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When you use the internet today, it can seem like magic. You enter a random set of characters and within seconds you see an ever-expanding volume of data.

While the Internet and the cloud make it appear that the Internet exists in the ether, it is largely a physical phenomenon. 98% of the world’s data travels over fiber optic cables – a network of interconnected computers. (The following figure). The Internet has evolved over decades, with enormous coordination across the globe to build the infrastructure and define standards for how data is transmitted over the Internet.

World Wide Web

The early development of the Internet took about 20 years until Sir Timothy Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1989, unlocking its enormous potential and changing the way we interact with data and communicate with each other. The World Wide Web sits on top of the infrastructure that supports the Internet, using unique identifiers called Uniform Resource Locators to link data, such as the text and images that make up a website. We call this identifier a URL.

Most data transmitted across the Internet infrastructure relies on a location-based protocol called Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), which acts like an operating ) to the location where the data is stored, usually a big data center. As shown in the Figure below, the HTTP protocol requires a server located in a specific geographic location to send requested information to a client. This method is called “Location Based Addressing”.

This protocol works fine in most cases. evidence? Well, you are reading this. But it does have its drawbacks. The figure below illustrates one of these key issues. By centralizing data, owners of data storage facilities wield considerable power and can create commercial products to sell to consumers. This gave birth to today’s data giants such as Amazon, Microsoft and Google.

This stage of technological development, commonly referred to as Web 2.0, requires significant infrastructure investment to meet the data demands of consumers and businesses as they move online. By accessing the capital markets, technology leaders, which Holon calls “today’s hypercapital,” have leveraged these massive economies of scale to become trillion-dollar giants. As we discussed in our previous XY article, these companies already own and dominate the data storage and distribution business.

The reliance on these key suppliers has had unintended consequences. As we’ve seen recently, concentrating on a handful of technology leaders means that when a service provider goes offline, it can shut down half the network at once, costing billions of dollars to companies that depend on the internet.

Over the next few decades, with emerging technology platforms such as self-driving cars, Internet of Things devices, and digital payments, the amount of data generated will explode. Holon estimates that by 2040, the data generated for autonomous vehicles and IoT devices alone will be 1,000 times larger than all the data generated in 2020 alone, as shown in the figure below.

Total annual data created from 2020 to 2040

Which begs the question? Is there a better way?

This is where the opportunity lies with IPFS and Filecoin.

So, What is IPFS?

IPFS stands for “Interplanetary File System” and it uses an alternative to HTTP. When a data file is created, the IPFS protocol (or operating system) creates a fingerprint of the file, known as a unique content identifier (CD) for the file itself. When a client makes a request for specific content, it uses the IPFS protocol to search for its unique file CD identifier.

For example, if someone in your city recently viewed the file, the request can be accessed from the closest available source, rather than a specific geographic location where HTTP occurred, resulting in cost and time efficiencies for the user.

What Does Filecoin Have to Do With IPFS?

Filecoin is a native digital asset that supports the IPFS network. Data storage providers provide access to their storage hardware and use Filecoin collateral (in the form of tokens) to ensure they secure this data. They are rewarded in the form of Filecoin token payments for providing this service. These reward tokens allow them to fund new data storage capacity additions to continue growing their storage infrastructure. This incentive mechanism introduces decentralization of data storage, allowing any individual or company to build storage capacity on the Filecoin network.

let’s go a little deeper

In the Figure below, we can see a key difference comparing how data operates on the HTTP and Filecoin networks. In the example on the left, users cannot directly share data with each other because the data addresses are concentrated in the data center. On the right, the introduction of CD identifiers allows IPFS users to search and share information with each other. This small change had a profound impact on scale.

This has the potential to speed up the internet while increasing its resiliency by reducing our dependence on a handful of providers. Furthermore, users requesting known data files, rather than more generally requesting data appended to location addresses, with little knowledge of their contents or the presence of any attached viruses, creates a safer Internet for all users.

However, IPFS innovation is only part of the solution. It is not enough to just understand how the internet works in a more efficient way, it is important to create a network effect where the world uses IPFS solutions.

Get the Filecoin mining rig to start Filecoin mining.

Filecoin Incentive Mechanism

Leveraging the unique qualities of cryptocurrencies, Filecoin’s incentives are designed to bring infrastructure builders together to scale the network globally. This incentive is greater in the early stages of its expansion, providing higher returns to network builders and paving the way for mainstream adoption. However, as the network scaled and more clients moved their data storage needs from HTTP to IPFS, the incentives began to diminish as Filecoin became widely accepted.

These rewards are provided in the form of FIL tokens and provide a revenue stream that enables data storage providers to offer their customers incredibly low-cost storage, estimated at only 1% of the current cost of data offered by today’s tech giants. HTTP Network 1. These subsidies are valid for 20 years, giving Filecoin a long way to build the utility of its network and attract global users.

As the network matures and subsidies are reduced, the challenge for IPFS is to reduce the cost of drive storage across the network to a level that allows them to compete with AWS, Google, or Azure without relying on incentive token payments.

The vision of Filecoin is to turn data storage and distribution into an open marketplace, not unlike the approach taken by Uber for ride-hailing and Airbnb for homestays. However, the key difference is that storage providers and Filecoin holders have full ownership of the network without the need for centralized service providers to charge fees for coordinating providers and users.

The success of Filecoin will depend on whether the value of the network provides sufficient incentives for customers and storage providers to switch to the IPFS network. Given the infancy of the network, this will take time; however, it does offer great potential in terms of price and security, and continues to attract strong demand from developers and customers looking for alternatives to the data storage solutions currently offered2.

Given the projected 1000x increase in data generation over the next 20 years, Filecoin’s potential is enormous. Interested investors should not see it as the next Amazon or the next Google, but rather seek to understand its potential to replace HTTP to drive the future of the Internet, Web 3.0.

Learn everything there is to know about Helium miner, then decide if it’s a good fit for you. Continue reading to find out more about HNT tokens.

Key Takeaways

The Helium Network is the first to introduce a wireless network to mine crypto. In this network, nodes serve as hotspot components that enable HNT mining.

Although HNT hotspot mining gained a lot of traction, its profitability is slowly declining.

Introduction

Crypto mining has proven to be a profitable way to generate passive income from the convenience of your own home. Starting with Bitcoin, several other mineable cryptocurrencies, including Dogecoin, Ethereum Classic, and even Monero, were eventually added. The convenience and lack of significant capital investment are the primary factors driving the growth of cryptocurrency mining. Numerous mineable cryptos have received attention over the years due to their high profitability, but none of them have persisted for very long. But in 2019, a brand-new blockchain-based cryptocurrency called the Helium network came onto the scene and raised interest in Helium miners.

The Technology Behind Helium Mining

In order to mine HNT tokens and generate income, Helium Network has been providing a decentralized wireless infrastructure. For this reason, helium mining has grown considerably since the day it first came out. The early adopters of helium mining fared better than most and set a record by gaining a substantial amount of HNT, the reward for mining Helium network.

This project is a dispersed network with every node being a hotspot with LoRaWAN capability (hence the name “Helium network”). LoRaWAN (long-range WAN), which is essentially a network protocol using long-range radio modulation technology, is one of the Internet of Things connections with the fastest rate of growth. Both the Helium network and HNT tokens are based on the proof-of-coverage algorithm, which makes it a decentralized Internet of Things.

Helium, a sizable LoRaWAN network, connects data across the internet using actual hardware, called helium miners. In a sense, Helium network has adopted a practical approach to the IoT, which was previously only applicable to the modernization of homes and logistics.

Helium Network: What is It?

It is crucial to discuss what a helium network is in order to comprehend how a helium miner operates. The first ever decentralized wireless network that enables HNT mining is known in the crypto community as Helium Miner. These IoT-connected miners have access to the helium network, which consists of long-range wireless hotspots.

Helium Network is an intelligent application of wireless technology that fixes Wi-Fi’s connectivity problems. The helium network has access to a much wider variety of connections, which makes it possible. Since every device can automatically and directly connect to other nearby ones, a centralized hub (typically a router) is not required in this scenario.

How Does a Helium Miner Work?

Before helium, crypto miners relied on costly mining rigs that reduced their ROI considerably. But after the Helium network emerged, it allowed people to mine HNT tokens using a very different means, i.e., with a wireless device called a hotspot. HNT tokens are given as a mining reward to helium miners in exchange for their coverage.

Due to the fact that the Helium network is essentially decentralized, anyone can set up hotspots (helium miners). The Helium blockchain relies on a still-novel Proof-of-Coverage algorithm to verify the location of hotspots and their network coverage. The Helium Network Explorer tool is frequently used to view data connected to POC.

In the case of mining helium, radio waves take the place of CPUs and ASICs. For miners, Helium hotspots use LoRaWAN transmitters to set up long-range wireless coverage. Earning HNT as mining rewards takes place in two ways:

1. when miners send data to other Helium network-connected devices.
2. When a hotspot nearby often run proof-of-coverage challenges

You require a special gadget called a LoRaWAN transmitter in order to mine HNT. But a helium miner’s geo-location is the most crucial factor in determining how much they make. To increase your mining rewards, you must obtain an antenna.

To be able to mine HNT profitably, one has to keep in mind that:

• There are 3 types of helium miners or wireless plug-and-play hotspots used for mining HNT: full hotspots, light hotspots, and data-only hotspots.
• Earning HNT tokens is possible by expanding Helium’s network coverage, which comes down to transferring more data in return for more rewards.

Read more: What is Helium Network Map? How Does It Work With Bobcat Miner 300?

Pros and Cons of Helium Mining

• Pros

The helium miner can use radio technologies and print HNT tokens because it is wireless. Anyone can set it up and begin mining to earn rewards thanks to its proof-of-coverage model. Anyone interested can start mining HNT cryptos and make a reliable passive income thanks to this truly disruptive piece of technology. A helium hotspot must be joined in order to begin mining; otherwise, no capital investment is needed.

• Cons

HNT earnings cannot be withdrawn directly from an individual’s Helium wallet. Transferring the HNT to a compatible exchange is required to accomplish this. In addition, too many arbitrary variables, such as the antenna’s position, height, etc., affect the overall earnings.

How to Set Up a Helium Miner?

Bobcat Miner 300 – Best Helium Miner

The prerequisites to set up a Helium miner are a hotspot miner, antenna (and its location), cables, a smartphone, and a router, as mentioned in the sections above. How, then, do you locate the top helium miner? Finding a suitable Helium miner depends heavily on one’s geographic location and the position of one’s antennas. The below steps provide an understanding of how one can set up a Helium miner:

Download and Set Up a Helium App

The first step entails downloading the Helium app, which is available for both iOS and Android devices, and creating an account. User information can then be stored in a Helium wallet that will be generated afterward.

A 12-word seed phrase will be generated by a program to backup your Helium wallet. The app will also ask you to set up a six-digit pin that you will need to enter each time you log in as an additional security measure.

Add a Helium Miner

Finding the plus (+) symbol to add a Helium miner, such as the Bobcat miner 300, to the app is the next step. The chosen miner must be plugged in to function, and a tiny red light will show when it is. Then, press the Bluetooth pairing button on the device’s back. Alternately, you can set up Wi-Fi by selecting one of the network settings in the Helium app.

Select the Hotspot, Verify Its Location and Set Up the Antenna

Now, the list will include the chosen Hotspot Miner. To proceed, select “Hotspot.” A prompt to add a hotspot will then appear. Add the Hotspot, confirm its location, and set the antenna.

The first assertion is free (paid by manufacturers), and users are responsible for paying the transaction fee for further assertions. Press “Skip” if you still need to get ready to set a location. If you are good to go, select “Continue.” The mobile app’s Hotspots tab allows users to view and manage newly added Hotspots.

Is It Worth Mining Helium?

Helium mining profitability today versus profitability in the future must be taken into account when deciding whether it is worthwhile. then. The total number of Helium hotspots was 14,000 in January 2021, but today there are 900,000 of them, with the same rewards being distributed. New miners join the helium network every day, greatly lowering profitability and the total mining rewards.

The Helium network’s early adopters appear to have reaped the greatest benefits from mining HNT in this situation. All newcomers, however, need to make sure that the network properly rewards their mining efforts.

The Future of Helium Mining

Although there is no way in which helium mining can guarantee profits, that is the cryptocurrency market for you. The market is extremely volatile, and everything is subject to sudden, unforeseen change. While it is true that helium miners present an innovative way to generate passive income, depending on how earnings change from person to person, we are yet to see any changes in this project.

The US has been pulled by Credit Suisse. equities markets lower, but a positive sign is that Bitcoin and select altcoins are holding near their local highs.

The United States equities markets tumbled on March 15 after Saudi National Bank, Swiss bank Credit Suisse’s largest investor, said it would not be able to provide any more funding to Credit Suisse due to regulatory limitations.

Investors are nervous because Credit Suisse, which has large U.S. and global operations, warned on March 14 that it had found “certain material weaknesses” in its financial reporting processes for 2021 and 2022. On March 15, Credit Suisse stock experienced its worst day ever.

The S&P 500 has given back all of its year-to-date gains as a result of the recent events and is currently trading flat. In comparison, Bitcoin

is holding on to a large part of its gains and is up nearly 47% in 2023.

Trezor Bitcoin analyst Josef Tětek believes the banking crisis could be positive for Bitcoin, as it could emerge as a safe-haven asset.

Capriole founder and CEO Charles Edwards said that Bitcoin has formed a “bump and run reversal pattern,” which has a target objective of $100,000 and higher. However, Edwards advised traders not to use the pattern to create a trading or investment plan because it might not succeed.

Could Bitcoin and altcoins rise above their overhead resistance levels and start the next leg of the up-move? To find out, let’s examine the top 10 cryptocurrency charts.

Bitcoin Price Analysis

Bitcoin above the overhead resistance of $25,250 on March 14; however, the candlestick’s long wick demonstrates that bears are not prepared to submit without a fight. The price fell back below $25,250 as a result of heavy selling.

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Indicating a benefit for buyers, the relative strength index (RSI) is in the positive territory and the 20-day exponential moving average, or EMA ($23,012), has begun to turn up.

The likelihood of a break and close above $25,250 rises if the bulls do not give up much ground from the current level. If that occurs, the BTC/USDT pair will finish a bullish inverse head-and-shoulders (H&S) pattern. That will indicate a possible trend change. The pair may then sprint toward $32,000.

Bears must act quickly to bring the price back below the moving averages if they want to halt the bullish momentum.

Ether Price Analysis

Ether soared above the overhead resistance at $1,743 on 14 March, but the bulls were unable to maintain the higher levels. This suggests that the bears are trying to protect the level.

Buy Antminer E9 – Best ETH ASIC Miner

Price consolidation between $1,743 and the 20-day exponential moving average ($1,588) would indicate that traders are now buying on dips and that the sentiment has turned positive. The likelihood of a break and close above $1,743 will increase as a result. Following that, the ETH/USDT pair is in a good position for a significant rally toward the psychological level of $2,000.

In contrast to this assumption, a price decline and a break below the moving averages will show that the ETH/USDT pair may consolidate in a wide range between $1,743 and $1,352 for some time.

BNB Price Analysis

BNB turned down from the strong resistance near $318. This suggests that the bears are attempting to protect the area between $318 and $338.

A minor positive in favor of the buyers is that they have not allowed the price to break back below the 50-day simple moving average, or SMA ($306). The shallow pullback shows that every minor dip is being purchased.

The bulls will make one more attempt to catapult the price above the overhead zone. If they do that, the BNB/USDT pair can soar toward $400. Contrarily, if the price breaks below the 50-day SMA, the pair may slide to the 20-day EMA ($296). A break below this level will signal an advantage to the bears.

XRP Price Analysis

XRP turned down from the 50-day SMA ($0.38) and formed a Doji candlestick pattern on March 14, indicating indecision among the bulls and the bears.

On March 15, the uncertainty resolved to the downside, and the price declined to a strong support level of $0.36. If this level is taken out, the XRP/USDT pair could decline to the support line of the channel near $0.32.

On the other hand, if the price remains above $0.36, the bulls will attempt to get past the resistance at $0.40 and the 50-day SMA once more. If they are successful, the pair might gain momentum and move up to $0.43.

Cardano Price Analysis

Cardano accelerated on March 14 and reached the 50-day SMA ($0.36), but the long wick on the day’s candlestick reveals that the bears are aggressively selling on rallies.

On March 15, the bears pulled the price back below the 20-day EMA ($0.34), opening the way for a potential retest of $0.30. Because the next support level is much lower at $0.27, buyers are likely to defend this level with all their might.

If, however, the price moves back up from the current $0.30 level, it will indicate that investors are buying on price declines. Because of this, the ADA/USDT pair might remain range-bound between $0.50 and the 50-day SMA for a few days.

Dogecoin Price Analysis

Dogecoin recovery has reached the downtrend line where the bears are mounting a strong resistance.

Bears are in charge, as evidenced by the 20-day EMA’s downward slope ($0.07) and the RSI’s position in the red. Sellers are attempting to drive the price below $0.07, which acts as an immediate support. The DOGE/USDT pair may drop to $0.06 if this support crumbles.

Buy Goldshell Mini-Doge – Best Dogecoin ASIC Miner

In contrast, a price reversal from the current level would indicate that buyers are drawn to lower levels. The upside key level continues to be the downtrend line because a break above it could trigger a relief rally to $0.10.

Polygon Price Analysis

Polygon’s MATIC is facing stiff resistance at the 50-day SMA ($1.22), which on March 15 caused the price to fall under the 20-day EMA ($1.16).

The MATIC/USDT pair could crash to the firm support at $1.05. If this level breaks, the pair might retest the $0.94 support, so it’s crucial to keep an eye on it. The door will be opened for a potential drop to $0.69 if this level is broken.

Another possibility is that the price bounces off the $1.05 support. The bulls will attempt to raise the price above the 50-day SMA once more if that occurs. If they are successful, there is a higher chance that the price will break $1.30.

Solana Price Analysis

The bears are trying to halt the rally in Solana’s SOL at the 50-day SMA ($22.40), but the bulls are trying to keep the price above the immediate support at $19.68.

Instead, it will signal that the bears have not yet given up if the price declines further and hits $19.68. The pair could then fall to $15.28, a firm support.

Polkadot Price Analysis

Buyers tried to drive Polkadot’s DOT above the 50-day SMA ($6.42) on March 14, but the bears did not relent. This suggests that higher levels are attracting sellers.

A state of equilibrium between the bulls and the bears is indicated by the flattening of both moving averages and the RSI, which is just below the midpoint. The DOT/USDT pair may swing between the 50-day SMA and $5 for a few days if the price breaks and holds below the 20-day EMA ($6.07).

The pair could gain momentum and soar toward the neckline of the inverse H&S pattern if buyers push the price above the 50-day SMA. On the downside, the bears will have to sink the pair below $5 to indicate a comeback.

Shiba Inu Price Analysis

Shiba Inu is trading inside a descending channel pattern. Although the bears resisted, the bulls tried to raise the price above the channel.

The bears will attempt to push the price back down toward the psychological level of $0.000010. The SHIB/USDT pair may fall in the direction of the channel’s support line if they are successful in doing so. The $0.000008–$0.000007 zone will likely be fiercely defended by the bulls.

If the price moves back up off of this level, it suggests that the pair may continue to consolidate within the wide range between $0.000018 and $0.000007.

In the near term, a break above the 50-day SMA ($0.000012) will tilt the advantage in favor of the bulls. The pair may then try to rally to $0.000014 and then $0.000016.

There are no recommendations or advice about investments in this article. Each investment and trading move carries risk, so before making a choice, readers should do their own research.

There are many things cryptocurrency fans can do to earn money. Dash mining’s one of them. Explore Dash’s features by reading this tutorial. Consider Dash mining for yourself if you enjoyed reading this.

In this tutorial, we’ll provide you with all the information you need to get going. What’s dash mining, what hardware do you need, how much can you expect to mine? We will all provide answers to these queries.

What’s Dash Mining?

The Dash coin itself must first be discussed before we can learn what Dash mining is and what you need to get started. Who knows, you might think Dash is absurd and decide not to participate in Dash coin mining.

What’s Dash?

The words “digital cash” and “altcoin” were combined by the coin’s creators to create the name “Dash.” It is an alternative coin designed to create a cryptocurrency that can be used to make payments. It is gathered through a procedure called Dash coin mining.

Everybody promotes cryptocurrencies as the next development in financial technology. That is untrue because the user interface (UI) is overly complex. It takes too long to complete the payment. Real-world use is challenging.

Dash guarantees to address these issues.

This cryptocurrency reroutes miner rewards to hasten the system as a whole.

The miner who successfully solves the hash function will typically receive the full reward. The reward is divided into three parts by the Dash system. 45% goes to the miner, 45% goes to the 10% goes to the Treasury as a result of Masternode.

Users who own at least 1,000 Dash and commit to keeping their system online around-the-clock are known as masternodes. Masternodes manage Dash’s InstantSend and PrivateSend features and cast votes on important corporate decisions.

It is expected that Masternodes will want to choose the best course of action for everyone. After all, the 1,000+ Dash they currently possess motivates them to ensure Dash’s success.

Definitions:

• Altcoin– cryptocurrency released after the success of Bitcoin.
• Hash Function– a difficult math problem that encrypts the blockchain.
• Miner– blockchain user who uses his computer to solve hash functions. The miner receives the corresponding coin for first solving the function.

How’s Dash Mined?

Before learning how to mine Dash coin, you need to learn what’s needed to do it at all. The method for mining Dash is the same as that for all other cryptocurrencies. You configure your computer, link it to the internet, and then leave it alone.

People all over the world make transactions every second and record them. The issue is that users might attempt to game the system.

To prevent this, the Dash blockchain uses a concept known as Proof-of-Work and miners.

Math problems are given to the computers used by the miners. As more miners are present at once, the math problem becomes more challenging. The one who solves it first gets to create the new block in the blockchain.

The miner receives Dash in exchange for his work with this Proof of Work. The blockchain’s remaining nodes are now comparing the miner’s ledger to their own.

The blockchain reaches consensus and the process is restarted if the two are identical.

The operation of the blockchain depends on those who mine Dash coins. It’s crucial to work that can also be very well compensated with some powerful equipment to assist.

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What Do I Need to Mine Dash?

A computer and an Internet connection are required before you can begin mining Dash.

Mining Dash coins can be done in three different ways. You can make use of your computer’s CPU. The process can be carried out using the GPU. Or you can use specialized ASIC computers.

The most affordable Dash mining method uses a CPU. Additionally, it moves the least quickly. Compared to the other two options, the CPU is significantly slower. The Intel i7 8700k, one of the best consumer CPUs available, has a hashrate of about 500 h/s.

With your GPU, mining Dash is more expensive but also quicker. A $900 NVIDIA GTX 1080Ti could achieve 32 Mh/s, which is a considerable increase over CPU mining.

Using an ASIC computer is the most effective and advised strategy for Dash mining.

ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) machines are made specifically to carry out a given task. In this instance, mining for Dash involves resolving hash functions. We will talk more about them in the next section.

Hardware

An ASIC computer is exactly what?
ASIC computers are machines tailor-made for a purpose. In the case of X11 ASIC machines, that purpose is Dash mining. These processors’ designers remove all the extraneous content, including Facebook. Yes, we are horrified too!

Because of this, even the best GPUs can’t match the hashrate that ASICs can. The Bitmain Antminer D7 has a hashrate of 1286 GH/s.

For comparison’s sake:
– i7 8700k = 500 hash/s
– GTX 1080 Ti = 32,000,000 hash/s
– Bitmain Antminer D3 = 1286,000,000,000 hash/s

GPU what?

Related reading: How to Calculate Bitmain Antminer D7 Earnings and ROI?

Why is Hashrate Important?

While dropping some hashrate data on your head, we omitted to discuss their significance for Dash mining.

Simply put, the hash rate is a measurement of how quickly a hash function can be solved. It is essential to maximize hashrate.

Why?

Because Dash only rewards the first person to solve a hash function. You won’t ever get paid if your system is too slow.

The Cost of Dash Mining

Even though Dash mining doesn’t keep you seated, there are still expenses associated with it in addition to the time commitment.

You must first purchase an ASIC for mining. Not even hopes and dreams can power the machine. Electricity is needed for it to work. The Antminer D3 is one of the ASICs with the least power requirements, requiring only 930W to operate.

If that weren’t enough, the system operates nonstop, wearing itself out and turning the space it’s in into a sauna. It is unrealistic to purchase an ASIC and expect it to last you for a number of years.

You must therefore maintain your equipment, pump electricity, and keep the machine cool. If your system is so slow that you are unable to earn even one Dash, is the effort really worth it? If you decide that mining isn’t the best option for you, but do still want to own some DASH, you can always acquire it on one of the top-rated exchanges.

Also read: Bitmain Antminer D7 Profitability

Mining Pools

If you started rethinking the whole Dash mining idea after reading the last section, good! Read on to discover how actual Dash miners work.

What Are Mining Pools?

Dash mining can be a costly and pointless activity, as you may have noticed. Internet users, of course, found a solution. Dash mining pools are that remedy.

The concept behind mining pools is that the more hands that work on a problem, the greater the chance of success. Think about it like this:
You can paint a fence by yourself in an hour, or you can enlist the aid of three friends and finish it in fifteen.

A Dash mining pool links computers from around the globe for the sole purpose of mining Dash. These computers all tackle the same math problem while sharing processing power.

Let’s assume that the pool wins the right to add the following block to the Dash blockchain. The Dash that the pool won is now split among all participants. Based on the amount of effort you put in, the reward will vary in size. Thus, hashrate is once again brought up.

How Do I Join a Mining Pool?

In order to learn more about dash mining in a pool, you should first visit the dash.org forums. Additionally excellent ideas include using Reddit and conducting skeptical Google searches.

We could give you a list of our favorite mining pools, but a smart man said once: give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; teach him how to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.

I assume you want to acquire fishing skills.

We are unable to provide instructions without a specific mining pool to connect to. Even if we did, they might have changed something by the time you read this tutorial.

It’s safe to say that any reliable and prosperous mining pool will have tutorials. For a Dash mining pool, after all, People = Processing Power.

Cloud Mining

There is no denying that using an ASIC to mine Dash gives you the highest hashrate. Joining a reputable mining pool enables you to consistently receive a trickle of Dash rather than a flood when you strike it lucky.

Electricity costs and maintenance work might bite a chunk out of your profits, though. It might even add to the fun for a Dash miner who enjoys technology. What happens, though, if you’re not a techie and don’t want to tinker with the hardware? That is taken care of by cloud mining.

What Else Do I Need?

Assume you have a machine ready to mine or that you want to test out a cloud service that you have heard good things about. You are eager to start mining Dash coin and are knowledgeable about how to do so.

Keep calm because there are still a few more things to set up.

You’ll need a place to store your Dash first. You will need to purchase a wallet for that. Your Dash isn’t really kept in your wallet. After all, all it is on the blockchain is a record. Instead, you need a wallet to keep your private key. You are connected to the private key by the public address, which marks your transactions.

There is no way to establish ownership, so losing or having your private key stolen is disastrous. You can’t get the money back unless you can demonstrate ownership. There are several different types of cryptocurrency wallets, including:

• Hardware wallets
• Paper wallets
• Wallet apps
• Web wallets

Choosing your wallet is an important choice. Your decision will depend on how much convenience and safety you require.

The safest option is a hardware wallet, but it is also the least practical. Small devices known as hardware wallets have the ability to connect to the Internet when required. While it’s possible that a hardware wallet could get hacked, it’s challenging. In comparison, wallet apps and websites are much more vulnerable.

Summary

On a piece of paper is the best way to keep your private key safe from hackers. There is no way at all to hack it. The problem is that pieces of paper are easy to lose and burn in the fire.

You will need to take a chance with an app or another practical method if you want to use Dash as intended, which is to pay for things. You could attempt to keep spending money in your Dash wallet app and move the remaining funds to a more secure wallet.

We hope that this guide has assisted you in determining the most effective method for obtaining Dash.

Litecoin (LTC) is probably the cryptocurrency that is most frequently compared to Bitcoin (BTC) among the blockchain networks and mineable cryptocurrencies. An immediate ancestor of Litecoin is Bitcoin., a fork of There are many similarities between Bitcoin and the most popular cryptocurrency in the world, including the mining process, supply restrictions, and halving of the mining reward.

Litecoin, one of the earliest cryptos on the market, was launched in 2011 and is often referred to as the “silver” of the crypto world, with the designation of “gold” being reserved for Among the simplest cryptos to mine is Bitcoin and Litecoin. Compared to Bitcoin and some of its offshoots, such as other Bitcoins, it has a lower profile and popularity., Bitcoin SV and Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin’s mining difficulty has typically been quite low. LTC may therefore rank among the most lucrative coins to mine. Everything you need to know about mining Litecoin is covered in this article.

What is Litecoin (LTC) Mining?

As a fork of Bitcoin in 2011, Litecoin (LTC) is a cryptocurrency. It utilizes the Scrypt hashing algorithm, which necessitates specialized mining software and hardware. It is still among the top cryptocurrencies in terms of value and trading volume, and it is mineable.

Validating transactions on the blockchain, then closing and opening a new block, is the process of litecoin mining. By using computing power to solve the nonce, a component of the hash that secures the block, Litecoin’s proof-of-work consensus mechanism secures blocks. The hashing algorithm encrypts a series of alphanumeric numbers into a unique value known as the hash. Litecoin is given as payment for solving the nonce.

When Charlie Lee, a Google software engineer, revealed that Litecoin was a fork of Bitcoin with modifications to make it scale better, Litecoin mining gained popularity in 2011.

It can be mined using central processing units and graphics processing units on computers, just like Bitcoin. In contrast, investing in an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) and joining a mining pool are more lucrative and competitive.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Litecoin mining is similar to Bitcoin mining in that it requires specialized hardware and software for operations.
• While it can be mined on computers, to be competitive Litecoin requires several ASIC miners.
• Since the cryptocurrency’s mining network is very centralized, solo Litecoin mining profitability is extremely low.
• Your hardware and software purchases, pool fees, electricity costs, and the price of Litecoin all affect your mining earnings.

How to Mine Litecoin?

There are three main ways to mine Litecoin:

• Solo mining
• Via a mining pool
• Via a cloud mining provider

Each of these choices has advantages of its own. The increased competition among miners has made it difficult for solo mining without a very powerful mining machine to make a profit by this point. This is not a feature that is exclusive to Litecoin. On virtually every well-liked mineable blockchain network by early 2023, solo mining without a massive rig has turned out to be pointless.

Solo Mining

With solo mining, you join the Try to mine transaction blocks using your mining device on the Litecoin network as a single miner node. You won’t have to share your 12.5 LTC mining reward with any other network users if you are successful in adding a new block to the chain; instead, you will receive it all for yourself. The primary and most likely the only benefit of Litecoin solo mining is this.

The lack of rewards and their irregularity are the main drawbacks of Litecoin solo mining. Mining pools, large cooperatives that pool the computing power of numerous miners to solve new blocks on the network, compete with lone miners. Profitable solo mining is extremely challenging due to the mining pools’ access to a large amount of hash power.

If you are a solo miner and your machine is not very powerful, you might not ever receive a block reward. You might have to wait a long time for your next block reward even if you have a powerful mining rig. If you are successful in clearing any blocks, of course.

Litecoin Mining Pools

Litecoin mining pools are another, and probably the most popular, way of mining LTC. These pools pool resources from various miners to improve the likelihood of solving a block of transactions. When a member of the pool manages to mine a block, the 12.5 LTC reward is split between all the pool participants.

Each member receives a share of the reward proportional to the hash power contributed. Therefore, it pays to have the most powerful rig when joining a pool, just as it does with solo mining. The top 10 Litecoin mining pools as of January 31, 2023 are displayed in the image below.

For their services, many mining pools typically keep a small portion of the payout—generally between 0.1% and 3-4%. The good news is that there are at least a few sizable pools in the Litecoin mining industry that have no fees at all. For instance, mining with litecoinpool.org, one of the top Litecoin pools, has never cost anything.

Solo Mining Vs. Litecoin Mining Pool

Pool mining might be the only practical way to make money for miners without very powerful rigs. Naturally, rigs with insufficient hash power are most likely to make a pitiful profit in any mining pool. But at least you will receive some money regularly. In contrast, solo mining without a powerful rig will probably result in absolutely no rewards.

Pool mining might offer you a more reliable way to earn rewards, even if you have a very powerful mining rig like the Bitmain Antminer L7 that enables you to mine alone. Joining a pool is a way to earn rewards much more frequently, even if in smaller bits, even if your powerful rig can still help you make a profit.

Let’s assume that a miner using a powerful rig is able to collect the entire block reward about once per month on average. They could obtain that sum by joining a pool over the same one-month period in regular, incremental daily payments. In other words, joining a pool won’t necessarily increase the long-term profitability of your mining activity, but it will definitely give you the opportunity to earn more consistently.

The pool size you choose will determine how frequently you receive rewards.

Cloud Mining

Besides solo and pool mining options for Litecoin, there is also a third, and less conventional way to participate in the mining process – using a cloud mining provider. Under the cloud mining model, you simply pay a monthly or yearly fee to a service provider that “rents” you some computing hash power. In return for a fee, the cloud service provider mines cryptocurrency on your behalf and splits the profits with you in proportion to the hash power you rented.

In contrast to solo mining or pool mining, cloud mining does not require you to own any hardware, which is a significant advantage. In essence, you simply pay a fee in the expectation of positive returns from the cloud provider. Naturally, the Litecoin network’s mining difficulty and network activity will have an impact on your earnings. Your returns are typically variable, even though the cost you pay to the cloud mining provider is typically fixed.

But keep in mind that there aren’t many trustworthy cloud mining companies available, especially for Litecoin and other cryptos that can be mined but are less popular than Bitcoin.

Things You Need to Mine Litecoin

Litecoin Mining Hardware

Theoretically, mining Litecoin can be done with the help of CPUs, GPUs, or ASIC rigs—all of which are potent devices made especially for mining cryptocurrencies. Realistically, however, it is no longer profitable to mine Litecoin using a CPU or GPU. The mining competition on the chain has grown over the past few years, despite the fact that Litecoin has much lower mining difficulty than the majority of other top PoW cryptos. Mining on a CPU or GPU won’t be profitable because of the heightened competition.

The only realistic way to make money mining Litecoin is with an ASIC machine. ASICs have long been a favorite for mining bitcoin.

Unfortunately, Litecoin mining cannot be done with a Bitcoin ASIC. This is because the hashing algorithms used by Bitcoin and Litecoin are different. Bitcoin uses the SHA-256 algorithm, while Litecoin is based on Scrypt hashing.

The good news is that ASIC machines used for Litecoin mining can also be used to mine Dogecoin, another extremely popular cryptocurrency. Dogecoin is one of Litecoin’s forked offspring and uses the same Scrypt hashing algorithm. The two cryptos are frequently mined together using merged mining because of their high levels of compatibility.

In merged mining, two cryptos—in this case, Litecoin and Dogecoin—are simply mined simultaneously using the same hardware and resources.

Litecoin Mining Software

You must download and use particular software to mine Litecoin after configuring your mining hardware. For mining Litecoin, many software programs are effective. The use of some, like MultiMiner and CGMiner, is totally free. Kryptex and Cudo Miner are two well-known commercial Litecoin mining software programs.

Litecoin Wallet

Your mined money must be kept in a Litecoin wallet. Not every reputable software wallet provider offers Litecoin support. Atomic Wallet, Trust Wallet, and Guarda Wallet are a few of the well-known wallet providers that offer the Litecoin wallet option.

How Long Does It Take to Mine One Litecoin?

One Litecoin can be mined in 2.5 minutes, which is the block time of the cryptocurrency. Compared to Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Bitcoin SV, Litecoin is mined four times as frequently. Two widely used mineable cryptocurrencies, Dogecoin (1 minute) and Ethereum Classic (15 seconds), have block generation times that are even faster than Litecoin.

What is the Best Way to Mine Litecoin?

The best way to mine Litecoin in early 2023 is to use an ASIC machine that is sufficiently powerful and join a big enough pool. Although using a pool is strongly advised even if you have the most powerful rig available, solo mining is still possible with a very powerful ASIC setup. The consistency of your mining income will be much better if you join a pool.

Litecoin is also one of the coins with a few respectable free mining pools available on the market. So, mining for LTC is best done using a pool.

Make sure to mine Dogecoin along with Litecoin when you set up your mining operations. By doing this, you use no additional resources and only stand to gain by earning DOGE in addition to LTC.

Is Litecoin Mining Profitable?

The only coin with a lower difficulty score than Litecoin is Dogecoin, as was previously mentioned in our article. However, this does not imply that mining Litecoin is always profitable. On virtually every well-known mineable cryptocurrency network in 2023, mining competition is very intense.

Litecoin also has a limited supply, just like Bitcoin. Only 84 million Litecoins will ever be produced, and as of January 2023, roughly 72 million of those have already been produced. By 2142, the rewards will be zero when combined with the reward halving mechanism. Therefore, even though Litecoin is still currently profitable, keep in mind that it will eventually become less profitable.

You would be well advised to make use of some of the well-liked profitability calculators available online to accurately estimate the profitability of mining Litecoin. Unquestionably, among these calculators, WhatToMine.com receives the most usage. To estimate, go to the website’s calculator section, select Litecoin, and enter the necessary information, including the hash rate and power consumption of the mining rig you currently own or are considering purchasing, your electricity costs, and the fees you would incur if you mined through a pool.

The calculator will quickly let you know how much, if any, profit you will make. But keep in mind that estimates of mining profitability can change quickly, depending on things like network competition between miners and, most importantly, the price of LTC at the moment.

How to Select Mining Hardware

There are several factors that you should consider while looking into mining hardware or software for Litecoin:

• Your goals and expectations
• Price
• Energy use and cost
• Hashrate
• Whether to join a pool

Your Goals and Expectations

You must first and foremost decide what you want to achieve with your Litecoin mining. To earn some extra spending money, for instance, or to keep the Litecoin you earn as a reward, you might want to mine. Whatever your motivations, you must be certain that you can obtain the desired returns before purchasing pricey equipment.

Price

The mining pool, F2Pool, provides an up-to-date cost and revenue breakdown for ASIC mining. Although one of the most profitable Litecoin miners, the L7 costs $18,500, so it might take you a while to recoup your investment. The amount you spend will dictate how productive and profitable you are as a miner.45

ASICs that have been used extensively may be available for purchase at much lower prices, but you should exercise caution.

Energy Use and Cost

You ought to take an ASIC miner’s energy consumption into account. The Antminer L7 Litecoin ASIC miner consumes about $10 in energy each day. Your energy bill would increase by more than $3,500 per year, further reducing your yearly profits.6

Only the energy used to power the miner is included in this cost. ASICs generate a lot of heat while operating, so they must operate continuously in order to be most profitable. Unless you can find a way to vent the heat outside your home, an ASIC will increase your cooling costs.

Hashrate

Another important factor is hashrate. You’ll be more competitive whether you’re working alone or in a pool the faster your ASIC can hash. Although many mining pools divide the cryptocurrency they receive, the majority base individual rewards on the quantity of work each miner contributes.

Your profits will probably be significantly lower than those of a miner who uses a quicker mining rig or setup if you have a slow ASIC.

Whether to Join a Pool

Once you’ve decided what equipment you’ll use to mine, you need to decide how to mine: solo or in a pool. When you mine alone, you run the risk of going for extended stretches without discovering a block. However, you will keep the entire 12.5 LTC plus fees if you’re fortunate enough to mine a block alone.

Pool mining, in which numerous miners pool their resources and divide the rewards in accordance with the hashing power contributed, is still subject to the whims of chance. For example, your pool might open three out of ten blocks before having to wait 200 blocks to open the next one. With a pool, your earnings are almost certainly going to be more consistent; however, you only get a small portion of each block the pool finds.

Recommended Litecoin ASIC Miners

There are many powerful Litecoin ASIC miners on the market, we have selected the following for you to choose.

Bitmain Antminer L7

It must be the Antminer L7, which debuted in November, if we are to identify the most popular miner. According to the official website, the Antminer L7 has a powerful hash rate of 9.5Gh/s and power consumption of 3425W. Bitmain’s Antminer L7 aims to surpass all other miners in terms of power for Litecoin (LTC) and Dogecoin (DOGE) mining. An Antminer L7 9500MH/s hash rate is equivalent to 20 Antminer L3+ hash rates. ASIC will also support all digital currencies that use the Scrypt algorithm. As a result, a large number of projects can be added, including WorldCoin (WDC), Verge (XVG), DigiByte (DGB), Netcoin (NET), Novacoin (NVC), BitConnect (BCC), etc.

Bitmain Antminer L3++

The final model in this series, the L3 ++, was released in May 2018. The equipment, like earlier models, uses a 16nm BM 1485 chip, which, based on user reviews, performs similarly to the L3+ when using firmware. This is indicated by the characteristics of Antminer L3++:

• Working Algorithm: Scrypt
• Hash rate: 596 MH/s
• Power Consumption: 1050W
• Energy Efficiency: 1.6 J/MH
• Overall dimensions: 325x130x188
• Weight of the equipment: 4.5 kg
• Noise level: 75 Db
• Cooling system: Air

It is important to keep in mind when purchasing Antminer L3+ that this ashik only reaches its full potential after the installation of custom firmware.

Goldshell LT6

Another brilliant ASIC crypto miner with excellent performance is the Goldshell LT6. It is simple to set up and can be placed almost anywhere, whether it’s in your office or your house. Although this machine generates a lot of noise—up to 80 DB—you should take that into consideration.

This crypto miner can generate a hash rate of almost 3.35 GH/s. If you want to choose lower-power crypto miners, you may want to take into account its 3200W power consumption. However, overall, it is a fantastic edition, especially if you want functionality and mining for multiple coins.

It is capable of Litecoin and Dogecoin mining. That does not imply that it only mines those two coins, though. More than 14 different coins, including Digibyte and Auroracoin, can be mined using it. Scrypt, a sophisticated algorithm used by Goldshell LT6, adds a potent functionality.

Goldshell LT5

The Goldshell LT5 is one of the most anticipated Litecoin miners of 2021. Mar 2021 is when it will be released. The standard for mining equipment’s capabilities has been raised by the manufacturer Goldshell. Once again, the Goldshell LT5 does not disappoint. The miner consumes 2080W of power and can hash at a maximum rate of 2.05 Gh/s.

While some blockchain projects have received support and coverage from the general public, many others are still largely unheard of. One such instance of a little-known blockchain project is Helium, which aims to revolutionize the way we use wireless internet and cellular data.

Often referred to as “the people’s network,” Helium has the potential to unite blockchain technology, wireless infrastructure, and the Internet of Things (IoT) into one comprehensive project. At the same time, many crypto investors have managed to make passive income from mining Helium.

What you should know about the helium blockchain, how it’s transforming the wireless coverage landscape, and how to use it are all explained here.

What is the Helium Network?

The Helium Network is a blockchain-based cryptocurrency that aims to build a decentralized wireless network that is not dependent on cellular tower or satellite infrastructure. With Helium, anyone can own and manage a wireless Internet of Things network using a special, portable radio router called a hotspot.

What is a Helium Hotspot?

To receive mining rewards, miners purchase a Helium hotspot, which is a plug-and-play wireless device resembling a router. Users use hotspot devices, which serve as nodes, to encourage them to contribute to the construction of this decentralized wireless network. Then, while also earning HNT tokens, these connect to nearby IoT devices.

According to Helium, its hotspot can provide connectivity 200 times farther than conventional WiFi. That’s as a result of LongFi, a new wireless innovation from Helium. The existing LoRaWAN wireless protocol and Helium’s own blockchain are combined in LongFi by Helium.

The limitations imposed by a centralized cellular provider, such as data caps and overage fees, are not present with Helium, in contrast to conventional WiFi routers. Other purchases, such as SIM cards, are not necessary when using Helium hotspots. Additionally, they come pre-encrypted in full.

Users can purchase hotspots from independent producers Helium has endorsed. RAK, Nebra HNT, and Bobcat Helium Miners are a few well-known producers. Helium Hotspots typically cost around $400 USD.

Proof-of-Coverage Consensus

Unlike other blockchain projects, Helium uses a different consensus mechanism called Proof-of-Coverage (PoC). In a PoC system, an algorithm periodically checks and rewards users who can demonstrate that they have been offering reliable coverage.

Sometimes tests are conducted on hotspots as part of a PoC consensus system to verify that they are indeed providing coverage. These tests are random and done automatically. A hotspot operator receives a specific number of HNT tokens for passing this test.

Participants in the PoC challenge mechanism within this system can be categorized as challengers, transmitters, or witnesses.

• A hotspot that challenges another hotspot is known as a challenger.
• The transmittee, or the challengee, is the target of the challenge.
• Hotspots that are geographically close to the transmittee are known as witnesses. Once the target has finished a PoC challenge, they transmit and confirm it.

What is Helium’s HNT Token?

The native cryptocurrency in the Helium ecosystem is the HNT token. Depending on how much data they process and how many other hotspots are close to a user’s location, hotspots that contribute coverage are rewarded with tokens.

The total number of HNT tokens that will ever be produced is 223 million. HNT and other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin share this in terms of their tokenomic structures. The 223 million tokens will all be produced within 50 years, according to the HNT halving schedule.

HNT tokens are used to reward hardware that transmits data to the internet, accounting for about 30% of the total supply. Another 35% of HNT tokens are rewarded for participating in PoC challenges. The management, founders, and investors of Helium receive the remaining 35% as a return.

Helium Data Credits

Data credits are yet another non-tradable cryptocurrency type employed by Helium. Data credits are always worth US$0.00001, or US$1 of HNT will produce $100,000 in data credits. On the Helium network, data credits are required to transfer a single byte of data. They’re non-exchangeable and tied to each user.

How Does Helium Mining Work?

Helium mining uses radio wave technology instead of typical cryptocurrency mining, which employs powerful hardware such as ASICS or GPUs. In comparison to conventional crypto mining techniques, it uses a great deal less energy.

Passing Proof of Concept challenges and receiving token rewards are prerequisites for mining Helium tokens. Additionally, the precise formula for how many tokens a user can earn depends on the volume of traffic at their hotspot and the number of other hotspots in their neighborhood. They will typically make less money the more competitive their industry is. Although there might be fewer hotspots to compete with, there will be much less traffic in a rural area.

The token rewards also change according to the hotspot’s function during the PoC challenge procedure. Around 0.95% of all mining rewards produced over a period of time are given to rewarding challengers, 5.31% are given to transmitters, and 21.24% are given to hotspot witnesses.

How Can You Become a Helium Miner?

As long as they are willing to invest the initial sum in buying a Helium hotspot from a third-party vendor, anyone can start mining helium. The performance variations between the various hotspot miners are comparatively small. Instead, success as a Helium miner has to do more with a user’s location and competition.

Its capacity to transfer data is also influenced by other elements, such as where they position their antenna and whether they put their hotspot close to a window. A hotspot’s typical range is 10 miles.

In theory, the fact that the Helium network itself is becoming more and more well-liked as a means of data transmission should more than offset the fact that Helium mining becomes less and less profitable as more hotspots are established.

Helium is a project that is still young enough for people to still make a respectable side income from setting up a Hubspot, unlike mining Bitcoin, which has become much less profitable for the average user. In addition, Helium provides a tool called Helium Explorer that enables users to view the network coverage in specific areas.

Best Helium Miners

Prior to this time, Helium, Inc. built every miner for helium. but can now be bought from other trusted manufacturers. A complete list is available here. Some of the top Helium Hotspot miners are listed below.

Bobber 500

The Bobber 500 is a strong and dependable Helium Hotspot miner that provides excellent value for the money. With a maximum range of 500m, it is perfect for wide coverage areas. The Bobber 500 has a built-in battery that enables it to function even when there is no power. This makes it one of the most dependable Hotspot miners available. The cost to purchase the Bobber 500 is $999.

The SyncroB.it Gateway

The SyncroB.it Gateway is an easy-to-use, efficient Hotspot. It can be managed remotely and does not require much additional maintenance. You can switch the motherboard between the indoor and outdoor enclosures thanks to this device’s swappable enclosure feature. It costs $650.

Bobcat Miner 300

Although it only has a 300-meter range, the Bobcat Miner 300 is just as dependable as its older brother, the Bobcat 500. Otherwise, it is almost identical to its sibling in terms of features. The cost of this Bobcat miner is $429.

Mimiq FinestraMiner

A high-end Helium Hotspot miner with exceptional performance and features is the Mimiq FinestraMiner. Its maximum range of 1 km makes it perfect for areas with extensive coverage. The Mimiq FinestraMiner can run without power thanks to a built-in battery. You can purchase the Mimiq FinestraMiner for about $600.

Unfortunately, it is not yet possible to buy this Helium miner directly in the US or Canada.

SenseCAP M1

High-performance miner SenseCAP M1 is fully compatible with the Helium LongFi Network. It has an extremely effective cooling system and a fairly large storage of 64GB. The price of this HNT miner is approximately $519.

Milesight UG65 Helium Hotspot Miner

Reliable and simple to use, the Milesight UG65 Helium Hotspot Miner. It has Power over Ethernet (PoE) support built right in, making setup a breeze. This miner can operate in conditions as extreme as 40°C to +70°C. It can also withstand up to 95% humidity. Costing about $680, the Milesight miner.

MNTD Goldspot & Blackspot RAK V2

There are two Helium Hotspot miners called MNTD Goldspot and Blackspot RAK v2. Both of them have the same range and consume around 2W of power. The only distinction between the two models is that the Blackspot has a black casing and the Goldspot, as you might have guessed, has a golden one.

The Goldspot model is slightly more expensive than the black one; it costs about $550 as opposed to $500 for the black model. Overall, these two miners are neither particularly affordable nor expensive.

Nebra

You can mine HNT with the Nebra Indoor Hotspot Miner by expanding the Helium network’s coverage. It is a productive and simple miner that consumes 15W, the same amount of power as a broadband router. It is available for about $500.

Summary

One of the more ambitious and immediately useful blockchain projects out there is Helium. It’s a decentralized wireless network that isn’t run by a major carrier and is made possible by thousands of participating local hotspots.

It’s possible that Helium will replace wireless data in the same way that the internet replaced cellular data and wireless because it promises to be significantly less expensive.

With a valuation of about US$3.6 billion as of late April 2022, Helium is the 52nd-largest cryptocurrency project by market capitalization. Helium has a ton of potential if its network gains more traction, especially when compared to the nine- and ten-figure valuations of the biggest cryptocurrencies in the world. It’s a network that may be immediately practical and usable to most people, which can’t be said for many other coins.

Review and compare the best Cryptocurrencies to help you understand how to mine cryptocurrency, and select the best cryptocurrency to mine:

Cryptocurrency mining offers an opportunity for individuals to earn passive income on a daily basis. It is a process through which distributed nodes on a given crypto blockchain confirm transactions sent through the network by other users. A replica of the relevant blockchain is run by these nodes.

They then use software to check that the transactions sent through the blockchain network are legitimate and valid according to the blockchain’s requirements.

How to Mine Cryptocurrency

Given that all you need to start making money from mining is to connect a GPU, CPU, or ASIC miner to a mining pool, it is simple to do.

Mining pools allow many miners to combine the hash rate or computer processing power and so increase the chances of winning block verification. This is because the verification process is itself a competition in which many miners are competing to verify a block. The specified rewards are only awarded to the winning miner.

The top cryptocurrencies to mine right now and earn top rewards are listed in this tutorial. Besides including the most profitable and easiest cryptocurrency to mine, the tutorial discusses the tools and software you need to mine each cryptocurrency. This is useful for those trying to learn how to mine cryptocurrencies.

Fact Check: Global GPU shipments have increased by 29.1% year over year, despite the fact that many people are turning to cryptocurrency mining and gaming as alternatives to traditional work-from-home jobs because of COVID-19-related issues. With a 3.7% increase from the previous year, 419 million GPUs will be shipped by 2025. 21 percent of According to the report below, GPU usage by PU owners will increase over the next five years.

Pro-Tip:

• The best cryptocurrency to mine is one that generates the highest returns. Use online calculators to compare mining cryptocurrency returns to determine which. But you should also pick one that doesn’t require you to buy mining equipment for thousands of dollars. Regarding the previous comment, CPU-mined coins are fantastic but yield the lowest returns.
• The most straightforward cryptocurrency to mine enables you to join mining pools with your miners. Simply purchase a GPU or ASIC-specific miner and join a pool that charges a commission on profits mined and with a consistent payout.

List of the Best Cryptocurrencies to Mine

Here is the list of popular Cryptocurrencies to mine:

1. Vertcoin
2. Grin
3. Monero
4. ZCash
5. Ravencoin
6. Haven Protocol
7. Ethereum Classic
8. Litecoin
9. Ethereum
10. Monacoin
11. Bitcoin Gold
12. Aeternity
13. Dogecoin

#1) Vertcoin

Best for individual miners on pools.

After Litecoin, which was designed to function as a GPU-mineable alternative to Bitcoin, fell victim to ASIC control, Vertcoin was developed as a cryptocurrency that can be mined by a GPU. The network is as decentralized as it can be because it supports GPU mining.

Features:

• CPU cards and ASICs cannot be used to mine it.
• VerthashMine software is to be used to mine the crypto.
• Mined with GTX 1080, 1080 Ti, and Radion RX 560, Vega64, RTX 2080, and GTX 1660 cards.
• both individually and through GPU mining pools.
• Some pools to consider include Coinotron.com, Zpool.ca, miningpoolhub.com, and Bitpoolmining.com. Rates and commissions vary between pools.

Specifications:

#2) Grin

Best for private transactions for individuals and companies that do not need transaction tracking or transparency.

One cryptocurrency that enables private exchanges between users or on platforms is referred to as a “privacy coin” and is called grin.

The Grin platform, for instance, does not allow public viewing of the amount sent or sending and receiving addresses. Of course, in contrast, block explorers allow anyone in the public to view such specifics of blockchain transactions for non-privacy coins. Grin makes use of the MimbleWimble protocol to maintain transaction privacy and scale.

Features:

• can be mined using the GPU mining programs lolMiner, gminer, gringoldminer, and cudo miner. These are available for free download.
• can be mined on pools like f2pools.com and 2miners. Different pools have different rates and payout frequencies.
• is mineable using ASICs for solo mining.
• Grin scales based on users, not the volume of transactions, and is lightweight thanks to the MimbleWimble protocol.

Specifications:

#3) Monero (XMR)

Best for beginner miners since it can be mined with CPUs.

The non-traceability of transactions is improved by Monero, one of the best privacy-conscious coins and blockchains. These details are not visible on Monero, in contrast to Bitcoin, where they are, along with the amount sent and the sending and receiving addresses. So it is a crypto that offers total privacy.

Features:

• Users don’t have to spend a lot of cash to purchase CPUs for mining. Additionally, when mining with CPUs, do not use excessive power.
• 1 It takes 24 seconds to mine one Monero. The payout to miners is approximately 4.99 XMR.
• Can be mined solo with GPUs recommended, but also on pools.
• Monero can be mined in pools at MineXMR.com, SupportXMR.com, xmr.nanopool.org, and monero.crypto-pool.fr, among others.

Specifications:

#4) ZCash

Best for individual miners who prefer private transactions.

The confidentiality of transactions is guaranteed by Zcash, another privacy coin. The use of transparent wallet addresses that are publicly viewable in terms of their data and history is an option. Companies and organizations that desire transaction transparency and traceability can use these. Individuals may use the shielded transaction types to safeguard their financial information and privacy.

Bitmain Antminer Z15 – Best ZCash ASIC Miner

ZCash features a low fee of .0001 Zcash per transaction. Scientists from MIT, Technion, Johns Hopkins, Tel Aviv University, and UC Berkeley support the crypto.

Features:

• ASIC resistance; best GPU mining with EWBF Zcash Miner Windows miner. It can be mined using CPUs, making it very affordable for beginners.
• Software tools for GPU miners’ optimization include Optiminer and EWBF Cuda. Additionally, it is possible to use an Android mining app, a GUI miner, and a console miner.
• The most effective internal mining pool is the ZEC mining pool. Flypool, Nanopool, and Slushpool are some additional pools that can be mined.
• 3.125 ZECs are awarded for each block every 75 seconds. 10 blocks are produced after every 2.5 minutes.

Specifications:

#5) Ravencoin (RVN)

Best for beginners and low investment mining.

To make the exchange of assets between parties easier, Ravencoin uses a peer-to-peer network. It is built on a fork of Bitcoin and relies solely on the community; there are no master nodes or ICOs. Customers include Medici Ventures, which once used the coin’s blockchain to transfer $3.6 million worth of securities tokens. Additionally, this project has funding from Medici Ventures, a company owned by Overstock.com.

Features:

• can be mined at low initial costs because it cannot be mined with ASICs.
• Popular software you can use to mine Ravencoin includes BMiner, NBMiner, and DamoMiner. MinerGate also allows you to mine it on phone but we doubt it would be much profitable.
• The following mining pools: 2Miners, Blocksmith, Bsod, Coinotron, Flypool, HeroMiners, Skypool, MiningPoolHub, Nanopool, Suprnova, and WoolyPooly.
• GamerHash also supports the mining of crypto.
• Every minute, a block is created or mined to produce a block reward of 5,000 RVN.

Specifications:

#6) Haven Protocol (XHV)

Best for holders also known as hodlers.

A private coin based on Monero is called Haven Protocol. The platform enables users to convert, transfer, and store money directly from the wallet without the use of intermediaries, custodians, or other third parties.

You can currently do this directly from your wallet to convert Haven cryptocurrency to other fiat-pegged tokens. The platform provides synthetic fiat and crypto currencies such as xUSD, xCNY, xAU (Gold) or xBTC for easy conversion and swapping among them.

On the platform, nobody sets the exchange rates, and there are no restrictions on converting any supported asset.

Features:

• As with RingCT and stealth addresses, it carries over Monero’s privacy features. As a result, it can be utilized for private sending and receiving.
• To store money’s value in a stable form and prevent volatility crashes, coins can be fiat-pegged, gold-pegged, and silver-pegged. Following mining, you can convert and store.
• Searching for Haven mining pools? Have a look at Hero Miners, Miner Rocks, Fracking Miner, Hashvault, FairPool, and Hashpool.
• It can be mined using the same software that is used to mine Monero. Software to use to mine Haven Protocol includes BLOC GUI Miner, CryptoDredge, and SRBMineR.

Specifications:

#7) Ethereum Classic

Best for companies and organizations who want to run smart contracts.

Ethereum Classic is a fork of Ethereum and preserves the principle “Code is Law” to mean it facilitates individuals and organizations to execute smart contracts or coded business instructions that work on the blockchain with minimal human interference.

Features:

• primarily mined using the GPU miners Ethminer, Claymore Miner, FinMiner, GMiner, and NBMiner. You can mine ETC using a variety of programs, including Cruxminer, GMiner, lolMiner, Nanominer, NBMiner, and OpenETC Pool.
• There are numerous pools available for mining cryptocurrencies, including Nanopool.org, 2Miners, Ethermine, f2pool, and P2pool, among others.
• can be mined on a VPS server as well.
• The block reward for Ethereum Classic is 3.2 ETC. Every block is produced after 10.3 seconds.

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Specifications:

#8) Litecoin (LTC)

Best for mining groups.

In contrast to Bitcoin’s 10-minute waiting period, Litecoin guarantees swift transactions. It was released under the MIT/X11 license and based on research on cryptocurrencies. Like many other blockchains, it makes use of an open-source cryptographic protocol and a decentralized ledger.

It was forked from Bitcoin with the plan of being mineable with a CPU and GPU when it became impossible or hard to generate blocks on Bitcoin with CPU and GPUs. But right now, only ASICs can be used to mine Litecoin profitably.

The underlying protocol has since been implemented in ASICs.

Features:

• The current block reward is 12.5 LTC, and a block can be mined in just 2.5 minutes. This will half in four years.
• can be mined using the programs Easy Miner, MultiMiner, GUIMiner Scrypt, CPUminer, CGminer Litecoin, and Awesome Miner. You can do this to switch from CPU mining to GPU mining.
• The software will probably come pre-installed on the hardware for ASIC miners. ASIC/FPGA miner or other software can be used in lieu of that. Goldshell LT6 – The most profitable Litecoin ASIC miner.
• Litecoinpool, MinerGate, LTC.top, and Antpool are Litecoin mining pools. F2pool, and ViaBTC.

Specifications:

#9) Ethereum

Best for smart contracts and corporate miners.

The fastest GPU miner will need 63.7 days to mine one Ethereum, making a GPU necessary for profitable mining. As with all other cryptocurrencies, chances are better with pool mining.

Beacon Chain, a proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain that will alter mining on the blockchain, will soon serve as the foundation upon which Ethereum will be built. It currently uses the Proof of Work mining algorithm.

Features:

• With transaction fees added, a block on Ethereum is generated in a matter of seconds for a reward of 2 Ether.
• is mineable using ETHminer, CGMiner, WinEth, BFGMiner, Geth, EasyMiner, T-Rex, and Lolminer. CPU mining does not yield any profits.
• The Ethereum mining pools Ethpool, NiceHash, Nanopool, and Dwarfpool are among them.

Specifications:

#10) Monacoin (MONA)

Best for personal miners.

Monacoin has a thriving community in Japan and was founded in December of 2013. It belongs to the meme coin category, like Dogecoin.

Features:

• It takes 1.5 minutes to mine one block and be eligible for a reward, which is the block time. Mines can be operated for very little cost.
• Every three years, the reward, which is 12.5 MONA per block, is cut in half.
• unable to be mined with ASICs.
• These pools: f2pool, vippool, mona.suprnova.cc, la.pool.me, coinfoundry.org, and bitpoolmining.com are all good places to mine this coin.
• Software used to mine this cryptocurrency includes Lyra2REv2 miner, XMR Stak, CGminer, CCMiner, and Suprnova.

Specifications:

#11) Bitcoin Gold

best for solitary miners.

In order to support the scaling of the blockchain, the cryptocurrency Bitcoin Gold underwent a fork. To ensure that major miners, specifically those using ASICs, were not favored in the mining process, it promoted the adoption of the so-called proof-of-work algorithm known as Equihash.

To increase the safety and security of money, it also uses replay protection and distinct wallet addresses, unlike Bitcoin. The coin has very widespread cryptocurrency exchange listings, but as of this month, there are still fewer than 100 nodes that can be reached. The highest number of those nodes is found in Germany and United States.

Features:

• On BTG, a block is still mined in 10 minutes, just like with Bitcoin. The block reward for this cryptocurrency is 6.25 BTG.
• In terms of mining software, there are a few that support the Equihash algorithm, such as GMiner, CUDA miner, and EWBF Cuda Equihash Miner.
• You can mine BTG using the following pools: ccgmining.com, hashflare.io, minergate.com, and nicehash.com.

Specifications:

#12) Aeternity (AE)

Best for smart contracts.

Users can create and run decentralized applications that scale through state channels using Aeternity. Running smart contracts off the chain is possible. Its use-cases include decentralized finance, payments, loans, shares, identity, voting and governance, IoT, and gaming.

It has been used to develop fungible, non-fungible, restricted fungible, and restricted non-fungible tokens. The goal of the coin’s launch was to make decentralized applications and smart contracts, as well as off-chain contracts, more scalable.

Features:

• It takes about 3 minutes to confirm a block on the Aeternity blockchain. The reward per block mined is 124 AE.
• CryptoDredge and Bminer are two examples of mining software. The NBminer or Gmeiner can also be used on NVIDIA hardware. You can also give HSPMinerAE and NiceHash a try.
• The multi-coin mining pools woolypooly.com, 2miners.com, and beepool.org are among the mining pools used to mine this coin. The 2miners pool, which has a share of 58%, is the most used mining pool for this coin, followed by beepool.org, which has a share of 41%.

Specifications:

#13) Dogecoin (DOGE)

Top Meme Coin to Mine

One of the top meme coins in this market is Dogecoin, according to popular opinion. Despite having no practical use, the coin enjoys strong community support, which influences its price. Nevertheless, both the price and the market perception of this coin are infamously unstable.

Regardless, Dogecoin is currently one of the best cryptocurrencies to mine. A single DOGE token can be verified and added to the blockchain ledger in under a minute, even when using a mining pool. Naturally, the token’s market price will determine its profitability.

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Even though Dogecoin’s market capitalization has declined since reaching an all-time high in 2021, it is still one of the most widely used cryptocurrencies. You can buy the coin on the majority of cryptocurrency exchanges, and it is increasingly popular as a form of payment.

How Can You Mine Crypto?

In accordance with the hardware (or mining machine) used, there are three categories of cryptocurrency mining. Here they are.

ASIC Mining

The least popular but most effective type of crypto mining hardware is known as an ASIC miner, or an Application-Specific Integrated Circuit Miner. ASICs, in contrast to CPUs or GPUs, are made with a single objective in mind: mining, which entails solving challenging math problems to validate and secure the blockchain.

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Generally, most ASIC mining machines are designed and created to mine specific cryptocurrencies. ASICs typically cost between $300 and $500, which is not that expensive. ASIC miners are much more powerful than the best CPU and GPU miners, being approximately 100,000 times more efficient and having a higher hash rate. ASIC mining does not, however, support all cryptocurrencies; for instance, using ASIC rigs to mine Monero is not feasible. ASICs are also less durable and cannot be upgraded, in contrast to the other two types of mining equipment.

GPU Mining

For purposes like watching movies or playing games on our computers, a GPU, or graphics processing unit, is essentially a graphics video card. It can also be used to mine cryptocurrency.

Although the hash rate can still be high, GPU mining is less productive and generally more expensive than ASIC mining. However, it gives miners flexibility, allowing them to mine different coins using the same hardware device. GPU miners can also be utilized for purposes aside from mining. Additionally, many people already possess them. We have prepared a list of the best GPUs for mining.

On the other hand, although most people already own a GPU, the computer it is used by is likely not strong enough to make GPU mining profitable. Therefore, in addition to spending a lot of money on a GPU, you’ll also need to spend money on a computer that can accommodate it. The high power consumption of GPUs also results in high maintenance costs for GPU miners.

You need mining software in addition to the standard hardware and wallet to mine with a GPU (or a CPU). Learn more about the software you can use for GPU mining and CPU mining here.

What should I mine with my GPU?

GPUs are most often used in the process of cryptocurrency mining, as they provide a much faster, more powerful alternative to conventional CPU (Central Processing Unit) mining. The kind of GPU you’ll need to mine a particular coin will depend on a number of elements, including the coin’s algorithm and level of popularity. However, some of the most widely mined coins today include Ethereum Classic (ETC), ZCash (ZEC), Vertcoin (VTC), Monero (XMR), Ravencoin RVN), Haven Protocol (XHV), Bitcoin Gold (BTG), and Dogecoin (DOGE). You can select one or a variety of GPUs for these specific coin mining operations, depending on your financial restrictions and personal preferences.

CPU Mining

The oldest and consequently most out-of-date type of mining hardware is a CPU, or central processing unit. You can mine cryptocurrency using CPU miners and your computer’s processing power.

CPU mining damages your computer in addition to being very slow and ineffective. In most instances, the profit from CPU mining will also be incredibly small and not worthwhile.

CPU mining also includes mobile mining, which is unquestionably not worthwhile. It is easily overloaded, uses excessive power, and overheating will damage your device—all for little to no financial gain.

Since you don’t really need to make the initial investment, CPU and mobile mining are good options for people who are after the experience and not the profit. If that’s the case for you, make sure you choose a cryptocurrency that isn’t too hard to mine and doesn’t require a lot of computational power.

Crypto Mining Methods

In addition to hardware, there are three subcategories of crypto mining based on how coins are extracted.

Solo Mining

Solo mining, as the name suggests, entails the miner acting independently without assistance from others. This can range from a novice farming coins on their phone to a large-scale mining operation that utilizes mining rigs stacked high in warehouses. This mining method won’t be very profitable, if it is at all, unless you have the latter.

Pool Mining

Several devices collaborate to mine a single block while using their combined power when pool mining. The block mining rewards are split among everyone in the pool, so even though the costs and power usage are reduced, so are the profits. You need your own mining rig to participate in pool mining. There are a lot of different mining pools out there, and we recommend researching them thoroughly before joining one. Reading this article will help you find a reliable Bitcoin mining pool.

Cloud Mining

You can mine cryptocurrencies using cloud mining without purchasing a mining rig or paying for electricity. By employing this technique, you essentially rent out another person’s mining rig in exchange for a portion of their revenue. On the other hand, if you already own a mining rig, you can rent it out to lower your expenses, but your profit will also be affected. The miners you rent typically come from large mining companies, which have much lower operating costs than small-scale miners with one or two rigs. Cloud mining is comparable to mining pools in that it prevents you from receiving the entire block reward.

Conclusion

The best cryptocurrencies and coins to mine right now, in conclusion, are those that provide affordable mining options. Beginning mining should be less expensive. Monero and Ravencoin will be good choices if you’re looking for the least expensive cryptocurrency to mine. On CPUs with standard computer hardware resources, for example, Monero can be mined.

However, if you’re looking for the most lucrative cryptocurrencies to mine, Bitcoin and Ethereum should be your top choices.

Most cryptocurrencies require having at least a GPU to mine, but the most profitable requires investing in ASICs. It can be expensive. However, we recommend mining on a cryptocurrency mining pool once you have the mining hardware and software ready.

You will pay a mining fee, but the majority of pools charge a commission on the revenue generated, so you need not even be concerned about paying fees when you are not making any money. Pools increase your mining profits because they have very high hash rates that were obtained by combining many different hash rates. When mining with a partner, your chances of winning or mining blocks are higher.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which cryptocurrency should I mine today? Which cryptocurrency offers the best mining returns?

Answer: Ethereum, Monaco, Monero, Vertcoin, Grin, Monero, ZCash, Bitcoin Gold, Haven, Ravencoin, Litecoin, and Aeternity are among the best cryptocurrencies. Because profitability is constantly shifting, confirm using comparison mining calculators. Be sure to check the top cryptocurrency mining software you can use to mine these cryptocurrencies.

Which cryptocurrency is best for investment, according to question?

Answer: Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Cardano, Binance Coin, Ripple, Tron, and Dogecoin are some examples of cryptocurrencies. Understand cryptocurrency trading, ETFs, mining, and other forms of crypto investing in order to pick the best cryptocurrency to invest in.

Which cryptocurrency is the easiest to mine?

Answer: Given that it can be mined via browser extensions and free software instead of websites, Monero is currently the cryptocurrency that is easiest to mine. Even crypto jacking is used to mine it. To make mining easier, the mining code is also easily incorporated into apps and websites.

Developers are forking Bitcoin ordinals to give older proof-of-work networks such as Litecoin their first set of non-fungible tokens (NFT). The code for Bitcoin Ordinals was forked to the Litecoin blockchain over the weekend by Bitcoin developer Anthony Gurrera, who also uploaded a copy of the Litecoin network’s mimblewimble upgrade white paper, effectively making it the first NFT on Litecoin.

A Crypto Twitter user offered a public bounty of 15 litecoin (LTC) tokens to any developer who could fork Ordinals to the Litecoin blockchain. This is probably where the effort originated. “Work with Litecoin Core 0.21.2.1 is required. Submit the Github repo below. First successful submission to port to Litecoin wins,” Indigo stated on Twitter.

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By using the Ordinals Protocol, users can make brief transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain that contain references to digital art, effectively producing non-fungible tokens based on Bitcoin.

According to a report from the research firm FSInsight, the price of Bitcoin should increase due to the development of the Ordinals and the expansion of the total value transacted and secured over the Bitcoin blockchain.

As a result, the Litecoin ordinals are open source, allowing anyone to update and make changes to the code.

In the meantime, despite initially causing controversy among Bitcoin community purist developers, Bitcoin Ordinals are proving to be fairly successful. In just over three weeks since launch, over 153,000 inscriptions—a term for unique tokens on Ordinals—have been created, with more than 5,000 created daily on average, according to Dune Analytics data.

The Genesis Block, the initial block of the Bitcoin network, was mined on the computer’s central processing unit in 2009 by a person using the alias Satoshi Nakamoto. (CPU).

As the network’s computer capacity continues to increase and the market capitalization of the first cryptocurrency approaches its peak, mining has evolved from CPU mining to graphics processing unit (GPU) mining and, finally, to ASIC mining. CPU mining will therefore be essentially useless in 2022 and 2023.

However, the mining sector is still developing.

Despite occasional setbacks, the cryptocurrency industry is still growing, luring more and more newcomers to try and claim a piece of the crypto cake, especially through crypto mining, which is now feasible in a variety of ways.

Is GPU Mining Dead?

The majority of cryptocurrency enthusiasts have relied on mining with graphics cards or graphics processing units (GPUs) for a while to produce their digital assets, but Vosk believes that this method is no longer economically feasible.

The only graphics cards that currently generate more revenue than they consume in the form of electricity are four, and none of them generate more than 24 cents per day. Moreover, they cost between $600 and $2,000, leading the YouTuber to conclude that “GPU mining is completely obsolete.”

Alternatives to GPU mining

Vosk has examined a number of alternatives to GPU mining, but there are many others.

1) Hard Drive Mining

Hard drive mining, for example, using Evergreen Miner v2, a plug-and-play mining option that generates an average of $60 per month, is one of the most practical long-term cryptocurrency mining options.

Vosk recommends it for mining Chia (XCH) because it offers a mining rig that is quiet, produces little heat, and is inexpensive to operate. Prices range from $299 for a very basic Starter Kit to $2,799 for the Starter Kit Pro.

2) 5G Mining

In addition, Vosk mentions Bobcat miners like the Bobber 500 as a way to mine Helium (HNT) using 5G cellular and LoRaWAN wireless coverage, though this is not a very appealing or lucrative option given that his 18 Helium hotspot miners have only produced $1 per day.

His unpleasant interactions with Helium and NovaLabs have also turned him off, which contributes to his lack of trust in cryptocurrencies. However, he admits that “5G mining could prove to be lucrative whether people love that or hate that.”

3) ASIC Mining

The Bitmain Antminer K7, the second-most profitable miner after the Bitmain Antminer KA3 model, is another viable alternative to GPU and CPU mining that Vosk suggests, though he emphasizes that because it is a relatively new product on the market, the profit figures can change significantly.

Furthermore, he mentioned the Bitmain Antminer L7, which is available at the mining rig reseller CoinMining Central at the price of $10,725 a piece, whereas the K7 costs $5,728, slightly more expensive than on Bitmain’s website but comparably more available.

4) Equihash Mining

Furthermore, Vosk discussed Equihash mining, the algorithm that enables mining cryptocurrencies resistant to ASICs like Zcash (ZEC), which he advises taking into account despite criticism and derision of the token as “Z-trash” from many.’

Currently, there is only one miner showing up as profitable for mining Equihash cryptocurrencies – Bitmain Antminer Z15 from 2020 – which Vosk doesn’t see as very viable considering it is already three years old, and he projects many new Equihash mining devices replacing it very soon.

Crypto Mining is Still Profitable

Vosk’s final piece of advice is for viewers who already have equipment that makes a few dollars per day to keep using it, but to ultimately consider which option is best for them by running the numbers and comparing electricity rates.

Another choice is to build a crypto mining rig from the ground up, which may seem difficult to a beginner but, with some assistance, can become a fun and perhaps very rewarding activity that could pay off in the future, depending on the circumstances in the crypto field (and beyond).

However, using solar energy to mine cryptocurrency might be the best option, despite being a weaker one and with variable results, if independence from the local grid and compensating the electricity waste produced by mining Bitcoin (BTC) sound more appealing.

Key Terminologies

Cryptographic Puzzle – A decryption key is required to solve this particular type of puzzle because it uses cryptography to hide a secret message or piece of information.

Non Fungible Tokens – The ownership, provenance, and authenticity of these distinctive digital assets are confirmed using blockchain technology.

Mining Pool – It is a collective of cryptocurrency miners who pool their computing power to increase their chances of cracking cryptographic puzzles and obtaining rewards, which are then divided among the pool’s participants.

Mining Rewards – These are the rewards received by cryptocurrency miners for resolving difficult cryptographic conundrums and confirming transactions on a blockchain network, which typically take the form of freshly created coins and transaction fees.

Crypto Mining – It is a fiercely competitive, resource-intensive process that is becoming more specialized. The market is dominated by large-scale mining operations, which need specialized equipment and easy access to cheap energy.

Block Reward – It is the sum of cryptocurrency awarded to miners for successfully adding a new block to a blockchain network, and it frequently consists of freshly created coins and transaction fees.

Bitcoin mining is referred to as the method of verifying Bitcoin transactions on the blockchain and generating new Bitcoin just like a central bank printing new fiat currency.

These are the other elements involved in Bitcoin mining as well as how Bitcoins are actually mined.

Understanding Blockchain and Bitcoin

Before understanding how Bitcoins are actually mined, it is important to understand the concept of blockchain and Bitcoin.

Consider blockchain as a central ledger where all cryptocurrency transactions are kept track of. A blockchain is a specific type of digital data structure that enables the sharing of a ledger of digital transactions among a distributed network of computers. In short, a blockchain is a way of digitally documenting data on a distributed ledger.

A blockchain network, which is the foundation of Bitcoin, is made up entirely of computers and typically stores and records transactions. Only after each block has been examined and approved by miners are transactions added to the blockchain. Since the transactions are now already on the blockchain, it is no longer possible to change them after this.

Digital currencies such as Bitcoin use the distributed ledger technology, which is a unique feature of blockchain technology as it ensures no records can be altered, and thus offers a much better transparency of transactions. The Bitcoin blockchain network uses the latest cryptographic algorithm techniques of SHA-256, which is responsible for converting the data into a unique string of characters.

What is Bitcoin Mining?

The process by which new bitcoins are placed into circulation is known as bitcoin mining. It is an essential part of the development and maintenance of the blockchain ledger and is also how the network confirms new transactions. “Mining” is performed using sophisticated hardware that solves an extremely complex computational math problem. The next block of bitcoins is distributed to the first computer to solve the issue, and the cycle repeats.

Mining for cryptocurrencies is time-consuming, expensive, and only occasionally profitable. However, due to the fact that miners are compensated in cryptocurrency tokens for their efforts, mining has a magnetic draw for many investors who are interested in cryptocurrencies. This may be because entrepreneurial types see mining as pennies from heaven, like California gold prospectors in 1849. Why not do it if you have a flair for technology?

The bitcoin reward that miners receive encourages people to help with the main goal of mining, which is to legitimate and oversee Bitcoin transactions in order to ensure their validity. Because many users all over the world share these responsibilities, Bitcoin is a “decentralized” cryptocurrency, or one that does not rely on any central authority like a central bank or government to oversee its regulation.

However, before you invest the time and equipment, read this explainer to see whether mining is really for you.

Key Takeaways

• You can earn cryptocurrency through mining without having to pay any upfront costs.
• Bitcoin miners receive bitcoin as a reward for completing “blocks” of verified transactions, which are added to the blockchain.
• The miner who solves a difficult hashing puzzle first receives mining rewards, and the likelihood that a participant will find the solution is correlated with their share of the network’s overall mining power.
• To set up a mining rig, you need either an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or a graphics processing unit (GPU).

Throughout, we use “Bitcoin” with a capital “B” when referring to the network or the cryptocurrency as a concept, and “bitcoin” with a small “b” when we’re referring to a quantity of individual tokens.

Why Bitcoin Needs Miners

Blockchain “mining” is a metaphor for the computational work that nodes in the network undertake in hopes of earning new tokens. Actually, miners are essentially being compensated for acting as auditors. They are doing the work of verifying the legitimacy of Bitcoin transactions. This convention is meant to keep Bitcoin users honest and was conceived by Bitcoin’s founder, Satoshi Nakamoto.1 By verifying transactions, miners are helping to prevent the “double-spending problem.”

Double spending is the illegal use of the same bitcoin by the same Bitcoin owner twice. With physical money, this isn’t a problem: When you hand someone a $20 bill to buy a bottle of booze, you no longer have it, so there’s no chance you could use it to buy lottery tickets next door. Contrary to popular belief, it is not physically possible to spend the same dollar twice. With digital currency, however, as the Investopedia dictionary explains, “there is a risk that the holder could make a copy of the digital token and send it to a merchant or another party while retaining the original.”

Let’s say you had one legitimate $20 bill and one counterfeit of that same $20. If you were to try to spend both the real bill and the fake one, someone who took the trouble of looking at both of the bills’ serial numbers would see that they were the same number, and thus one of them had to be false. An analogous task is performed by blockchain miners, who examine transactions to make sure users haven’t attempted to spend the same bitcoin twice inadvertently. The reason why this isn’t a perfect analogy is explained in more detail below.

Only 1 megabyte of transaction data can fit into a single bitcoin block. Satoshi Nakamoto set the block size limit at 1MB, but this has caused controversy because some miners think it should be increased to accommodate more data. If so, the Bitcoin network would be able to process and verify transactions more quickly.

Types of Bitcoin Mining

There are various methods and forms of mining bitcoin that each produce varying amounts of hashing power and block rewards. Here are the various ways that one can mine Bitcoin:

CPU Mining

Central processing units (CPUs), also referred to as the brain of a computer and containing all the circuitry needed to process input and output results, were used to mine Bitcoin when it was first introduced in 2009 and for the first time. Because there were few miners and Bitcoin was still in its infancy, it was simple to mine bitcoins using CPUs in the early days.

GPU Mining

GPU mining gradually entered the scene as graphics processing units (GPUs) became more and more competitive as Bitcoin’s acceptance and popularity grew over time.

GPUs based systems, which are mainly used for gaming, modern video editing, proved to be more efficient for mining with better hash rate than CPUs. 2010 saw the introduction of the initial GPU mining software. However, Bitcoin GPU mining was only used for a brief period before being replaced by ASIC hardware by 2015.

ASIC Mining

ASIC, or application-specific integrated circuit, is a type of hardware made specifically for mining cryptocurrencies. It was launched in 2012, and proved to be 200 times more powerful than basic GPU miners. However, ASIC mining rigs are very expensive, with prices ranging from $2,000 to $15,000. Buying ASIC miners might be very expensive because of variable power consumption, fluctuating electricity costs, and network challenges. The two most widely used ASIC miner brands at the moment are Bitmain Antminer and MicroBT Whatsminer.

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The Bitmain Antminer S19 series, Bitmain Antminer S17 series, and Bitmain Antminer S9 series are just a few of the new Bitcoin mining machines that Bitmain has released.

Another excellent option for Bitcoin mining is the MicroBT Whatsminer M20, Whatsminer M30, and Whatsminer M50 series.

FPGA Mining

Field-programmable gate arrays, also known as FPGAs, are faster and more cost-effective than ASIC and GPU mining, respectively. As opposed to ASIC miners, which are designed to be locked into mining a single coin or algorithm, FPGAs are able to maintain strong hashing power. The kind of hardware technology gives flexibility to the miner to reuse the set-up if they change your mining activity for something else. Crypto enthusiasts who don’t want to spend a fortune on mining equipment should consider FPGA miners.

Cloud Mining

This is the most recent method of mining Bitcoins, where the miner can purchase a contract from a cloud mining provider who specializes in cryptocurrency mining equipment or a cloud mining service. This enables the miner to mine bitcoins without having to pay the setup costs and maintenance costs associated with mining hardware. However, one must be extremely careful when selecting a reputable cloud miner in order to avoid any scams or frauds.

Why Mine Bitcoin?

In addition to lining the pockets of miners and supporting the Bitcoin ecosystem, mining serves another vital purpose: It is the only way to release new cryptocurrency into circulation. In other words, miners are basically “minting” currency. For instance, out of a total of 21 million bitcoins, there were just under 19 million in use as of March 2022.

All of those bitcoins were created by miners, with the exception of those that were created through the genesis block, the very first block that creator Satoshi Nakamoto created. The Bitcoin network would continue to function without miners, but no new bitcoins would ever be created. However, because the rate of bitcoin “mined” is reduced over time, the final bitcoin won’t be circulated until around the year 2140. This does not mean that transactions will cease to be verified. Miners will continue to verify transactions and will be paid fees for doing so in order to keep the integrity of Bitcoin’s network.

To earn new bitcoins, you need to be the first miner to arrive at the right answer, or closest answer, to a numeric problem. Proof of work (PoW) is another name for this procedure. For this proof-of-work activity to start, mining must be started in order to start looking for the solution to the puzzle.

There isn’t really any complex math or computation involved. You may have heard that miners are solving difficult mathematical problems—that’s true but not because the math itself is hard. What they’re actually doing is trying to be the first miner to come up with a 64-digit hexadecimal number (a “hash”) that is less than or equal to the target hash. Essentially, it is speculation.

Since there are trillions of different guesses that could be made for each of these problems, it is a matter of randomness, but it is still a very laborious task. Additionally, as more miners join the mining network, the number of potential solutions (also known as the level of mining difficulty) only grows. Miners need a lot of processing power to solve a problem first. To mine successfully, you need to have a high “hash rate,” which is measured in terms gigahashes per second (terahashes per second (TH/s) and gigahertz (GH/s).

Aside from the short-term payoff of newly minted bitcoins, being a coin miner can also give you “voting” power when changes are proposed in the Blockchain protocol. A Bitcoin Improvement Protocol (BIP) is what is used in this situation. In other words, miners have some degree of control over decisions regarding things like forking. You need to vote for these initiatives more often the more hash power you have.

How Much a Miner Earns

The rewards for Bitcoin mining are reduced by half roughly every four years.1 In 2009, when bitcoin was first being mined, one block would bring in 50 BTC. This was reduced to 25 BTC in 2012 by half. At 12.5 BTC in 2016, this had once more been cut in half. On May 11, 2020, the reward halved again to 6.25 BTC. You would have made $243,750 (6.25 x 39,000) for completing a block as of March 2022, when the price of Bitcoin was approximately $39,000 per bitcoin. Not a bad incentive to solve that complex hash problem detailed above, it might seem.

You can check the Bitcoin Clock, which continuously updates this information, to keep track of when these halvings will take place. It’s interesting to note that over the course of its history, the market price of Bitcoin has frequently tended to closely track the decline in the number of new coins put into circulation. Due to historically rising prices and increasing scarcity, the inflation rate’s decline increased the price.

Take Whatsminer M21S as an example:

[qn_miner id=”261″ field=”desc-profitability”]

The website CryptoCompare provides a helpful calculator that you can use to estimate how much bitcoin you could mine using your mining rig’s hash rate. Similar tools are available on other websites.

What You Need to Mine Bitcoins

Buy Whatsminer – A leading brand of mining hardware.

Earlier in Bitcoin’s history, it was possible for users to compete for blocks using a standard home computer, but this is no longer the case. The reason for this is that the difficulty of mining Bitcoin changes over time.

The Bitcoin network strives to have one block generated approximately every 10 minutes in order to ensure that the blockchain operates without a hitch and can process and verify transactions. However, if there are 1 million mining rigs competing to solve the hash problem, they’ll likely reach a solution faster than a scenario in which 10 mining rigs are working on the same problem. For that reason, Bitcoin is designed to evaluate and adjust the difficulty of mining every 2,016 blocks, or roughly every two weeks.1

When there is more computing power collectively working to mine for bitcoins, the difficulty level of mining increases in order to keep block production at a stable rate. The level of difficulty decreases as computing power is reduced. At today’s network size, a personal computer mining for bitcoin will almost certainly find nothing.

Mining Hardware

All of this means that miners must now make investments in high-end computer hardware like a graphics processing unit (GPU) or, more realistically, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) in order to mine effectively. These can cost anywhere from $500 to several thousand dollars. Some miners, especially Ethereum miners, purchase individual graphics cards as a cheap way to put mining operations together.

ASIC machines, which in this case are designed specifically to mine bitcoins, make up the majority of today’s bitcoin mining equipment. Today’s ASICs are many orders of magnitude more powerful than CPUs or GPUs and gain both more hashing power and energy efficiency every few months as new chips are developed and deployed. With just 27.5 joules per terahash, modern miners can produce close to 200 TH/s.

An Analogy

Let’s imagine that after telling three friends that I’m thinking of a number between one and 100, I write that number down on a piece of paper and enclose it in an envelope. My friends just have to be the first to guess any number that is less than or equal to the given number. They don’t even have to guess the exact number. They can make as many guesses as they want, with no upper limit.

Let’s say I’m considering the number 19. Because 21 > 19, if Friend A guesses 21, they lose. In the event that Friend B guesses 16 and Friend C guesses 12, they have both theoretically arrived at workable solutions because 16 19 and 12 19 respectively. There is no “extra credit” for Friend B, even though B’s response came closer to the desired outcome of 19 than did B. Now imagine that I pose the “guess what number I’m thinking of” question, but I’m not asking just three people, and I’m not imagining a number between 1 and 100. I’m thinking of a 64-digit hexadecimal number instead, and I’m asking millions of would-be miners. You can now see that it will be very challenging to make the correct guess. The system collapses if B and C give their responses at the same time.

Although there are frequently multiple correct answers in the context of Bitcoin, ultimately there can only be one. The Bitcoin network will choose which miner to honor by a simple majority of 51 percent when multiple concurrent answers are given that are equal to or less than the target number.

Usually, the miner who has worked the hardest or, to put it another way, the one who has verified the most transactions, wins. The losing block then becomes an “orphan block.” A block that is not added to the blockchain is an orphan block. Miners who successfully solve the hash problem but haven’t verified the most transactions are not rewarded with bitcoin.

The Mining Process

What is a ’64-Digit Hexadecimal Number’?

Here is an example of such a number:

0000000000000000057fcc708cf0130d95e27c5819203e9f967ac56e4df598ee

There are 64 digits in the number above. So far, comprehension isn’t too difficult. As you probably noticed, that number also includes letters from the alphabet in addition to numbers. Why is that?

To understand what these letters are doing in the middle of numbers, let’s unpack the word “hexadecimal.”

The decimal system uses factors of 100 as its base (e.g., 1% = 0.01). This, in turn, means that every digit of a multi-digit number has 100 possibilities, zero through 99. In computing, the decimal system is simplified to base 10, or zero through nine.

“Hexadecimal,” on the other hand, means base 16 because “hex” is derived from the Greek word for six, and “deca” is derived from the Greek word for 10, which has a hexadecimal system with 16 possible digit combinations. However, our numeric system only supports ten different ways to represent numbers (zero through nine). You must therefore add letters, specifically letters A, B, C, D, E, and F.

The hash’s total value, which is a 64-digit number, does not need to be determined if you are mining bitcoin. I’ll say it again: You don’t have to figure out a hash’s total value.

What Do ’64-digit Hexadecimal Numbers’ Have to Do With Bitcoin Mining?

Do you recall the analogy where the number 19 was written on a piece of paper and placed in a sealed envelope? The metaphorical unpublished number in the envelope is known as the target hash in the context of bitcoin mining.

Miners are making educated guesses about the target hash using those massive computers and numerous cooling fans. Miners make these guesses by randomly generating as many “nonces” as possible, as quickly as possible. A nonce is short for “number only used once,” and the nonce is the key to generating these 64-bit hexadecimal numbers As I keep mentioning, a nonce in Bitcoin mining is 32 bits in size, which is considerably less than the hash, which is 256 bits. The credit for finishing that block and 6.25 BTC are given to the first miner whose nonce generates a hash that is less than or equal to the target hash.

Although rolling a 16-sided die 64 times to generate random numbers theoretically could lead to the same result, why on earth would you want to do that?

The screenshot below, taken from the site Blockchain.info, might help you put all this information together at a glance. You are viewing a summary of everything that occurred during the mining of block No. 490163. The nonce that generated the “winning” hash was 731511405. The target hash is displayed at the top. The term “Relayed by AntPool” refers to the fact that this particular block was completed by One of the more popular mining pools is AntPool (more on mining pools below).

As you can see, they contributed to the Bitcoin community by validating 1,768 transactions for this block. If you really want to see all 1,768 of those transactions for this block, go to this page and scroll down to the Transactions section.

Source: Blockchain.info

How Do I Guess at the Target Hash?

A line of leading zeros appears at the start of every target hash. Although there isn’t a minimum target, the Bitcoin Protocol has set a maximum target. No target can be greater than this number:

00000000ffff0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

A hash that has at least the minimum amount of leading zeroes specified by the mining difficulty is the one that a bitcoin miner will be able to successfully mine.

Here are some examples of randomized hashes and the criteria for whether they will lead to success for the miner:

You must purchase a quick mining rig or, more realistically, join a mining pool, which is a collection of Bitcoin miners who pool their computing power and divide the generated Bitcoin, in order to find such a hash value. Mining pools are comparable to Powerball clubs whose members buy lottery tickets en masse and agree to share any winnings. Instead of individual miners, mining pools produce a disproportionately large number of blocks.

In other words, it’s literally just a numbers game. You cannot guess the pattern or make a prediction based on previous target hashes. At today’s difficulty levels, the odds of finding the winning value for a single hash is one in the tens of trillions.6 Even with a mining rig that is extremely powerful, the odds are not favorable if you are working alone.

In addition to the high cost of the expensive equipment needed to have a chance of succeeding in a hash problem, miners must also take into account the significant amount of electricity that mining rigs use to produce the vast quantities of nonces necessary to find the answer. All things considered, most individual miners are currently largely losing money when mining bitcoins. You can enter information like your hash rate and electricity costs into the helpful calculator on the website CryptoCompare to get an idea of the costs and benefits.

Source: CryptoCompare

What Are Mining Pools?

The miner who discovers a solution to the puzzle first receives the mining rewards, and the probability that a participant will be the one to discover the solution is equal to the proportion of the total mining power on the network.

A small number of participants have a very slim chance of independently finding the upcoming block. For instance, a mining card that one could purchase for a couple of thousand dollars would represent less than 0.001% of the network’s mining power. With such a small chance at finding the next block, it could be a long time before that miner finds a block, and the difficulty going up makes things even worse. The miner might never get their money back. The solution to this issue is mining pools.

Third parties manage mining pools, which assemble miner groups. Miners are able to receive a consistent supply of bitcoin from the moment they turn on their miners by cooperating in a pool and splitting the payouts among all members. On Blockchain.info, statistics on a few of the mining pools are available.

A Pickaxe Strategy for Bitcoin Mining

As mentioned above, the easiest way to acquire Bitcoin is to simply buy it on one of the many Bitcoin exchanges. Alternately, you can always leverage the “pickaxe strategy.” This is based on the adage that during the California Gold Rush of 1849, manufacturing the pickaxes used in mining was a wiser investment than panning for gold.

To put it in modern terms, invest in the companies that manufacture those pickaxes. An organization that produces tools used for Bitcoin mining would be the pickaxe’s cryptocurrency equivalent. You may consider looking into companies that make ASIC equipment or GPUs instead, for example.

Downsides of Mining

The risks associated with mining are frequently monetary and legal. As mentioned, mining involves a risk in terms of money because one might spend time and money buying mining equipment costing hundreds or thousands of dollars only to see no return on their investment. That being said, joining mining pools can help to reduce this risk. You should think twice if you want to mine but live in an area where it is illegal. It may also be a good idea to research your country’s regulation and overall sentiment toward cryptocurrency before investing in mining equipment.

A further potential danger stemming from the expansion of Bitcoin mining (and other PoW systems as well) is the rising energy consumption of the computer systems that power the mining algorithms. Though microchip efficiency has increased dramatically for ASIC chips, the growth of the network itself is outpacing technological progress. As a result, there are concerns about Bitcoin mining’s environmental impact and carbon footprint.7

However, there are initiatives to reduce this unfavorable externality, including the use of carbon offsets and the search for more environmentally friendly and cleaner energy sources for mining operations (such as geothermal or solar sources). Another approach is to switch to less energy-intensive consensus mechanisms, such as proof-of-stake (PoS), which Ethereum has adopted. However, PoS has its own set of flaws and inefficiencies, including a risk of consensus control centralization and an incentive for hoarding rather than using coins.

Because mining requires (computational) work, much like mining for gold or silver does, it can be thought of as the process of adding new bitcoins to the system. The tokens that miners discover are, of course, virtual and only exist within the blockchain’s digital ledger.

Why Do Bitcoins Need to Be Mined?

There is a chance that someone could copy, counterfeit, or use the same coin more than once because they are entirely digital records. Mining solves these problems by making it extremely expensive and resource-intensive to try to do one of these things or otherwise “hack” the network. Indeed, it is much more economical to become a miner on the network rather than to try to undermine it.

How Does Mining Confirm Transactions?

In addition to adding new Bitcoin to the market, mining is essential for validating and confirming fresh transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain. This is significant because no single body, be it a bank, court, government, or anything else, decides which transactions are legitimate and which ones are not. Instead, a decentralized consensus is reached through mining using proof of work (PoW).

Why Does Mining Use So Much Electricity?

Anyone could easily run a mining program from their computer or laptop in the early days of Bitcoin. However, the difficulty of the mining algorithm increased as the network grew larger and more people became interested in mining. This is because the code for Bitcoin targets finding a new block once every 10 minutes, on average.1

The likelihood that someone will find the correct hash sooner rises as the number of miners increases, which makes it harder to achieve the original 10-minute goal. Imagine if the network’s mining capacity increased by thousands or even millions of times. There are a lot of new machines using that much energy.

The Bottom Line

Bitcoin “mining” serves a crucial function to validate and confirm new transactions to the blockchain and to prevent double-spending by bad actors. New bitcoins are also added to the system in this manner. The task involves producing proof of work (PoW), which is inherently energy-intensive and is based on a challenging puzzle. However, this energy is embodied in the value of bitcoins and the Bitcoin system, which maintains the stability, security, and reliability of this decentralized system.F