Mining is participation in a Proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism to help validate transactions and generate new blocks from them. The combined efforts of all miners guarantee the integrity of the blockchain and the irreversibility of all transactions. Each time a block is generated, the miner receives a reward. In some cryptocurrencies, particularly Bitcoin, this reward decreases over time, creating scarcity and allowing the price to rise over the long term.
Today, the editors of Profinvestment.com propose to consider the question of how to mine cryptocurrency in 2022 - what methods are relevant, what coins can be mined and how profitable it is.
What you need to start mining
First, let's briefly go through the main steps that any miner will need to go through:
- Select the cryptocurrency you will mine from among the most promising at the moment.
- Calculate your profitability. This is the most important thing - before buying equipment, you must be sure that it will bring profit. Use special mining calculators.
- Create a cryptocurrency wallet where your earnings will be transferred. For these purposes, you can use wallets on crypto exchanges, for example, on the Binance exchange.
- Buy equipment - below we will tell you what equipment is relevant in 2022.
- Select a mining pool and register. To find the best pool for your chosen cryptocurrency, use services such as Miningpoolstats.
- Select and install the software responsible for cryptocurrency mining. For example, consider Gminer for NVIDIA and AMD video cards. Download the archive for the desired operating system (Windows or Linux), unzip it. Next, enter your address and pool (the default pool is 2miners). To do this, right-click on the file with the .bat extension and select Edit. To start mining, run the miner.exe file.
- Set up your equipment. If you mine on video cards, then they definitely need reasonable overclocking. Without this measure, your income will be 20-30% lower than possible. For overclocking, use the Msi Afterburner program.
After this, all that remains is to launch the program and start mining, indicating your wallet address for crediting funds.
How to start mining in 2022:
Selecting an exchange or wallet for mining
Mining coins involves their subsequent transfer to a virtual account or crypto exchange. On the official cryptocurrency website you can always download a wallet and store your profits on it. However, there is another way - to exchange the mined crypto money on the exchange. To do this, you should find your cryptocurrency on the coinmarketcap website and see on which platforms it is traded. Those with higher trading volume are more preferable.
Next, you should register on the selected exchange, open a personal account and find your cryptocurrency. By clicking on “Deposit”, the user will receive an address to withdraw their coins. When the first coins appear in the pool, they can be easily transferred to your exchange wallet. Money received in the wallet can be immediately exchanged for a more attractive cryptocurrency. They are also left on the balance of their electronic account, hoping that their price will increase.
Universal platforms that are not only a crypto exchange, but also a platform for mining include:
- EXMO;
- Pjlonex;
- Yobit. net;
- Cryptopia;
- C-CEX.
How to choose a pool, exchange and wallet is described in detail in the video. Filmed by the channel: “Kirill Krylov”.
Types of mining and their relevance
Mining on processors
Some protocols used by blockchains still allow CPU mining without having to purchase high-power hardware. By putting together a rig with a quality processor, graphics card, and motherboard, you can earn enough to pay for the hardware and energy consumption, even while making some profit.
What can be mined on a processor: Bytecoin, Zcash, Monero and other cryptocurrencies.
Software for CPU mining: MinerGate, EasyMiner, AwesomeMiner and others.
Which processors are most effective for cryptocurrency mining:
- AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X. Price: 190,000 rubles . 32 cores, 64 threads. Base frequency 3.7 GHz. Overclocked frequency 4.5 GHz. Cache 144 MB. Consumption: 280 W. An expensive and energy-consuming processor, but it pays for itself relatively quickly. Extremely easy to install.
- AMD Ryzen 9 3950X. Price: 68,000 rubles . 16 cores, 32 threads. Base frequency 3.5 GHz. Overclocked frequency 4.7 GHz. Cache 64 MB. Consumption: 105 W. The processor demonstrates excellent performance on all cores, however, according to user reviews, it needs additional cooling.
- Intel Pentium Gold G-6400. Price: 5300 rubles . 2 cores, 4 threads. Base frequency 4 GHz. does not accelerate. Cache 4 MB. Consumption: 54 W. A cheap, low-power processor that is suitable for beginners or for those who are not buying a device specifically for mining.
- AMD Ryzen 5 3600X. Price: 20,000 rubles . 6 cores, 12 threads. Base frequency 3.8 GHz. Overclocked frequency 4.4 GHz. Cache 32 MB. Consumption: 95 W. An excellent “middle class” option, the kit includes a Wraith cooler. The downside is that overclocking this processor is quite complicated and requires a lot of time.
- AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X. Price: 136,000 rubles . 24 cores, 48 threads. Base frequency 3.8 GHz. Overclocked frequency 4.5 GHz. Cache 128 MB. Consumption: 280 W. Performance is close to Threadripper 3970X, but much cheaper
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X – processor for mining in 2022
Mining on video cards
GPUs are much more powerful than CPUs, so they have long been firmly established as an effective mining tool. Full-fledged farms of 4-12 copies are created from video cards. GPUs can work with any mining algorithm, so the choice of cryptocurrencies available for them is very wide. Everything is limited only by the power of the farm and the complexity of the network of a particular coin.
What can be mined on a video card: Ravencoin, Grin, Ethereum, Monero, Bitcoin Gold, Dogecoin and other cryptocurrencies.
Software for GPU mining: MinerGate, EasyMiner, CGMiner, AwesomeMiner and others.
Which video cards are most effective for cryptocurrency mining:
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti. Price: 60,000 rubles . 8 GB GDDR6 VRAM. Consumption 200 W. The device is equally suitable for gaming and mining. The hashrate is not the highest, but it can provide a stable monthly income with relatively low energy costs. The disadvantage is the inconvenient 12-pin connector.
- AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT. Price: 40,000 rubles . 8 GB GDDR6 VRAM. Consumption 225 W. In terms of mining efficiency, this video card is almost identical to the previous version, and thanks to its lower price, it will pay for itself faster. Unfortunately, users note some stability problems with this model.
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090. Price: 250,000 rubles . 24 GB GDDR6 VRAM. Consumption 350 W. The best option in terms of performance, but the price will not suit every miner. A large amount of memory is the main parameter responsible for efficient mining. Energy consumption is also high, in line with the power.
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER. Price: 50,000 rubles . 6 GB GDDR6 VRAM. Consumption 125 W. A relatively budget option, which also features economical electricity consumption. The hashrate is lower than that of expensive competitors, but this does not affect profits as much due to energy savings.
- MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 2070. Price: 40,000 rubles . 8 GB GDDR6 VRAM. Consumption 225 W. One of the important advantages of this model is its efficient heatsink for heat dissipation, as well as Zero Frozr technology, which can pause the fan during low workloads to reduce noise.
A combination of CPU and GPU mining is allowed, so you can mine quite effectively on a gaming computer when it is not being used for its intended purpose, and receive additional income.
Video card for cryptocurrency mining GeForce RTX 2070
Mining on ASIC
ASICS are the choice of professionals. This is a high-power equipment consisting of a highly directional integrated circuit; Due to the fact that the scheme is focused on performing only one task, its performance is extremely high. Top cryptocurrencies today can only be mined on ASICs, since their high complexity does not make it possible to mine coins on video cards or processors.
What can be mined on ASIC: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Digibyte, Decred and other cryptocurrencies.
Software for ASIC mining: CGMiner, BFGMiner, AwesomeMiner and others.
Which ASICs are most effective for mining cryptocurrency (according to the WhatToMine website as of April 2022):
- Goldshell KD Price: 730,000 rubles . Hashrate 18.70 Th/s. Power consumption 2250 W. Mining algorithm – Kadena. Focused strictly on mining Kadena cryptocurrency (KDA).
- Goldshell CK5. Price: 670,000 rubles . Hashrate 12.00 Th/s. Power consumption 2250 W. Mining algorithm – Eaglesong. Relevant for mining Nervos coin (CKB).
- iBeLink BM-N1. Price: 530,000 rubles . Hashrate 6.60 Th/s. Power consumption 2400 W. Mining algorithm – Eaglesong. Like the previous option, it allows you to profitably mine Nervos (CKB).
- Innosilicon A10 Pro+ 7GB. Price: 1,800,000 rubles . Hashrate 750.00 Mh/s. Power consumption 1350 W. Mining algorithm – Ethash. By far the best option for mining Ethereum.
- Goldshell KD2. Price: 300,000 rubles . Hashrate 6.40 Th/s. Power consumption 830 W. Mining algorithm – Kadena. An earlier version of Goldshell KD5, which has less power but also less energy consumption.
iBeLink BM-N1 – ASIC for cryptocurrency mining in 2022
Of course, the listed devices are relevant at the time of writing. You should independently study the prospects of a particular ASIC, as well as the coins it produces, before making a purchase.
Outdated types of mining
There is no point in trying to mine in the following ways in 2022:
- on a mobile phone/tablet;
- via browser;
- on your hard drive.
All these methods bring absolutely meager income, for which it is not worth damaging equipment and wasting electricity. It makes more sense to allocate a feasible amount to purchase a high-quality processor or video card; this will bring more profit, and in addition, you will get truly promising cryptocurrencies that can grow (such as Monero), rather than little-known tokens of dubious value.
Profitability of virtual money extraction activities
The dilemma that mining is profitable now is relevant. Nobody argues. But it is equally important to understand how quickly the investment will pay off. When deciding on a cryptocurrency, you need to consider the following factors:
Let’s summarize: no matter how attractive Bitcoin is, it is not advisable for a beginner with a reduced budget to compete with powerful data centers, individualists with mega-productive farms. Even large pools cannot create competition. But this does not mean that now it will not be possible to mine with an initial capital of a couple of North American dollars. You just need to pay attention to less popular but promising cryptocurrencies. Including from the TOP-20 by capitalization.
Best GPUs for Mining in 2022
How to calculate profitability
In order to find out in advance how profitable it will be and how long it will take to pay for itself, without buying equipment, you can and should use special mining calculators. Calculators allow you to specify parameters such as the hashrate of the equipment, its energy consumption (or even select specific models that already contain the necessary data), the cost of a kilowatt of electricity in your region, pool commission, etc.
As a result of the calculations, the calculator will show how profitable it is to mine a particular cryptocurrency, how much income it will bring per day, week, month, year. When calculating, data at the current moment in time is taken into account: cryptocurrency exchange rate, network complexity. Since this information fluctuates every day, this must be taken into account.
Examples of mining calculators:
- WhatToMine
- NiceHash
- Coinwarz
- Btc.com
- MinerStat
- Etherscan
WhatToMine mining calculator
Mining pools
Cryptocurrency mining will be much more efficient if you join a pool. A pool is a group of individual miners who pooled their computing power and used it to mine a specific coin. With high network complexity, mining a block solo can take a long time. Moreover, with a high degree of probability you will never get it alone.
Of course, the temptation to get a few bitcoins on your own is great - but in fact, you will simply waste a huge amount of electricity. As for the pool, someone regularly mines a block in it, and the profit is fairly divided among all participants depending on the power they invested. Thus, the income is stable.
The best Bitcoin pools for today:
- Binance Pool
- F2Pool
- Poolin
- Antpool
- btc.com
Best Ethereum Pools:
- SparkPool
- Ethermine
- F2Pool
- SpiderPool
- NanoPool
Pool statistics
Current statistics of mining pools : https://btc.com/stats/pool, https://miningpoolstats.stream/bitcoin, https://www.blockchain.com/pools.
Rating of mining pools 2022 (MiningPoolStats website)
History of appearance
Let us immediately note that this is a second generation algorithm, created on the basis of its predecessor - SHA-1, which in turn was developed back in 1995 exclusively for use for civilian purposes. An updated version of the now popular algorithm was created by employees of the National Security Agency in 2002.
Three years later, a patent appeared allowing the algorithm to be used for civilian purposes. The third version of the popular mechanism appeared in 2012, its development was carried out by specialists from the National Standards Agency. Over time, SHA-3 completely replaced its predecessors.
It is not possible to decrypt the converted data because the hash sum is not considered an encryption process in the classical interpretation of this process. The one-way encryption algorithm processes an unlimited amount of information.
It is worth noting that absolutely all existing versions of the Secure Hashing Algorithm were created according to the Merkle-Damgaard principle: information is divided into uniform categories. Each group undergoes one-way compression, resulting in significantly reduced data length.
This encryption method has many advantages:
- data compression is carried out quickly;
- it is impossible to roll back the conversion process without keys;
- the likelihood of collisions is reduced to zero.
Prospects for the mining industry
Over the last couple of years, mining has been a largely unprofitable endeavor. However, with the bull market of late 2020 and early 2022, the price of most coins has increased greatly, and with it the profitability of the process. Experts believe that the market will continue to grow, as will the relevance of cryptocurrency mining.
Key provisions regarding mining in 2022:
- Market growth clearly correlates with mining growth. At the moment, the industry is growing at a rapid pace, and analysts suggest that this will continue for the next year.
- The main risk is a sharp drop in the value of cryptocurrencies, which can happen due to certain changes in politics and economics. Another difficulty is the difficulty of supplying equipment from abroad to some countries.
- A trend is expected towards consolidation of mining, that is, its concentration in the hands of large organizations. This was observed before, but now it is even more pronounced. Some big players are aiming to grab their piece of the pie.
- The production of mining equipment is spreading throughout the world, while previously it was concentrated in China.
- As for new technologies, it seems that no technical breakthroughs await us yet. The sector will develop at the same pace; experts do not foresee any significant increases in capacity.
- However, there is development in another direction - the use of renewable energy sources. Mining using solar energy or wind turbines is no longer new. So cryptocurrency mining becomes much more environmentally friendly.
It should also be noted that in 2022, mining will be significantly more regulated. True, at the moment, in almost no countries the legislation does not mention mining, since it is difficult to formulate its essence from a legal, economic and technical point of view.
Market Sentiment:
Will rise Will fall
50%
50%
You voted for the price to fall. You voted for the price increase.
Try trading DOGE/USD?
Start trading
Open demo
For many miners, the cost of validation can be prohibitive—32 Ethers cost about $146,000 as of November 2022. Luckily, there are a number of platforms that allow you to join forces with other participants and share the rewards.