What is a Trust Wallet and how to create an account

Nowadays, almost everyone has a computer or laptop connected to the Internet. It has roughly the same components designed for computing and data storage. The components are the processor, a drive for long-term information storage, RAM and a video card, which can sometimes be integrated into the processor or integrated into the motherboard.

These components can theoretically be used to perform the work needed to mine cryptocurrencies . Accordingly, many people think about the question, can their home computer mine cryptocurrency without purchasing additional equipment?

The answer to this question is positive. Yes , most modern home computers can be used to mine cryptocurrencies . This is possible due to the wide range of algorithms used to build a blockchain from the thousands of currencies that currently exist. But the answer to the question of whether mining on certain equipment will be profitable requires a more detailed study of the configuration of existing equipment and the selection of optimal calculation algorithms that will give the greatest productivity.

Let's take a closer look at how to get started mining Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency assets on your home computer.

How to start mining on your home computer

To start mining , you will need to make sure that the equipment you have is suitable for cryptocurrency mining. In addition, you need to open a wallet where the earned cryptocurrency will be transferred ( the easiest way to do this is on a cryptocurrency exchange), select a coin for mining, a suitable pool, download and configure the mining software, and you can start mining .

And the easiest way for beginners is to use Nicehash miner , which allows you to mine automatically at home by extracting the most profitable cryptocurrency and converting it to bitcoins (the user just needs to open a bitcoin wallet ). And in this case, you do not need to choose a pool, know the intricacies of setting up programs, but you will need to pay a commission for it.

It should be noted that it is unlikely that it will be possible to create a mining farm from a home computer that can bring tangible income without additional investments in the purchase of components. And if you have a modern gaming computer with a powerful video card and a good power supply, you can mine a fairly large number of cryptocurrencies, provided that the computer is sufficiently ventilated.

And when using budget video cards for mining, it should be borne in mind that support for multi-threaded parallel computing should be a prerequisite.

This mode is available only for video cards installed in PCI-Express slots and support for Open Cl technology for products from AMD and CUDA from Nvidia. Thus, in theory, the minimum AMD mining graphics card that supports Open Cl 1.0 is a Radeon HD 5450 (and other cards of the Evergreen series), 

And Nvidia has a video card with Tesla microarchitecture: GeForce 8400, which supports CUDA 1.1, GeForce 8800 and Quadro FX 5600 (CUDA 1.0). And video adapters are lower-level RX 560 and GTX 1050Ti, and no one is used for mining. Each pool has a specific withdrawal threshold. That is, until you earn enough money, no one will pay anything. And even if you are connected to a free port, and with a low hash rate, you will have to wait a very long time for payments.

Old video cards in mining

You have to understand that old video accelerators can theoretically perform calculations for mining some cryptocurrencies (they do not support a large number of algorithms), but the performance of such a mining farm will be minimal. In fact, it can only be used to learn how to mine a limited number of cryptocurrencies using legacy mining software that supports these cards.

And limitedly suitable (depending on the price of electricity and calculation algorithm) for mining is currently AMD HD 6000 

And higher video cards, and from NVidia - with the Fermi microarchitecture (support CUDA 2.1 and higher) - the GTX 560Ti series and more modern.

And you can really make money on video cards of the R9 280/290 level and higher, and on NVidia - the GTX 750Ti series and higher (from the Kepler microarchitecture and higher).

And older GPUs can, in principle, show a pretty decent hash rate. For example, the AMD Radeon R9 390x on Ethash accelerates to 30 Mh / s, but the high energy consumption reduces the profitability of mining. And buying used cards for mining is not worth it.

To run cryptocurrency mining on a processor , the minimum requirement for mining is to support SSE2 instructions, and to mine at an acceptable speed, it must support AES instructions. In Wizards, these instructions appeared in 2011:

• on Intel processors of the Sandy Bridge architecture, as well as on server processors starting with the Xeon E3-12xx series;
• AMD - starting with Bulldozer FX41xx series processors.

The performance of the central processor in mining also depends on the frequency of the hertz and the number of cores. And a promising option is the Xeon line. And AMD Ryzen CPUs and Intel i3, i5 and i7 series CPUs have proven themselves well. And the more powerful the processor, the more profitable crypto mining.

What affects profits in mining, how to earn more

The biggest impact on the possibility of earning cryptocurrency on a home computer is a video card. GPUs in high-performance graphics cards contain a large number of broadcast processors and high-performance video memory, which usually have much more total processing power than the processor.

Accordingly, the more powerful and modern the video card is installed on the computer, the more profitable it will be to mine on a home computer.

However, after the Monero (XMR) cryptocurrency and some offshoots of Cryptonight migrated to the RandomX mining algorithm, CPU mining has become more convenient. In the RandomX protocol, higher CPUs are more efficient than video cards. With the current profit, there is no point in using GPU rigs on XMR, but the pools continue to work, which means that CPU mining is profitable. Moreover, over the past week, the rate of the coin has increased significantly.

And you can slightly increase the mining speed by optimizing the operating system by disabling unnecessary programs and services, but this will not give a fundamental increase in performance. Overclocking parameters, as well as the quality of the mining software, affect performance more than anything else.

types of mining

On a home mining computer, you can use several components at once to earn cryptocurrencies:

1. Video card - for calculations on Proof-of-Work algorithms that require high speed, parallel use of many computing units in the GPU and a large amount of high-performance memory (several gigabytes) - etc., RVN, CLO and many others, as well as all cryptocurrencies which can be extracted on the processor;
2. processor - for calculations that require high speed, using a high-performance cache with a small size (several megabytes) - cryptocurrencies such as Monero, electroneum, HODL, etc. are mined;
3. A drive for long-term data storage, as a rule, a hard drive that allows you to earn cryptocurrency for renting your space (you can mine cryptocurrencies such as Siacoin, Storj, Chia and others).

The Sia crypto project was launched at the end of 2020, which almost resulted in a shortage of hard drives and SSD drives. Initially, XCH promised decent income, and thanks to a well-executed marketing campaign, many believed that Xia could compete with Bitcoin. And those who started mining even before the XCH token was released on the exchanges pushed the farms onto hard drives within a few months. At the same time, they did not have to endure any particular inconvenience due to the constant noise of the operating equipment.

And when the coin went up to $1600 (this was in May 2021), the real euphoria started, it looks like a little more and XCH will take the $2000 bar and keep growing. Unfortunately, the June correction left no chance for Xia's symbol. Not all of the leading exchanges have listed the XCH token. If this coin appears on Binance, the rally may have continued, but it did not. As of 07/11/2021, 1 XCH = $189. However, it is too early to talk about the complete failure of this blockchain project. The topic of “green crypto mining” is still relevant.

And the best coins for mining with calculators can be found on Nicehash, Whattomine and others.

All methods of earning in most cases require a constant Internet connection for a computer and mining cryptocurrencies. In addition to mining on your own equipment, there is the possibility to earn cryptocurrency by renting the capabilities of companies that provide cloud mining services. And in this case, the user simply pays for the work of the rented equipment for a certain period of time. And the receiving payment cloud mining provider must ensure round-the-clock operation of its equipment at the stipulated capacity, ensuring that the earned cryptocurrency is added to the wallet of the tenant who paid for the cloud mining services.

Regular mining on PC

Setting up cloud mining does not require a productive PC. It consists in going through the standard registration procedure on the pool, depositing funds (usually regular money or bitcoin) and choosing a tariff plan. Then the user sets the address where the mined cryptocurrency will be withdrawn, withdrawal limits and other parameters. Cloud mining starts after the balance is replenishment. And after that, it is necessary to periodically check the balance and funds received from the cloud provider.

This seems to be very profitable and convenient, but cloud mining has its drawbacks.

1. Several fraud projects have been launched in this market segment. The scammers simply took money from gullible users, showed pictures of non-existent data centers on the Internet, and then disappeared without a trace.
2. And even if the company is really engaged in cryptocurrency mining, this does not mean that it offers users profitable contracts. And before sending money, you need to carefully read the terms of the contract. Electricity and maintenance costs can represent a share of current profits.

And cloud mining can only generate profits if you enter into a profitable contract and hold the cryptocurrency for the long term. And when the price of Bitcoin doubles or triples, your investment will pay off. And only an investor who bought it during the crypto winter several times cheaper can afford to sell it at the current price.

Choosing a service, how not to invest in the pyramid

Cloud mining is associated with a number of risks associated with the lack of a real opportunity to control its providers. The main necessary condition for deciding on its use is the availability of sufficient information about the company and complete confidence in its reliability.

And in order not to fall into the hands of scammers, you must adhere to the following rules:

1. It is necessary to make a realistic assessment of the value of the proposed income by comparing the available capacity of the provider, and the declared consumption of electricity with other resources. The promise to guarantee stable mountains of gold is evidence of fraudsters.
2. The presence of referral programs indicates the hierarchical structure of the organization, which should, at a minimum, alert the user;
3. checking information about the registration of the cloud mining company and its owners, and if they are not there, then these are scammers;
4. Check the cloud service for negative reviews from network users on third-party resources.

According to statistics, 80% of cloud mining websites are scam projects. And keep in mind that none of the services of this type will require software installation, and everything happens through your personal account. The best option for cloud mining is a personal agreement between the owner of the server room and the equipment tenant. And when the process is automated in LC, it is very similar to a pyramid. And when the owner gives the password from the pool, and every second you can control how the rented ASIC works, this is already a 100% guarantee.

Program for mining cryptocurrency on a home computer

Given the performance needed to start mining, the question arises, how do you start mining on a home computer or laptop?

And for mining an ordinary computer processor, you can use the following programs:

• XMRig 
• Nicehash miner
• Hodlminer

The following programs are usually used for video card mining:

• Phoenix Miner 
• T-rex Miner 
• Nbminer 
• XMrig-AMD/NVidia 
• SRB Miner 
• team manager 
• EWBF 

And to earn money by renting a hard drive, you may need to use special software from the websites of the developers of these cryptocurrencies.

And all listed software must be downloaded from developer pages or trusted resources, for example, from links from Bitcointalk and Github.

The answer to the question of how to start mining on a computer varies in the case of each specific program. And you need to study the help section of the assembly and in the program itself.

Choosing a mining software on your home computer is a very important component of maximum performance and security. And it is necessary to be sure as much as possible from the source from which this program will be downloaded, because there are many unscrupulous people who distribute programs with embedded viruses, because of which you can lose not only mined cryptocurrency, but also important personal information.

Mining problems on a laptop and other devices

Laptops, even those with high-performance processors, graphics cards, and large hard drives, are not well suited for mining. This is due to the fact that cooling systems and their power circuits are not designed to work around the clock in a continuous mode, which is usually used in mining calculations. The laptop will not be able to work at high performance for a long time and will simply burn out.

And on a laptop, you can start mining for a short time if you want to study the process itself, configure mining software, but you should not use mobile devices for round-the-clock mining.

betting and farming

Speaking of mining with the help of computing equipment , perhaps it is worth mentioning an alternative option for cryptocurrency mining - mining with the help of a wallet. Cryptocurrencies do not have to be in balance until their price increases. The holder can obtain passive income by betting or farming.

The bet is to freeze the digital currencies of a distributed Proof of Stake (PoS) network in order to obtain additional profits. And you lease your assets to an auditor, and he shares his profits with you. This is a completely safe option, your assets are protected by a smart contract and no one will be able to withdraw them from there without your knowledge. And you can only lose money if this blockchain project goes bankrupt . The profitability of the bet depends on the chosen cryptocurrency and can vary from 5% to 25% per year (and sometimes higher). Betting is supported by many crypto wallets, but it is best to use the services of the Binance platform .

Agriculture is sometimes referred to as "trading for the lazy." Where you can lend your money to a single DeFi pool and earn interest. Most of the time, not a single coin is invested, but a specific crypto pair and interest are accrued on both assets, and dividends are paid by the internal token of this defi platform . And the level of income is higher here, but such an investment is more risky. The DeFi sector is still very young and some questionable projects may emerge.

Mining problems, what to consider

Mining on a home computer, which is not specially adapted to work around the clock on complex and energy-intensive calculations, is associated with some features that novice miners sometimes forget.

This is due to the fact that the conditions under which mining is carried out require good ventilation and high-quality and reliable power supplies, which often do not correspond to the parameters stipulated in conventional computers, namely:

1. Home computers, even in the best ventilated and spacious cases, cannot provide such a level of cooling that mining farms have, or are assembled in special mining cases with high-performance forced cooling, or assembled on well-ventilated frame structures;
2. Power supplies installed in ordinary computers, as a rule, do not have the necessary power reserve, which is required to work around the clock making calculations for mining cryptocurrency, and, accordingly, they can fail faster;
3. Even the largest computer cases will not allow you to install many video cards in them. And more advanced gaming cases allow you to use two video cards at the same time, but if you use them for clock mining, the overheating of the components in the computer is guaranteed, all coolers will run at their maximum and the computer will quickly fail. In the new games, the equipment carries loads quite similar to the process of mining cryptocurrency, but it does not work 24/7.

A home mining farm may generate income from cryptocurrency mining if it has equipment that has been released in recent years. And when using your home computer for clock mining, be sure to remove the side cover from its case for better cooling. And don't try to squeeze out maximum performance by overclocking. This will not bring much benefit, but will significantly increase the likelihood of its failure.

And if you recently purchased an Nvidia RTX 3000 series GPU, your computer can be compared to an economical mining farm. And one RTX 3070 video card develops 100 Mh / s over the air, and if you do not save on the power supply, then by removing the case cover, or even better by placing the GPU in the riser, you can mine cryptocurrency. And not everyone is ready to spend such an amount for a video card and then drive it around the clock. However, the occupation is very cost-effective and the money will be paid back in about a year, if you realize that mining is not your topic, you can use the card for games or sell it.

In any case, you will not be left behind. The second wave of the crypto boom clearly shows that blockchain technologies have entered our lives for a long time. Not even that Bitcoin has reached the $60,000 bar, while Ethereum has held above $3,000 for a single coin for so long. This, of course, satisfies, but the most optimistic is the fact of the widespread introduction of distributed network tokens into the real sector of the economy. Decentralized finance projects made it possible for their owners to earn on cryptocurrency at the moment, without waiting for their currency to grow in price even more. And ETFs based on bitcoin futures are already traded on the New York Stock Exchange. In the Latin American country of El Salvador, BTC has become a currencyCrypto is an official method of payment. Blockchain projects Ripple and Stellar Lumenes are involved in the development of government cryptocurrencies in Qatar, Britain, Ukraine and other countries. And this is just the beginning. Therefore, the cryptocurrency is worth mining. Of course, over time, many of the 12,000 cryptocurrencies currently in existence will disappear, but those that remain can be inherited.

​