Mining Ethereum: solo mining and in pools, profitability

Ethereum (Ethereum, ETH, Ether) is called silver in cryptocurrencies (gold - Bitcoin). The Ethash algorithm attracts with its unlimited emission and high mining efficiency (today the first currency in terms of efficiency, the second is Zcash). If Bitcoin mining is practically inaccessible to farm owners due to limited emission and high competition, Ether can be mined at a profit.

What you need to start mining ETH

Ethereum mining is possible in the following ways:

mining on video cards (GPU-mining);
ASIC mining;
cloud mining.

To run GPU -mining, you need to:

purchase equipment;
register a wallet;
install software (special miner programs);
make settings (overclocking, flashing video cards, OS and software settings);
start mining.

ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) is a specialized device aimed at a unified mining algorithm. It doesn’t require any settings, just connect to the pool or blockchain. It surpasses farms in cost, but has an advantage in power. The disadvantage is the impossibility of reconfiguration (on video cards you can change any parameters programmatically).

Cloud mining - rental of equipment in remote data centers. The advantage is the absence of physical media (for the user), the entire business takes place on the Internet.

Ethereum mining methods by type of participation:

mining in a pool;
solo mining.

A pool is an association of miners for the purpose of collective mining of cryptocurrencies. Popular currencies (BTC, ETH, ZEC, XMR, DOGE, DASH) are highly competitive in the blockchain network; pools help distribute income evenly.

READ Mining cryptocurrency on your home computer

Where to store “mined” Ethereum coins?

You can store Ethereum coins in special wallets. They work on a simple principle: you register in the system, bind a certain “account number” to yourself and gain access to your wallet. Your private key is used for all transactions in the system.

Ether coins can be stored on the following services:

A universal open source wallet. The keys and all necessary access information are stored on your computer. You can modify the application and transfer coins to your own server. But you bear all responsibility for the safety of the data yourself.
One of the most popular services for storing cryptocurrency. This is an official resource from the creators of cryptocurrency. Allows you to create your own smart contracts. On its basis, it is possible to develop your own decentralized applications. There are two disadvantages - there is only a computer version and the first connection to the system is quite long.
A wallet adapted for miners and programmers. There are many settings, quite flexible interface. It can be built into your own cryptocurrency mining application.
A hardware wallet that works primarily offline. It is a compact device with a flash drive that is activated using your personal key. Suitable for people who do not trust the stability of Internet servers.
Exodus Wallet. Another popular online wallet that is installed on a computer. It differs from its competitors in its ability to store many cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Ethereum. Works both online and offline. The data is not stored on the user's device, but on a secure server.
A web wallet and part-time exchange for trading cryptocurrency. All your savings are stored on the server, you can only access them from a browser. But there is usually no doubt about the honesty of companies - this is one of the largest companies in San Francisco, operating officially.
A resource for miners who care about cybersecurity and support the idea of complete anonymity on the Internet. All login information is stored on your computer and is never sent to the server. The wallet does not require personal data for verification; you can remain completely anonymous to the system.

Mining on video cards

A special feature of Ethereum mining is its demands on the speed (frequency) of video card memory. The required memory capacity of 4+ GB is dictated by the increasing size of the DAG file (by 2022, 4 GB will not be enough, it is better to immediately consider the 8 GB option).

Video cards for mining are being considered by two manufacturers - AMD and NVIDIA: among miners there is an opinion that AMD is better suited for Ethereum, and it is more convenient to mine Zcash on NVIDIA video cards.

Requirements for video cards:

Memory size. Ethereum mining - 4+ GB criterion (preferably 8+ GB).
Memory frequency. The parameter significantly affects the hashrate. All other things being equal, it is better to choose a higher speed.
Memory manufacturer. Affects overclocking parameters. Different manufacturers (Hynix, Samsung, Micron) set different timings when flashing the BIOS. In general, the fastest chips are Samsung, and those with the greatest overclocking potential are Hynix.
Bus width. The recommended setting is 256-bit.
Overclocking potential. Graphics cards are capable of mining more efficiently. Overclocking and flashing the BIOS (for AMD cards) can increase the hashrate by 25–30% (RX 580 out of the box produces 22 MH/s, overclocked - 31.8 MH/s). You can set more favorable temperature conditions and reduce the load on the CPU, which ultimately reduces energy costs.
Cooling. Various manufacturers (MSI, ASUS, GIGABYTE, PowerColor) install their own designs. You need to pay attention that the version has two (or more) fans. It is desirable to have integrated (water plus air) cooling.

ETH mining performance on AMD graphics cards:

Model	Consumption, W	ETH hashrate, MH/s	Ethash Efficiency (MH/s, W)
RX 470	120	24	0,200
RX 480	150	29	0,190
RX 570	150	25	0,166
RX 580	185	30	0,162
RX 550	65	10	0,153
RX 460	75	11	0,146
RX 560	90	12	0,133

Performance of NVIDIA video cards:

Model	Consumption, W	Hashrate, MH/s	Ethash Efficiency (MH/s, W)
GTX 1070	150	27	0,190
GTX 1050 Ti	75	13	0,173
GTX 1080	180	28	0,153
GTX 1060	120	20	0,150
GTX 1080 Ti	250	35	0,140

The target Ether hashrate on the video card is 30 MH/s (miners strive for this figure when overclocking the GPU). The most efficient models are the RX 470 and GTX 1070. When predicting mining profitability, it is worth taking into account the cost, which depends on the manufacturer (NVIDIA are more expensive video cards).

Virtual mining from Yobit

An example of a reliable virtual mining service is the large company Yobit and their “Vmining” service.

Yobit is a large exchange launched back in 2014. During this time, it has proven itself well and is in great demand in Russia and the CIS countries.

The mining process on Yobit is simple: You buy mining power with Bitcoin and receive stable payments every day in Yobit’s own token – Minex.

Current prices and income:

Miner name	Income per day	Price in BTC
Micro	+9 MINEX	~0.0146
Light	+100 MINEX	0.146
Standard	+550 MINEX	0.733
Pro	+1200 MINEX	1.467
VIP	+7500 MINEX	7.339

Since the exchange has the ability to deposit/withdraw, as well as trading with Fiat, it will not be difficult for you to buy the capacity of this site. You can top up your exchange balance through any payment system or bank card and immediately, right on the exchange, buy Bitcoin!

Purchasing a miner (capacity) is carried out in 1 click. As soon as you have the required amount in your account (minimum 0.0146 BTC), click on the “Buy” button and the virtual mining process will start!

It is also worth noting that 90% of the funds from the sale of each miner go to support the MINEX/BTC trading pair. Therefore, it turns out that the token is fully supported by competent market making and is growing in price.

Try virtual mining from the Yobit exchange right now and see how accessible and convenient it is!

PS never go into mining and invest your last money. Use only free funds that you won’t be afraid to lose if anything!

Ethereum mining pools

To select a pool for efficient mining of Ether e um, the following are taken into account:

reputation and duration of the project;
power (total hashrate) and number of participants;
frequency of payments and minimum withdrawal;
commission amount;
user-friendliness of the interface and capacity of statistics.

Ethereum mining , pool power chart:

Popular reputable pools in 2019 for Ethereum mining:

Ethpool – the pool has stopped registering new users. To join, you need to look for an offer to sell your account. Merged with Ethermine, total power - 25% of the network. The minimum payout is 0.05 ETH. Commissions depend on production efficiency: 0 - 1.5%, with 100 - 90% efficiency, respectively.
F2Pool (Discus fish) - the pool uses a PPS payment scheme and has been operating for more than 5 years. Hashrate makes up more than 21% of the network. In addition to Ethereum, it supports BTC, LTC, ZEC, SC. Provides the possibility of multi-currency mining. Commission - 4.6%.
DwarfPool – created in 2013. Mined currencies: ETH, XMR, ZEC, EXP. Ethereum commission is 1%. Uses anonymous access, no registration required. Power in the network is more than 13%.

New pools:

Ethereumpool - mined currency - Ethereum. The project started at the beginning of 2022, by mid-year the capacity was about 2% of the network. Commission - 2%, withdrawal fee - 0.01 ETH.
Whalesburg is a multi-currency pool, launched in 2019. Base currency is Ethere Low Uncle Rate (technical indicator of profitability) - 9% versus an average of 35%. Flexible commission system - 0.9–3%.
2Miner – payouts from 0.1 ETH, commission 1%. Dedicated port for NiceHash. Detailed statistics by email, Telegram, via API.

The best pool for Ethereum mining in 2022 remains Ethpool; Whalesburg attracts new miners. When choosing, you need to take into account the supported applications: for Ethereum mining on NVIDIA video cards, the software may differ.

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ETN mining structure

It’s worth adding here that the more miners there are in a cryptocurrency network, the more reliable it will be protected from hacker attacks. Before you start mining Ethereum, it is important to understand that profit during mining mainly depends on the generation of new blocks. And each of these blocks consists of a special crypto-signature, which was formed thanks to a previously produced block. A chain of such blocks is called a blockchain, which literally translates as “chain of blocks.” Over time, it becomes more and more branched and longer.

As for mining Ethereum on a video card, this process is based on connecting the computing power of the computer, conducting operations with digital currency and uniting all participating miners. Since cryptocurrency is decentralized, any miner can be located in any corner of the planet during the coin mining process. And when new blocks are created, new coins are also issued. This ensures the preservation of the “life activity” of the entire system, for which the participants in the process receive their reward.

Solo mining Ethereum

Solo mining of top currencies requires significant power and is practically inaccessible for regular GPU mining (only possible for new altcoins, for example Myriad Scrypt, Digibyte SHA-256, Bitcoin Gold). The most powerful data centers stuffed with ASIC devices create enormous competition. When searching for the required hash on the network, an ordinary GPU chip will simply not have time to complete the Ethereum block. To check this, you need to register the Coming wallet in the blockchain and configure the application in solo mode.

Generating a new ether e um address:

Open geth-console.bat (geth folder), download the blockchain.
Enter the command personal.newAccount(psw), where psw is the wallet password.
Enter the command eth.accounts, which will generate the address and display it on the screen.

Request for balance information:

Transferring funds to Ethereum: Parameters a and b are the sender and recipient addresses, respectively. To configure the application, you need to change the .bat file of the miner (the program must support solo mode, for example EthMiner), writing personal data (wallet, login) in the script line.

Programs

When choosing a program (client application) for Ethereum mining, you should study the product specification:

for which cards it is intended (AMD or NVIDIA);
for which OS (Windows, Linux and others);
What are the royalties for using the software?

Claymore's Dual program for joint mining of Ethereum and Decred

Software for multi-currency mining. It is popular among miners, since the passive algorithm (Ethash is always considered active) slightly (within 5%) reduces the hashrate of the main currency (Ethereum). An opportunity for additional income is created. The best option among additional currencies (ETC, SC, EXP, DCR, LBRY, Blake2s) is Decred.

The software is intended exclusively for working in a pool; solo mining is not supported. There are versions for 64-bit Windows and Linux. The commission is charged in dual mode (ETH+DCR - 2%) and along when mining Ethereum (1%). There are no commissions for other altconins, including Decred. Different versions have been developed for AMD and NVIDIA cards.

EthMiner miner program and its configuration

The miner is highly productive and is designed taking into account the specifics of Ethereum mining on NVIDIA chips and is compatible with AMD cards. The software has open GitHub code, is available for all popular operating systems, and updates are released periodically.

The setup consists of creating a bat file. Necessary:

Create a file with the extension .bat.

Write memory release commands:

Write the main line of the script:

Explanation of parameters:

G — GPU usage (for CPU, respectively, C);
U - for NVIDIA cards, access to CUDA cores at startup;
F — pool identifier (hereinafter referred to as address);
login — login to EthMiner.

After the colon, the address specifies the port that should be open.

Next, you need to perform a test run, then fine-tuning.

For fine tuning, change the line:

The cl-local-work parameter is 256 for profile devices, 128 for PCs.

Test command for AMD cards:

Test command for NVIDIA cards:

OpenCL commands need to be placed in a new bat file.

cl-global-work - affects the hashrate; if you change the recommended value (8192), errors are possible.

Instructions for mining ETH coins

So, how do you start mining Ethereum coins? As mentioned above, this can be done both on a powerful processor and on a modern video card - the total amount of RAM for such mining must be at least 4 GB (requirements may change over time). The process of mining digital currency itself can be divided into several steps.

Creating a pool for Ethereum mining. Essentially, these are sites that specialize in a given topic. For example, Ethpool.org, Ethereumpool.co, ethereummining.ru All you have to do is register for them.
As a rule, on these sites you need to create a profile for a new employee in your account - usually this is the Worker section. There you also need to indicate your login, password and valid Ethereum wallet number where the coins you mined will go.
Next, on the same site, you will need to download the appropriate software to start mining and configure it according to the site’s instructions.

The most difficult thing in this process is setting up the program. You can find many videos on YouTube.

Benefits of Ethereum Mining

Passive source of income. Essentially, the miner can only run the program on his equipment.
The cryptocurrency rate is gradually becoming higher.
Your personal data is stored on your computer and is protected.
Several different ways to withdraw rewards.
Opportunity to increase earnings using various affiliate programs.
No minimum withdrawal amount.
The ability to connect several computers and combine them into farms.

Flaws

Possible heating and overheating of equipment, and in particular the video card.
High energy costs.
You must have at least minimal knowledge in this area.
Your computer may slow down after setting it to maximum hardware output (experts recommend sticking to average values).

Setting up Windows for Ethereum mining

Instructions for setting up Windows for Ethereum mining:

Install the Hight Performance system power option.
Change the size of the video memory paging file based on the total amount of memory (minimum 20,000 MB).
Check that the drivers are up to date and install the latest versions if necessary.
Disable OS auto-updates.
Add a mining client to startup.
After setup, reboot the system.

Common problems

As with other software, miners produce errors. Rarely are they critical. We present the most common of them:

Ethminer no openCl platform found - the error appears if you use GPUs from NVidia. Here, use the –u command to enable CUDA technology. If you are using AMD cards, then roll back the drivers to 18.6.1. Uninstall the current version via safe mode.
Closing the program after launch. If you run the utility, it closes immediately, add the pause command to the batch file. Then you will see the error occurring and solve the problem.
Exited waiting to cooldown a bit. The cryptocurrency wallet was configured incorrectly. Enter the address according to the instructions. In conclusion, let's say that the program is quite simple. Moreover, it is completely free (no commission). The latest version 0.19.0 was released literally in May of this year. Developers are constantly improving and adapting it to new GPUs.

Ethereum cloud mining

Cloud mining of Ethereum currency involves renting remote capacities and has a number of advantages:

lack of material media (for the miner);
the miner's income is known in advance;
communication, prevention, settings are performed by the data center;
no additional costs (Internet, electricity).

The main problem with cloud mining of the Ethereum cryptocurrency is the large number of unreliable projects. Today, NiceHash is considered the most reliable for Ethereum mining. The service is multi-currency, profits are immediately converted into Bitcoins at the exchange rate.

How to mine Ethereum without investment

There are services that allow you to receive a bonus for registering power. And although this method does not give much profit, it allows you to try Ethereum cloud mining without investment. For example, Cryptomining.farm gives 50 GHS hashrate upon registration.

Also, Ethereum cloud mining with the TXmine bonus offers to get 1 MH/S of capacity after registration.

Many services have a referral program that allows you to receive up to 30% of referral purchases. Thus, HashFlare offers partners 10% of each purchase, and Genesis Mining partners receive up to 5% of the power purchased by referrals as a reward. By developing your affiliate network, you can start mining without investment.

Mining Ethereum is becoming more and more profitable, because the rate of this cryptocurrency is growing. But at the same time, complexity is also growing, which forces you to buy more powerful equipment. To make Ether mining more efficient, many people are switching to cloud mining - this will avoid the risks and hassles associated with purchasing and maintaining equipment and get maximum profits.

Profitability for 2022 and further prospects

The profitability of Ethereum mining today is low, profitability is 3–5% versus 10–20% in 2022. The fall especially affected users who bought equipment before 2022. Then the cost of video cards grew along with crypto-assets. Today, Ethereum mining can be attractive from the point of view of:

investments - the crypto market is at the bottom;
equipment costs - prices have decreased by 30–40%, used options are especially interesting.

Analysts expect growth in crypto assets with the start of the long-awaited correction in the global stock market. Currently, the longest growth phase is underway; a correction is expected in the next 1–2 years. During a crisis, investors are always looking for additional sources of investment.

Ethereum (ETH) Network Difficulty

The complexity of calculations (block difficulty) is characterized by the Proof of Work (PoW) indicator - reliability of execution (literally proof of work). The difficulty of Ethereum has been growing since 2022. In September 2022, the developers reduced the block reward to 2 ETH (the halving procedure is a regulatory measure, for example, for the Scrypt algorithm, the reward will be reduced in 2022). This explains the latest slight decrease in difficulty.

There is a dense competitive environment - the possibility of solo mining is limited, mining in pools is still relevant.

Promising pools for mining

ETHpool – it has about 400 participants, its capacity is 20% of the total.
ETH Nanopool is a relatively new project with more than 500 people already participating. It is worth considering that service support does not help in solving technical problems. The commission amount is 2%.
ETH Supernova – you can mine Ethereum on this service, although it was originally designed for mining altcoins. ETH Supernova has a simple interface and a high security rating.
Minergate – it’s better to mine on this pool if you have an Nvidia video card. From one account you can mine digital coins from several PCs at once.
NiceHash is an excellent option for beginners; setting up a pool will not be difficult. The service automatically selects an algorithm, transfers the cryptocurrency to BTC and withdraws the coins to the wallet.