher links and installs its connection dependency only when you choose that action. Opening setup does not start mining.

The launcher is currently a source distribution, not a code-signed installer. Third-party miners have their own licenses, hardware requirements and developer fees; some are closed source. Source links and checksums do not guarantee that software is safe.

Downloads are checked with SHA-256 against the published file list. Each ZIP also includes SHA256SUMS for its application files. Keep every extracted file together, and investigate any verification failure. View the current download checksums.

Upstream projects are independent of IntelligentPool. Listing their files does not imply their endorsement of this pool.

Original coin and miner sources

These are the publishers and documentation used by the five main coin setup packages. Check live pool status separately; a downloadable setup package does not mean its pool is available.

Application dependencies

• Python — official downloads: Python 3.12 or later with Tcl/Tk and pip.
• websockets 17.2 — package publisher: the launcher’s encrypted pool transport dependency.

Connections and your data

The website redirects HTTP to HTTPS. Browser/API connections use HTTPS, and the public mining transport uses WSS. Encryption protects traffic in transit; the service and its infrastructure providers can process that traffic. The miner’s local TCP connection stays on your own computer’s loopback interface.

Registration stores your public receiving address, device credentials and pool activity/accounting records. Rig files grant access to your pool account and must be kept private. The service does not need your receiving wallet’s private keys or recovery phrase. IntelligentPool operates collection wallets for pool rewards until payouts are sent.

The desktop app encrypts its locally saved rig credentials with Windows account protection (DPAPI). On Linux it uses owner-only file permissions; it does not claim OS-independent disk encryption. Use your operating system’s disk encryption and a strong login for additional protection. Portable rig exports are unencrypted by choice so they can be used on the website or another computer; guard and remove unnecessary copies.

The dashboard stores wallet addresses and preferences locally. Selected setup fields are also sent to the service for validation and registration. Downloaded setup plans contain your selected settings and receiving addresses. Website reward-file credentials are used in memory rather than browser local storage. Hosting providers may retain request and IP logs; pool accounting records are retained to operate the service and carry unpaid balances forward.

Security reporting

A dedicated security contact is not yet available. Do not send passwords, rig files, wallet backups or private keys to anyone claiming to provide support through an unverified account.

For warnings about an upstream miner or wallet, consult that publisher’s security instructions.

Independent guidance

• Microsoft: unwanted software and security protections
• FTC: cryptocurrency risks and scams
• Google: security issues and harmful-download warnings