Cryptocurrency Mining Guide

Cryptocurrency has been rising up for about a decade now and most individuals know how to set up their currency wallet and purchase/trade coins. However, what many people do not know is how to mine currency, and ultimately end up losing money to false blockchains and damage their computers immensely. This guide will serve as a tool to help all future miners purchase the right equipment and make the most profit.

What is Mining?

Mining is the action a computer does when solving math problems. Every cryptocurrency whether it's mainstream or an altcoinhas some form of "blockchain". Blockchains are simply databases that control and manage the transactions between users. The system itself "breaks" every time a transactionis done. When your computer solves "math problems", it's really "repairing" whatever "broke within the system, and therefore uncovers either a small portion or an entire coin of the currency.

All the cryptocurrency transactions that are taking place within a set period of time are added into a list called a "block". Miners confirm blocks of transactions and add it to the blockchain. When certain blocks of transactions arecomplete, the blocksareprocessed by the miners. This is where the complex math equations are come into play as their purpose is the creation a codeof numbers and letterscalled a "hash". Boththe block and the newly produced hash are stored within the blockchain, and in returnnew units of the cryptocurrency are created or issued.

How long does this process take?

This process can take anywhere between weeks to months depending on the computer and tools you have in place. There are sites that offer mining opportunities but they often come with a "pay off limit" where you must reach a certain amount (ex. $200, $250, ect) before you can take the amount and place within your cryptocurrency wallet. Some sites have have made the mining experience into "games" and actually allow you to play slots and poker in return for small amounts of cryptocurrency. However, it must be known that these sites mostly work on ponzi-pyramind structures and are making both cryptocurrency and government-issued currency from your mining (these sites are plastered with ads).

How do I start mining?

There are three main ways to mine cryptocurrency:

Cloud Mining: Cloud mining isutilizing a remote data center with shared processing power.
Pros: Extremely simple and it's possible to mine multiple blocks of the same or different coin.
Cons: Far too many are scams or have immensely high pay offs.

Self-Mining: Self-mining is downloading a mining program from the cryptocurrency's main site, and mining through this application which is connected to the blockchain itself.
Pros: Linked directly to blockchain, safe and secure mining.
Cons: Takes vast amounts of electricity to run and wears and tears normal computers not outfitted for mining.

Mining Pools: Mining pools are a combination of cloud mining applications and self-mining programs where since mining takes long amounts of time, multiple miners complete the same equation to gain the rewards quicker. Mining pools split the coin earned based on the amount of work done by each individual.
Pros: Extremely effective and one of the best ways to earn quickly.
Cons: Difficult to find a trustworthy mining pool with individuals who won't leave half-way.

How to Use Each Service?

Every mining source has different and complex services, so for this guide we will focus on Bitcoin. Why? Because it has been around the longest, and therefore each service has been under at least 7 years of investigation. Any Bitcoin earned can be traded for whatever coin you prefer, and the same methods used can be used for other coins if you find a well rated service.

Cloud Mining Services

Simply begin by finding a good cloud mining service by looking at reviews and mining required, then insert your cryptocurrency address. The actual mining process begins once you start your account, and it's customizable to the extent the provider allows.

Most commonly used BTC Cloud Miners:




Self-Mining Services

There are dozens of possible services available for miner use but it's up to you to figure out which self-mining program gives you the best run for your computer's activity. Remember, your computer is going to wear and tear a lot from this, so make sure you have both a computer you don't mind running a bit slower than usual, and a trustworthy program that will give you your run for service.

Reliable Programs:
MinePeon: Open source and may need WinDisk32Imager.

EasyMiner: A GUI based miner for Windows, Linux and Android. EasyMiner acts as a convenient wrapper for the built in CG; BFGminer softwares. It auto configures your Bitcoin miners and provides performance graphs to for easy visualization of your Bitcoin mining activity.

BFGMiner: A modular ASIC, FPGA, GPU and CPU miner written in C, cross platform for Linux, Mac, and Windows including support for OpenWrt-capable routers.

CGMiner: This is a multi-threaded multi-pool GPU, FPGA and ASIC miner with ATI GPU monitoring, (over)clocking and fanspeed support for bitcoin and derivative coins.

Remember, you can go to the website of whatever cryptocurrency you have and they will most likely have their own personalized software program for you to install and use.

Also realize you are able to customize any spare PC that you have into a fast and powerful cryptocurrency mining machine. Back from 2008-2013 the CPU alone was capable of mining, but now custom ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) chips are doing the job. When purchasing one, it's important to look for one that isn't super power-hungry since you will definitely see your electricity bill skyrocket if not careful.

Do note, such machines can cost between $500-$2000 and many miners actually buy multiple since the pay off via cryptocurrency is enough to buy even more. However, when stuff like electricity andcomputer wear and tear come into play, only those fortunate enough to have degrees in computer engineering and sciences have been able to create computers to mine so much, and even then they break down within a good 6 months.

Find your ASIC chip miners here:https://asicminermarket.com/

Pool Mining Services


Bitcoin Mining Hash Rate Distribution



When pool mining, there are two things you must figure out before you start; which pool will you enter, and what are the payoff options?

Here are some pool mining services for Bitcoin exclusively and detailed information:



Here are the following possible pool mining pay off options:



Conclusion and Advice

Mining is something that every individual has the full capacity of accomplishing one way or another. The biggest mistake the people do is not doing enough research. This guide was constructed of the most basic of information, but that does not mean it's the best. Just as everyday the price of currencies are rising and falling, so too is the relevance of these forms of mining. It's your job to study and I'll do my best to keep this guide up to date.

If there was ever a way to keep ahead in this world, investing in this form of currency is truly something worth doing. If there comes a point where cryptocurrency as a whole is still confusing to you, I'll be more than happy to create a guide for the community.

Happy mining to you miners!

Nice short guide, with lots of usefull info!
Keep on the good work mate!

thats a hell lot of read there bookmarked it and will come back with proper feedback

keep up the great work man

Awesome written thread man. You really explained it very well.

Can't believe you wrote "pros" of cloud mining
cloud mining is scam. All of them.

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also, i recently solved a very simple example ofsha256 with pen and paper :3

Awesome. Let's make GPus grate again! But why... Pro solution

short and awasome guide thank you so much but manning has electiricy bill problem

You mostly go over bitcoin in this, which is probably for the best but some dual mine CPU and GPU based coins which I think you'd probably want to cover.

Some VPS providers can be used for mining, I'm not saying which as I'm partnered with them and probably biased but I've made back my investment with them. They allow you to do anything with the VPS but mining is great as there is no per-computer limit on CPU/GPU usage though the GPU addon is a pretty penny per month, with a pool I've made it back plus some.

Great guide, really
but what about setup a machine dedicated to farm coins? I heard of people using powerful sets of GPU's or even with multiple raspberry, but.. does it really worth?? I'll be glad to invest in components if only i know what is worthing

Thank you for the comprehensive guide.

I've been mining for 1 year, but still not get all the abbreviation. Now I know what method I'm mining and which I should choose.