Can I mine Bitcoin and Alternative Coins from home?

in #bitcoin7 years ago

I often get asked from "cryponewbs" about Bitcoin mining. Mining is a "bit" complex, but the simplest way that I can describe it might be to over-simplify. Your computer or another computer is “computing” or “working.” Just like we get paid to work, so does the computer…or well, the owner of the computer. As I always recommend "DYOR" or "Do your own research" before making any decisions on mining, but this will serve as some intro information and some things to be cognizant of.

If you have a computer with fast processing speed or a state-of-the-art graphics card, you can get in the network with others who are working together to verify the Bitcoin and alternative coin transactions. The network pays the computer (or group of computers in a “pool” to do the “work”) in a digital currency which we know as Bitcoin, Litecoin or Ethereum, or any of the alternative coins. They race to solve the mathematical equation (the verification of the transactions), and the fastest one wins the award/pay of coins. So, the home computers or super-computers with the most available “hashing” power money can buy (called mining rigs) are racing (computing/mathematical problem solving), with the intent of getting paid. The owner gets paid in cryptocurrency like Bitcoin or alternative coins. With the price of Bitcoin soaring, everyone wants to mine (which is also minting your own coin) and that makes it much more difficult to make money at it without the fastest hashpower (computing speed) possible known on earth.

Because the network is built off of peer-to-peer (P2P) network transactions, versus one location like a central bank doing all of the financial transactions on the blockchain (a block is a cluster of transaction data, and it is linked or chained together), several people link computers in a network to verify the transactions themselves in order to keep everyone honest.

You can either a.) Own the computer yourself and mine coins at home, or b.) For the not-so-tech-savvy, invest in someone else’s computer mining setups called “rigs” and take a profit share from the earnings from the amount of hashes (computing speed) you purchase. The more you purchase, the more hashes you are getting a share of, similar to the more stock you buy, the more shares you can profit from. Same concept.

Another way of looking at it might be to use an example of actual gold miners who dig in the ground for real gold. The miner is the worker (computer) and you are an investor in the diggers and equipment that separates the gold from the dirt (the actual work). You decide to invest in the mining company’s equipment (rigs) and take a portion of the gold mining company’s profits. They pool your small investment with other small investments to create a pool of investors getting a kickback from their investment over time.

There are currently two mining companies I recommend if you are considering mining with a company. Genesis-Mining and HashFlare. I have been with both of these companies for a year and a half and receive daily payouts (Genesis kindly sends it right to my bitcoin wallet). You can choose to mine several different coins. It’s kind of fun getting paid every. Single. Day…. for work you are not actually doing.

It's easy. You choose how much you want to invest, create an account, pick your coin and investment amount, give it your wallet address, and wait for the earnings to start rolling in the next couple days. That’s it! Side note: due to Genisis’ popularity for lifetime bitcoin mining contracts, at the time of this post, they are currently sold out. Join their mailing list to be informed of when they open the contracts back up. When they do, be prepared to buy immediately as they usually sell out within 72 hours.

You can also get a discount from the Chick on your purchases or upgrades of hashes by using these codes:

Genesis-mining.com - TUHtR8

HashFlare.io - DAB9EA8C

Be very careful of ANY other mining company out there. I have heard good things about Bitclub, however I do not personally mine with them because the costs were high so it would take me longer for a return on investment (ROI). I’d definitely ensure I knew someone who was mining with other companies because there are a lot of scam artists coming out with London-based company “registrations” who are not legit. If they say you will earn 2 bitcoins in 2 days, and 3000% returns in the first week…run! If it’s too good to be true…it probably is a scam waiting to take bitcoin from newbs like you.

You’re probably thinking, “Couldn’t I just mine on my own and not share the profits?” That depends. How tech savvy are you? If you are considering mining Bitcoin, I do not recommend mining at home because your break-even point on your investment will probably be about 5-8 months or more depending on if you have the latest and most available hashpower. Once you factor in the cost of expensive ASIC mining “rigs” and the cost of electricity (the rigs run very hot- which is why some of the most profitable mining companies are out of ICELAND), it takes a long time to make your investment back. Then there’s that whole factor of every year someone comes out with a better, faster rig and now yours is a year old and…well…. outdated, and leaving your slower computer rigs in the dust. I’ve done extensive research and ran the numbers, and well…it wasn’t worth it for me personally since IT is not my strong suit, so I opted to mine with contracts. I've use "Minergate," but I was worried I might burn out my laptop to overheating as a couple times it shut down due to temperature and I’m not willing to sacrifice or risk my laptop. If you are going to mine at home, it's easy as cake, but I'd recommend doing it on a home computer vs. a laptop. Again, it's also very easy to mine through the services mentioned above (Genesis-Mining and Hashflare). Minergate is easy to set up and run on your computer, BUT you must have a pretty fast setup in order to make any money. A 1-3 year-old computer is not going to net you much at all-- if you're lucky $10 a month, and then subtract the electricity for running it 'round-the-clock. However, the reason I do it is because maybe, just maybe one of the easy-to-mine coins like Bytecoin (privacy coin) will someday hit...and maybe they won't.

If you want to mine other coins yourself, I will only recommend doing extensive research yourself, and do the math using calculators like at Coinwarz.com. There are some “easy” coins to mine like Bytecoin, which is mined right from extra space on your hard drive. However, if you run into trouble setting it up, it’s not like your local computer go-to guru will know how to make it work, so you need to be somewhat tech savvy and watch some tutorials. Also be aware of the fact that you will need to know how to transfer coins from wallet to wallet, and possibly sell your coins on the exchanges if you want to convert it into one of the big three: Bitcoin, Litecoin and Ethereum.

This chick says “yes” to mining because as long as Bitcoin is profitable, I will get paid on my initial investments! Genesis, although hard to get nowadays is the only company to offer a lifetime Bitcoin mining contract. which means, as long as Bitcoin is mined and is profitable, your initial investment will continue to net you returns for years to come. As the price of Bitcoin increases, your ROI will likely quadruple in a couple years...or in my case less. Nothing is a guarantee, but mining is a safe option to invest, generally speaking.

Helpful Links:
CLOUDMINING I have been using for almost 2 years:
Genesis-Mining : 3% Discount Code: TUHtR8

Hashflare : https://hashflare.io/r/DAB9EA8C
Save 3% by using code: DAB9EA8C

Home Mining on your PC:
Minergate: https://minergate.com/a/5283d0ac618a7df37c0253cb

Exchanges to sell your mined coins:
KuCoin: https://www.kucoin.com/#/?r=7JsJJ8
HitBtc: https://hitbtc.com/?ref_id=5a21aafb60561

Wallets:
Get $10 Free when you open a Coinbase Wallet: https://www.coinbase.com/join/5733e0de5ca4bd00db0001e7

HARDWARE WALLET (Most secure)
NANO S Ledger: https://www.ledgerwallet.com/r/f7c4

TREZOR: https://trezor.io/?a=nFjsyWdda8CyB

See my buying/selling tutorials on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfivnt0p5pASehXxD_9o9mA