Dual mining - what is it, how to set it up

Despite its comparative youth, the history of cryptocurrencies is eventful, and the number of adherents is growing exponentially. Against the backdrop of popularity, the number of miners—people involved in the extraction of virtual coins—has also increased. There are several ways to make this kind of money - solo mining, working in pools, cloud mining and others. But recently another direction has been gaining momentum - dual mining. What are the features of this method of cryptocurrency mining? What program should I use? How to install and configure it? We will consider these and other points in detail in the article.

What is dual mining

Thousands of people every day enter a search query with the text: “what is a dual in mining.” In fact, the answer to the question is in the title itself. Dual mining is the simultaneous extraction of two cryptocurrencies using one set of equipment.

How does dual mining work? And here everything is not complicated. This type of mining is implemented using video cards (other options are not so popular), and is also implemented by selecting a convenient pair of cryptocurrencies. The goal is simultaneous operation in several networks, in which the profitability of production for any of the assets does not fall.

Currency combination options

Note that when choosing the Equinash algorithm, mining of two cryptocurrencies becomes unavailable. In the case of Etash, the mentioned method of earning money is available through the Claymore program. Pascal, Siacoin or Decree can be used as the second coin. To make a choice, go to the official website of each cryptocurrency and study their features.

Take into account not only the profitability calculators, but also the future prospects of each coin. Practice shows that the best solution is mining Ethereum and Decred cryptocurrencies.

Alternatively, you should use Siacoin as a second currency. You can exchange additional electronic currency, if you do not want to invest in it, on cryptocurrency exchanges.

Is dual mining profitable?

In order to answer the question of how much more profitable dual mining is than alternatives, you need to study all its advantages. The main advantages of this extraction method include:

Availability of convenient software for major operating systems that does not require complex configuration;
with double mining, the production of none of the assets is reduced due to the identical hashrate;
during such mining, the resources of the video card are spent as efficiently as possible and all 100% of its potential is realized, increasing the profitability of dual mining;
The option of additional overclocking of the video card is always available, increasing income by almost 50%.

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Advantages and disadvantages

Dual mining has its pros and cons, which are worth considering when choosing this method of cryptocurrency mining:

Advantages:

With the right choice of cryptocurrency, the equipment is used without loss of useful power. This is not difficult, because virtual money has similar mining principles. All the miner has to do is adjust the algorithm of the already used mechanism.
There is no need to “reinvent” the wheel when mining two cryptocurrencies. To work, the Claymore program is used, which successfully works on operating systems such as Linux and Windows.
With dual mining, the Ethereum mining rate remains high. This is due to the fact that the mining speed is identical for all virtual coins. If the power reaches 60 MH/s, it is relevant for both Ether and the second currency in the pair - Siacoin or Decree.
The program discussed above works on various algorithms, which contributes to maximum equipment load and its operation with high efficiency. If, when mining Ethereum, the GPU memory is poorly loaded, the second cryptocurrency compensates for this deficiency. From the above, the conclusion suggests itself that dual mining guarantees the operation of the equipment almost 100%, which increases profitability.

Flaws:

For dual mining to produce results, it is important to configure the program correctly. It is enough to make one mistake to reduce the level of profit received.
When mining two currencies at the same time, the equipment heats up more and the fans work at maximum capacity. As a result, the service life of video cards is reduced. If the GPU is under warranty, this is not a problem.
Increased noise. Due to the heavy load of equipment, it is quite difficult to stay near the farm. In addition, the equipment generates increased heat, so it is worth considering cooling the room.

As for the benefits, a lot depends on the correct setup of the equipment. If you approach this wisely, one farm gives 60-70 dollars (in addition to the standard income when mining one cryptocurrency).

It is worth noting that the dual mining mode leads to an increase in electricity consumption by 20-25%. But even in this case, the dual mining method is more profitable.

When calculating income, pay attention to the interest that the miner gives (commission to the pool). In the case of Ethereum, you will have to part with 1% of your earnings. If you work with two cryptocurrencies (ETH and DCR), the costs will be twice as high - 2%.

Pools for dual mining

The following dual mining pools engage in this type of mining:

Ethermine is one of the largest pools for Ethereum, with more than 75 thousand active miners, and the commission is around 1%.
Nanopool is a popular pool for Ethereum, SiaCoin, Monero, Pascal and a number of other assets. The hash rate here is slightly lower, but withdrawals start at 0.05 ETH and the commission is the same at 1%.
Coinotron is a pool with servers in Poland, a multi-currency system and a low commission of 1%.

We recommend further withdrawal of funds from mining in the pool and exchange of cryptocurrency for fiat money through convenient, simple and anonymous cryptocurrency exchangers. Such services allow you to carry out transactions without unnecessary exposure of personal data and tedious checks.

Setting up a batch file

We figured out that dual mining is profitable from a profit standpoint, which allows you to quickly recoup the costs of equipment. But do not forget about the second side of the coin - the need to properly configure the program. The miner must know what parameters to set and how to set up a batch file for dual mining. Let's consider these nuances in detail.

As noted, the official cryptocurrency mining program does not work with Stratum, for which only the HTTP protocol is suitable. To avoid the problem, a proxy is used with a connection to the pool via Stratum. There is a slight delay here, which is not critical.

Today, many pools operate on Stratum (we mentioned some above). To work, you will need an adapter to ensure correct operation of the program. Connecting directly to HTTP reduces mining efficiency, which is unacceptable.

The advantage of Claymore is that the program runs on Stratum. This allows you to connect directly to the pool and support higher mining speeds. This is due to the fact that when mining cryptocurrency there is no need to waste time going through a proxy.

To obtain maximum power, you need to install the Catalyst drivers. If you use other paths, you may have problems starting the program. In addition, to work with a group of graphical processes, it is worth setting the virtual memory to 16 Gigabytes. To do this, do the following:

follow the “Start” link;
find the “Computer” link, then click on the right button and select “Properties”;
follow the link for additional system parameters, and then go to the “Advanced” tab;
Find the setting item, follow the advanced link and change the setting in the virtual memory category.

Remember that with dual mining you lose 2% of your profit (for commission). This means that the developer takes 72 seconds out of every hour. If you feel sorry for sharing the coins you earn, you should not use this software.

The main problems that may occur include insufficient power of equipment for dual mining, as well as a loss of one to three percent of productivity when mining cryptocurrency.

In addition to pools, there are online markets on the Internet that connect miners with sellers of mining power. One of these is Nicehash. This is a pool and service that makes money by selling capacity to its users. Features include automatic cryptocurrency payments, the presence of statistics, and the possibility of additional settings through the configuration file.

The sequence of actions is as follows:

Log in to the site and register.
After logging in, write down the mining address. It can be anything, for example, 3Kj7vjnnqyXhTLdxFyxtWkDC73ESTJr4my.
Now configure the bat file. To do this, point at it and right-click. Go to the changes menu.
Find the inscription -esw x and add -dbg -1 -dpool stratum+tcp://decred.eu.nicehash.com:3354 -dwal 3Kj7vjnnqyXhTLdxFyxtWkDC73ESTJr4my -dcri 30.
Run the start.bat file and mine cryptocurrency.

Dual mining calculator

The dual-mining calculator is a special platform on which dual-mining is calculated based on the benefit indicator for a specific miner with a specific hardware.

There are quite a few such platforms, and they all provide approximately the same type of functionality:

allow you to select a specific pair of assets;
indicate the equipment model;
fix profitability for each currency;
monitor which of the additional assets has become more profitable for production in the future.

Dual mining Bitcoin

Currently, the market is replenished with various ASIC models (for example, Gridseed GC3355), which allow dual mining of Bitcoin and Ethereum. It is specialized ASICs that give more or less acceptable results in this area of production. With video cards, mining in conjunction with Bitcoin is simply unprofitable.

Dual mining Zcash

Unfortunately, Zcash dual mining is just a popular request that has no practical basis. It is not possible to implement double mining with this token at the current time.

Dual mining Dash

So far, there is no information on the possibility of using dual mining Dash on the network.

conclusions

Pair mining is a promising way to make money on cryptocurrencies. It allows users to earn more while spending less on equipment. But at the same time, it is important to choose the right tokens, take into account the wear and tear of equipment and electricity costs, and also configure the software correctly. In addition, dual mining is now under threat due to the emergence of ASIC miners for the Ethash algorithm. If Ethereum can cope with the threat, then other coins using this algorithm experience an increase in the difficulty of mining, and therefore a decrease in the profitability of mining.

Prospects

2018 began with a landslide fall in cryptocurrencies on all fronts. Positive news was almost unnoticeable against the backdrop of the enormous thickness of negativity that poured into the media space and was perceived by traders on cryptocurrency exchanges as a signal of a “green rocket” to start mass sales with a readiness for markdowns.

Mining in this context has become the most vulnerable link in the entire infrastructure. It is stationary from both physical and economic points of view. Do you think the organizer of a mining farm will be able to sell his equipment, get back the money he invested and leave the industry (since everything went so badly than expected)? Probably no. Even if you can try to sell ASICs and video cards that are rapidly becoming obsolete, then firstly, in what quantities can the market “eat” them? And secondly, what kind of discount from the purchase price can we talk about?

It is probably reasonable to assume that a loss of 50% can be considered very successful and more than successful (in terms of what could have been much worse). The above example is a clear justification for the fact that the economic maneuver of the owners of a mining farm is determined by the losses that they are willing to bear by stopping the business (“permanently”).

Physical maneuvering is also a big question, although it is more promising from the point of view of the opportunities that subsequently open up. First of all, why? For example, because the government of the country where the farm (or pool) was originally organized suddenly suddenly changed the rules of the game, threatening to create conditions incompatible with life for this type of business.

One way out for a business in such a situation is to physically move assets, or flee.

But what are the economic consequences of fleeing? There are two of them:

significant moving costs compared to the value of the assets (normal if 100%);
impressive lost profit (what kind of profit is there in such situations - at least gain some revenue!).

This is understandable. Try to move a farm with a volume of at least 500 miners. Installation/disassembly is technologically quite simple, but the scale of the work is impressive.

In general, in both the first (in the case of a “sale”) and the second (moving) cases, the entrepreneur “enters” into colossal expenses in relation to the value of the assets themselves, not to say losses. Therefore, the opportunities that dual mining provides in the current economic and political situation are truly exclusive and can literally give this business a second wind (by analogy with athletes, for whom it opens up when it seems that their strength is already exhausted.

The resource of the video card during mining doubles and this does not require any additional direct investments from the entrepreneur! Such an increase in mining efficiency can, at a minimum, offset the increase in mining complexity, especially if the mined cryptocurrencies are still in the first half of their life.

How the idea was born

Hundreds of thousands of blocks have already been opened in the network of many cryptocurrencies. Miners continue to solve them, but what do they get out of it? Previously, it was possible to recapture waste in a few weeks. Now mining has become less profitable, rewards have decreased, commissions are not growing, and there are more and more transactions...

It turns out that mining one cryptocurrency is very interesting, but not enough. Many newbies didn’t even have time to figure this out before they thought: “Why not mine two coins at once?” The sharks of this business do not swim on the bottom, and they turned this idea into reality.