Last week we learned that mining is bringing in good money again. For example, even with a three-gigabyte GTX 1060 from Nvidia you can earn about a dollar a day. Against the backdrop of good news, we decided to test the profitability of mining in practice. For the experiment, we took three computers with different video cards, selected three cryptocurrencies and mined them for exactly one week. Let's share the results.
A short introduction. Cryptocurrency mining is not rocket science for a B student. You don't need a degree or anything like that to start mining coins. All you need is a little time and at least one video card.
See how easy it is to start mining cryptocurrency. The video is less than three minutes long.
By the way, the popularity of mining in the world is really growing. On Saturday, Bitcoin network power reached a new all-time high. This means it is safer and more reliable than ever.
Now let’s move on to the experiment, which started on July 1st. We allocated three separate computers for it with different models of video cards - Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB, GTX 1070 and GTX 1080ti. For each of them, they chose one cryptocurrency and mined them for exactly a week. Then we calculated the income, subtracted the energy costs and compared the profit with the predicted figures.
With this test, we want to show that not mining on a home computer at current cryptocurrency rates is a luxury. It's better to use your video card for mining and earn money when you're not playing.
How much does GTX 1060 3 GB bring?
Let's start with the most affordable model - GeForce GTX 1060 from Nvidia. In our version, the video card has 3 GB of memory, which is not enough to mine some popular coins today. For example, GTX 1060 3 GB will not be able to mine Aeternity, Grin and Zcoin.
2CryptoCalc will select the most profitable cryptocurrency for mining available. The principle of working with the profitability calculator is simple. We indicate the hashrate - that is, the performance - of the video card for each algorithm, press the calculation button and get income. By the way, soon 2CryptoCalc will know the hashrates of different video card models by heart, so you will only need to indicate the number of GPUs and the mining algorithm.
Here's what the calculator recommended for the GTX 1060 3GB.
We trusted 2CryptoCalc and chose Bitcoin Gold. The exchange rate of the coin was immediately recorded: on the day the experiment began, it was $26.3.
The most pleasant moment has come - the forecast of possible income. Let us immediately note that the mining calculator cannot look into the future, but predicts profitability based on the results at the time of calculation. So if the numbers don’t add up, there’s nothing criminal about it.
2CryptoCalc shows $4.31 in revenue per week of Bitcoin Gold mining. In the same screenshot, we remember another indicator - the difficulty of mining. It shows how difficult it is for the video card to solve the network problem, find the block and get the reward. The higher the difficulty, the lower the card's income. On the day the experiment started, the difficulty of the Bitcoin Gold network was 196.54 K.
The next step is to connect your computer to the 2Miners pool and mine for one week. 2Miners remembers the results of each participant and displays them in the public domain. Follow the link to see detailed statistics of our GTX 1060 3 GB.
The video card earned 0.13551 BTG. By the way, on the last day of the experiment, the Bitcoin Gold rate was $26.66 per coin, so the income was $3.61. This is noticeably less than 0.1635 BTG, which the calculator promised before the start of the test. Why is that?
It's all about the complexity of the network. On the first day of the experiment, it was 196.54 K, and on the last - 245.09 K. This means that miners of other coins joined the network, and due to the increase in power, the profit pie had to be divided among a large number of people. That's why our income has decreased.
Where there are incomes, there must be expenses. In the case of mining on a gaming computer, the money will be actively consumed by the video card. Our computer with a GTX 1060 3 GB consumes 160 watts per hour or 26.88 kW for a week of experiment. With an average tariff of 4 rubles per kW, we will need to pay 107.52 rubles for electricity, which translates into $1.69.
Total: we have 1.92 dollars of net profit per week of Bitcoin Gold mining (3.61-1.69). This translates to $7.68 per week or $92 per year. This money is almost enough for a used video card of the same model, so in essence the card is paying off its purchase. By the way, experienced miners know how to reduce consumption through fine-tuning. As a result, savings amount to 20-30 percent.
Withdrawing funds from cloud mining Shamining.
You can withdraw funds in three ways:
- Transfer – transfer to a bank account. The payment will be made in the currency of your bank account at the current Bitcoin rate.
- Card – transfer to a bank card. The payment will be made in the currency of your credit card at the current Bitcoin rate. This option is only available to credit cards that support direct payments.
- Cryptocurrency – withdrawal in Bitcoin cryptocurrency to your wallet.
Profitability of mining on GTX 1070
The same procedure was carried out with other video cards. For the GTX 1070, 2CryptoCalc suggested mining Aeternity - that day the cryptocurrency brought in $1.5 and was in first place in terms of profitability.
The exchange rate on the day the experiment began was $0.4701 per Aeternity coin.
Then we went to record the projected income. For a week, the calculator promised 21.2571 AE or 10 dollars of profitability.
Finally, we started mining on 2Miners for a week. A summary of your computer's performance with the GTX 1070 can be found on this page.
In seven days, the video card earned 16.74683 AE or $7.68. This is 22 percent lower than expected profit, and the reason is also the difficulty of mining. The indicator increased from 906.9 K to 1.49 M, that is, it jumped 1.65 times. In addition, the exchange rate dropped from $0.4701 to $0.4590. It is not surprising that the profitability differs from the forecast.
Let's deal with electricity. A system unit with a GTX 1070 consumes 270 W per hour, that is, 45.36 kW per week of experimentation. For the light you will have to pay 181.44 rubles or 2.86 dollars.
Total: we have 4.82 dollars of net profit per week of Aeternity mining (7.68-2.86). So the GTX 1070 will earn $231 per year. And if the course increases or the difficulty decreases, there will be even more.
What are the criteria for choosing a cloud mining service?
Publicity and openness - the company must indicate on the website real data, information about the location of the company, photographs and videos of functioning farms.
Duration of operation - the most important argument in terms of reliability at the time of the formation of the cryptocurrency market is the total operating time of the service. Most projects work for several months, collect money fraudulently and close.
Number of users and power - the number of users and concluded contracts is directly proportional to the total amount of computing power.
Multicurrency - due to the constant change in the exchange rate of cryptocurrencies, the opportunity to mine coins using different algorithms that are most profitable at a given period is relevant. As a rule, it is safest to invest in mining the main cryptocurrency Bitcoin (SHA-256).
Pay attention to the reputation of the cloud mining service; it is important that it has been in this market segment for quite a long time.
How much does GTX 1080 ti bring?
The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 ti is the most fun. The former flagship has 11 GB of memory, so you can mine everything on it. The profitability calculator recommended digging Grin using the Cuckatoo-31 algorithm. For the latter you need at least 11 GB, so the GTX 1060 3 GB and 1070 would not be able to mine here.
The Grin rate at the beginning of the experiment was $4.82.
After fixing the rate, we also wrote down the projected profit. 2CryptoCalc recommended counting on 3.4136 Grin or a little more than $15 per week. In this screenshot we also remember the difficulty of mining at the beginning of the experiment - it was equal to 2.92 G.
During the week on the 2Miners pool, the 1080ti video card brought 2.47248 Grin or 10.4 dollars. This is almost 1 coin less than the calculator predicted. What is the reason for this drawdown?
Firstly, the difficulty of mining played a cruel joke again: it increased from 2.92 G to 3.88 G. Secondly, the Grin rate dropped noticeably. On the last day of the experiment, the price per coin was $4.21, that is, 12 percent less.
The GTX 1080 ti consumes the most - as much as 300 W per hour or 50.4 kW over a week of experiment. The latter will cost us 201.6 rubles in expenses or 3.17 dollars.
Total: we have 7.23 dollars of net profit for the week of Grin mining (10.40-3.17). This translates into a profit of $347 per year, which is enough to buy the most expensive version of AirPods. And there will still be 5 thousand rubles left.
Mining money without investment: methods and advantages
This kind of money mining without investment is also called new. Probably because it appeared much later than the usual types of prey:
- solo mining – individual mining;
- pool mining – group mining at common capacities;
- PoS mining – earning money on the blockchain (transaction information).
This is not just about using cryptocurrency mining capacity for a fee. There are mining sites without investments that work on a different principle: they pay bonuses for certain actions on the site: transitions, screenshots, answering questions, participating in quests, watching advertisements. Platforms on which it is possible to receive bonuses for certain actions are called faucets. The further you go, the more of them there are.
There are additional welcome bonuses and rewards for inviting friends using referral links. New services provide profitable programs: the commission ranges from 3-7% of the money earned by the referral. And Pixel Mining, for example, presents 5GH/s on top of the commission for each new invitee. It is only important to keep up with the announcements and promotions on the sites.
The advantage of making money from mining without investments is that no special knowledge is required: the system has already been created and maintained.
Such programs do not provide significant profits, but they allow you to start on the crypto market without risks or special skills. It is unlikely that you will be able to buy 1 whole Bitcoin, but you will be able to earn a small part of it - Satoshi.
More recently, the concept of cashback in bitcoins has appeared. This is a return that is already familiar to everyone as an incentive to purchase goods or services of part of the money spent, only in digital currency.
Experienced gamers also have options to earn digital currency: thanks to special applications from public markets, they can receive crypto into their account while playing. One thing: to do this you need to reach the specified level.
Is it worth mining in 2019?
A week of mining on a video card will not allow you to immediately buy a Lamborghini along with a yacht, but it will bring you some money. At a minimum, you will be able to save money for a new card and double your income. And there it’s not far from a full-fledged farm with eight GPUs.
The cryptocurrency market is growing steadily, and you need to take advantage of it. For example, on January 1, one Ethereum coin was offered at $134, but today the rate is $274. So even a banal purchase of cryptocurrency at the right time would allow you to get double profits and make good money.
In general, yes, mining at current rates is definitely useful and profitable. The 2Bitcoin resource will help you learn more about mining and cryptocurrencies, and for tips on setting up and overclocking video cards, go to this Telegram chat.
How to cash out virtual currency?
Initially, earnings are credited to a cryptocurrency account, which can be used to pay on the Internet, and even then not in all stores. To receive cash income, you need to make an exchange.
There are a huge number of cryptocurrency exchangers on the network. For a certain percentage of the transaction, virtual money can be transferred either to an electronic wallet or to a Sberbank card.
There are many offers from individuals who often use fraudulent schemes. A common option is for a person to offer to transfer him cryptocurrency to his wallet, and he will pay in cash. However, after the transfer the user is left with nothing.
Experienced miners recommend that it is better to pay a percentage to a proven service, but are guaranteed to receive the funds earned.
Despite the fact that the majority of the population views mining negatively or with distrust, the activity can be called a full-fledged business. Here are the investments, the equipment, the premises, the launch of the process, and making a profit. In any case, there are risks, so the last money spent on equipment is not worth risking. And if possible, it is worth organizing a mining farm. By following the clear instructions of your business plan, within six months you can completely switch to passive income.
How to properly mine cryptocurrency on a video card - step-by-step guide
In 2022, mining earnings require connection to a pool. Income is divided among all miners in proportion to the amount of power. Below we will look in more detail at how to make money by mining a video card.
Step 1. Create a wallet
Cryptocurrency mining is impossible without a wallet in which the mined coins will be stored. Hardware devices, in particular Ledger Nano S and Trezor, are considered the most secure. But their cost starts from 60 euros.
You need to buy hardware wallets on the manufacturer’s official website. After receiving the order, you need to download and install a special program and connect the device to the PC.
Multi-currency online wallets are suitable for storing small amounts. For example, Blockchain, Electrum, Exodus. To create such a wallet, you just need to register on the official website, receive an address for transferring cryptocurrency and a password.
IMPORTANT. In order to protect your online wallet from hacking, it is recommended to enable login confirmation via SMS on your phone and two-factor identification.
Step 2. Select a pool
Before joining a pool, read reviews about it online. Please note the following factors:
- duration of work;
- performance;
- principles for calculating remuneration for miners;
- conditions for withdrawal of funds and amounts of commissions.
The best pools for Ethereum mining are Ethermine (occupies 25% of the market), F2pool and NanoPool. NiceHash, MinerGate, AntPool are suitable for switching between different types of coins.
Earning money from cloud mining is still relevant, with the exception of BTC mining. True, in 2022 it no longer brought such profit as before.
IMPORTANT. The profitability of Bitcoin cloud mining is questionable. In 2018-2019, the majority of small investors suffered losses when concluding power rental agreements with services.
The following cloud mining sites are considered the most reliable:
- IQmining;
- bitdeer;
- Genesis Mining;
- Hashflare.
How to make money on cloud mining? It is enough to register on the service, enter money (for example, from a bank card), select the most favorable tariff and make a purchase. Then all that remains is to monitor the replenishment of the balance and regularly withdraw earnings.
This is interesting. To earn Bitcoins without investments, you can use faucets, in particular, freebitco.in, satoshihero.com, bitcoinaliens.com, moonbit.co.in, AdBTC Top. Every few minutes they give out satoshis for entering captchas and watching ads. Then the money can be withdrawn to an electronic wallet. 1 BTC = 100 million satoshi. You can earn coins not only on your PC, but also on your phone.
Step 3. Organize your farm
If you are going to make money on a mining farm, prepare a separate room. Preferably in a cool climate (for example, a balcony or basement).
Due to the strong noise, it is impossible to stay near operating equipment for more than 2 hours. My head starts to feel dizzy and hurt.
IMPORTANT. Additionally, you need to think about the cooling system (for example, install an air conditioner) and purchase a wattmeter to monitor the actual energy consumption at the outlet.
Step 4. Installation and configuration of equipment and software
The optimal operating system for cryptocurrency mining is Hive OS. But Windows 10 is also suitable for novice miners. After installing the system, you need to download the miner itself from the pool website. Some programs are intuitive, others require technical knowledge and skills.
Launching a farm of several video cards is a complex process that includes the following steps:
- operating system settings, in particular, disabling sleep mode and updates, downloading additional drivers;
- pool settings: entering the network address, port, password and login, wallet address, service parameters;
- adjusting the necessary characteristics of video cards, increasing performance (overclocking).
When investing more than $1000, it is better to contact a specialized specialist. He will help solve all technical issues and save you a lot of money and nerves in the future.
After mining has started, the cryptocurrency can be withdrawn to the wallet minus the pool commission. It is important to constantly monitor the operation of the equipment and avoid problems with electrical wiring and overheating. Well, you understand that this process is not quick. Read here where you can get urgent money.
What does a miner’s income depend on?
Nowadays there is very high competition in mining. Huge farms are crowding out small ones. Bitmain Ordos in Mongolia consists of 25 thousand mining points, brings in 250 thousand dollars (15.9 million rubles) per day. The farm consumes $39 thousand (2.4 million rubles) worth of energy daily, and several shifts of 50 people are involved in its maintenance.
The more power an entrepreneur has (the more he can invest), the more he can earn from mining. So an ordinary person will no longer be able to take top positions. You will have to compete with IT giants and even governments.
Mining is competing in popularity with the gaming industry, and manufacturers are raising prices against the backdrop of increased demand for GPUs. Now video cards with the required performance and power consumption are more difficult to find.
Positive changes in the market and the growth of the exchange rate do not affect the profitability of mining, because the complexity also increases. Mining makes sense if you do not sell digital money immediately at the current rate, but store it for several years - the MINE crypto corporation expects a significant increase in prices for major cryptocurrencies by 2022.
According to Insider.pro data for 30 days, the most popular asset for trading is US Treasury securities
