My Bitcoin Mining Experience

MinerGate is GUI mining program that is incredibly simple to get started with. With MinerGate you can mine any of the following: AEON BCN BTG DSH ETC ETH FCN INF8 MCN QCN XDN XMR ZEC If you're new to mining or don't like using all the command line miners you've tried before, getting started is super simple. Create an account at MinerGate (Click here) Download MinerGate's miner Install Login Start Mining You don't need to set up any wallets or anything like that since your logged in everything is saved to your account and you can just mine away until you want to withdraw your currency. If you're not sure what currency you want to mine, they even have the option to run the "Smart Miner" which mines the most profitable coin for you. Set the intensities of mining to your needs, you can adjust them to mine while you use your computer so you're always mining. Going to bed? Just increase the intensity overnight ...

Crypterium - cryptobank just launched token sales earlier today and i'm very excited to see what they do with their platform. The best part of this ICO is the cryptobank services that would be available in the normal brick and mortar banks, but now using blockchain. Bringing blockchain technology much more mainstream by providing services that people would expect from a bank into a completely digital space is very exciting! Here's some information you should know: What is a cryptobank ? A cryptobank is a new kind of bank that provides the same type of services as a traditional high street bank, but with cryptoassets such as a cryptocurrencies and tokens rather than everyday money we are used to seeing today (often referred to as fiat money). Cryptobanks provide a service-payment infrastructure; a communication between the crypto-world and the fiat-world, opening up an opportunity for users to pay in cryptoassets, and the merchant to receive funds fiat money for ser...

Problem I run a 125MH/s ETH GPU mining rig but I was having issues where it would restart intermittently and when it would come back online it would obviously stop mining and i would lose mining time because of it. Solution Automatic restart  Run your miner automatically on startup This is actually a very simple way to keep your miner in check so you don't encounter much or any down time. As an added bonus, it's very simple to set up. Automatic restart Search for "task scheduler" in your windows search bar and open it. Now select "Create Task..." from the right side panel. Give your task a name and check the "run with highest privileges" checkbox Go to the "Triggers" tab and click the "New..." button. Here you should select "Daily" and select a date and time you would like this task to be run. Once you're done with your selection, click "OK" Go to the "Ac...

Slush pool has a nice open beta web client that is so much better than the old one, it's mind blowing. It has new charts that give you good insight into hardware performance and up time, as well as a good log of your payouts, and block rewards. They have implemented a rewards system called the scoring hashrate. Dashboard Scoring Hashrate User participation to pool's mining power is measured by  scoring hash rate . It reflects how much work the user did in recent hours. You can understand scoring hash rate as an  exponential moving average  from hash rate of all user mining devices connected to the pool (see   EMA on wikipedia ). The averaging smooths out short hash rate drops or increases and makes rewards calculation more stable and fair (the exact mathematical definition is provided lower). For example, if your scoring hash rate is 1% of the whole pool, you receive 1% of the block rewards. If you own 0.031% of hash rate, you receive 0.031%...

Overview This is for the Antminer S3 , mine are batch 11. So to get started, the units are very nicely made from my experience, and actually not too bad to get started with. You're going to need your miner, a PSU (power supply unit, like the one in your PC) and an Ethernet cord. S3+ Specifications: Hash Rate: 453 GH/s±5% with great OC potential   Power Consumption: 355 Watt at the wall    Power Efficiency: 0.78J/GH on wall   Power Supply: 12V DC Size:  331 mm x 137 mm x 160 mm  Fans: Two 14038 fans mounted on both front and back ends   Operating Temperature: 0 °C to 35 °C   Complied with: FCC / CE Network Connection: Ethernet   Power consumption: This figure depends on the PSU efficiency, ambient temperature and the accuracy of the power meters. Step One: Network Let's prepare your network. You need to have your routers IP address to look something like 192.168.1.X. The x can be reall...

As you know, I just got a Bitcoin credit card from Shift Payments which i reviewed a few days ago here . Overview I love the card, and a mobile app for a product like this, in my opinion, is a must. The application is pretty handy and basically takes the place of any kind of website account / web-app. The app is for both iOS and Android devices, I'll be using the Android app. Boot screen Something that a lot of apps seem to forget, that Shift  hasn't, is above all keep it simple. The app has a clean simple design that makes it very easy to navigate and consume the functionality within. Wallets & Accounts Accounts screen With the ability to add and remove accounts on the fly, and choose your active account (The account you withdraw bitcoin from) quickly and easily is done very well. It drops that average "slide in" menu from the left or right as most mobile apps use, which is great because that's just one less tap you need to...

The Shift Payment card arrived in my mail today (took about 30 days from Shift to Toronto Ontario). Although the wait was long, I was amped to try a bitcoin card for quite some time! Since this card is from a fresh start-up, and is still in beta phase as well you expect that the product isn't fully fleshed out. The card came to me very generic as any visa/debit card would from a card supplier, attached was a list of things that can't be done and general information about the card. The card is based off the old magnetic strip on the back like cards back in the day. It's pin-less, and so far doesn't work EVERYWHERE but it's still in beta. After the beta, early adopters (such as myself) will get personalized cards after the beta phase that should look more like this, if it being pretty is a big concern for you. Current Beta Version Pretty Version I've been able to use it for daily purchases like Tim Hortons, or things like buying a...

The new miner from Zeus is upon us soon You'll be seeing a lot of new higher-speed scrypt miners coming out with similar power consumptions because of the newest generation chips. The new chips are much more power-efficient, and because of that you're going to cut operating costs to help increase revenue and rate of ROI. Statistics -300Mh/s @ 1000W -Next Generation Chips (1.2 Mh/s per chip) -Perfected heat and noise control -State-of-the-mining-art design -PSU not included -1200W modular 80PLUS Gold or Platinum PSU recommended -Worldwide delivery starting: End of Q4, 2014 -Shipping fees may apply -Import duty and taxes may apply ROI Whenever you look into a new miner, you need to realize the cycle until you reach your ROI (return on investment) to ensure you're not just chucking cash ...

Bitcoin nodes are in essence computers that check and keep up to date on bitcoin transactions. A node helps process and confirm transactions in the bitcoin network, which theoretically, means the more nodes in the network the quicker your transactions get confirmed. To do this is actually very simple! Download bitcoin core Install it Allow it to update (This may take some time, so please be patient) Open port 8333 in your router/modem settings While you wait for your install to update the entire blockchain, go ahead and go into your router settings to open up the port. This can take a minute if you're not very tech savvy. Try going to  http://192.168.0.1/ , this should bring you to your router, try logging in (generic credentials user:admin password:admin). Once you're in you should be able to navigate to something along the lines of "Forwarding" and then you should need to add a new port to allow. Add port 8333, for all protocols and that's it! ...

Overview and SHA-256 Bitcoin Mining is the in essence, the completion of mathematical equations by hardware (asics, GPU's, or CPU's). Bitcoin (and other currencies) are found in a block, each block contains a set amount of coins. When the block is solved, you are given the amount of bitcoin that is calculated through "proof of work". Depending on the "difficulty" of the shares you submit, as well as the amount can determine higher or lower payouts. Now, since the difficulty for bitcoin has exploded, obviously a GPU or CPU won't be fast enough to really earn you anything. This is where the almighty ASIC comes in, an ASIC is a  application-specific integrated circuit, which basically means a chip that is programmed to complete a specific action. Once you have some form of worker(Any of the above hardware) you can hook into a pool of your choice, they have varying fees and pool si ze. The pool pays the worker out due to how much proof of work/acc...

If you've been mining for a while or just been looking through different retailers to get a miner for a deal, I've got to recommend OneMiner.com . OneMiner updates "daily" deals on mining hardware. Daily is used loosely, sometimes new deals don't happen when it's advertised for, but I assume that's because the hardware hasn't sold out. This a great site to get into the crypto mining industry, and actually has a shot at an ROI at the same time. OneMiner Home Page Next time you're looking for hardware, give OneMiner   a look and maybe you'll find a piece that will fit your budget!

I purchased a set of 5 Gaw Fury Miners a week or so ago and they came in today. These miners are scrypt-based and run in and around 1.3MH/S each. Also, to set them up was so much more simple than i expected. The first thing that happened when I got into cryptocoin mining is i realized that i knew nothing. So any chance you get to learn or read something out there that you don't know entirely about, do it. But these neat little boxes were a breeze to setup and get running. What you need Hardware wise, you need to have a GAW Fury, 1 12V 5A power supply, and a USB cable. Now, simple enough, you plug in your fan line, then pop in your power supply cord into your unit and finally connect your USB from your Fury to your controller (PC or what have you). All done? Great! Now comes the fun bit:  Once plugged in you need to download a driver called CP210x USB to UART Bridge VCP Driver . Select the proper version for your OS and install it. Once installed, restar...

So this week I bought a couple Gridseed units, I've always wanted to try them out. Gridseed units look like this and can mine scrypt, SHA-256, or both at once. The hash rates vary from each mode but as I've read 100 times, it's recommended to just run in scrypt. Surprisingly, the setup is incredibly easy. 7 Ultra-Quick Steps to get Mining Plug your unit into it's power source (Either to your computers PSU, or a wall outlet). Plug your USB cord into your unit and computer. Download ZADIG  and open it. Go to options, select "List all devices" and click on your STM32 Virtual COM Port from the drop down list, then replace drivers. Download CGMiner  and extract it. Go into your CGMiner and edit LTC_ONLY.bat and change the pool settings to your own. Save the .bat and run it. That's it! All done! Your hashrate in sctypt only mode should be anywhere from 300-400KH/s, generally mine stays from 360-400KH/s but there will likely be a bit of va...

Darkcoins are a new currency that focus primarily on anonymity, meaning that each miner isn't trackable. Here I'm going to go through how to start mining darkcoins with just your home computer. Get your Wallet download the  darkcoin wallet here . One the wallet is downloaded, run it. The wallet will have to "Catch up" because it needs to be up to date with all the transactions and work done so far. You should have something like this, while we wait for it to catch up, let's get our pool ready to go! Get Your Pool Make an account here  (if you don't already have one). Keep this page open because we're going to need to use pool and worker information from them later. Get Mining For both CPU and GPU:  minning software Now that we're all set up on the back-end, let's get our computer ready to mine. Install one or both downloads for mining (depending if you want to do GPU or CPU or both). Make sure if you're d...