home › Toys › How to start cryptocurrency mining for beginners from scratch (beginning) on a video card, etc., step by step mining. What is the essence of mining. In simple words about the complex How cryptocurrency mining works

How to start cryptocurrency mining for beginners from scratch (beginning) on a video card, etc., step by step mining. What is the essence of mining. In simple words about the complex How cryptocurrency mining works

“I work - you rest” - this is exactly what almost every user would like to hear from their computer. So far, the idea of making an uncomplaining “piece of iron” work for a white person exists only in frames of fantastic films. And for those who like to earn money without much effort, there is nothing left but to find out what it means to “mine bitcoins”. Although the effectiveness of such a solution seems to be rather ephemeral.

Bitcion: what is it and how to get it?

Back in 1998, an anonymous author under the mysterious name Dai Wei first described some electronic money, which allow their owners to remain anonymous, thanks to a completely decentralized system.

For many years this concept has been gathering dust in a long box and was fished out by another anonymous person, Satoshi Nakamoto. The latter presented the first practical implementation of the old idea and gave it the name "".

The process of obtaining each new unit of currency was called "mining"- a term from the field of mining. It consists in solving a complex mathematical problem by a computer.

Calculations can be made in various ways:

Directly on the user's computer (requires a powerful video card);
Collective work of a PC of many hundreds and even thousands of users (“pool”);
Use of cloud solutions (all work is done on remote computers, users only pay for access to hardware);
Using the power of supercomputers (mining farms).

Consider the first method in more detail as one of the few available to mere mortals.

How to mine bitcoins with a video card?

The price of modern video cards is such that, willy-nilly, you will think about the need to recapture it. If you have some computer skills, you can try to make money on the now fashionable direction of mining:

The choice should be stopped only on the developments of the latest generations. Products two or even more so three years ago will by no means work;
To increase production volumes, several video cards should be installed at once. Experienced users manage to use 4 to 8 graphics cards in parallel on one PC;
Correct work with such high computing power is impossible without the use of specialized software. The most popular of them - NVidiaCUDA and AMDAPPSDK - to work with devices from NVidia and Radeon, respectively;
It must be remembered that the installation of new video adapters requires the appropriate power supply, a special motherboard architecture, etc. This way of making money is in inept hands will result in the loss of expensive equipment;
Of the software that has proven itself in the field of amateur mining, it is worth noting “Sgminer” and “ccMiner”.

In this video, Artem Borisov will show you how best to mine Ethereum on NVidia video cards, what points should be taken into account when mining this cryptocurrency:

Overview of popular modern cryptocurrencies

As of 2017, the crypto currency market is seriously overheated. The eyes of a potential miner run up from the abundance of new names that until recently were unknown to anyone:

« auroracoin» - was created in Iceland as a real alternative to traditional fiat money;
« BitConnect» - allows not only to invest the available money, but also to get a significant profit from speculation;
« Blackcoin» - especially protected system;
« Dash» - currency with the possibility of lightning transactions;
« Dogeion"- arose in the wake of the popularity of the Internet meme of the same name ("Doge");
« Digital Note» - for the first time began to use technology to protect transactions;
« IOTA» - also known for the use of blockchain;
« emercoin» - according to the creators, is one of the most reliable financial solutions;
« Litecion» - uses a passkey (script) as a hashing algorithm;
« MazaCoin" - a derivative of another cryptocurrency, "ZetaCoin";
« Monero" - a solution using the "CryptoNote" protocol with improvements in the form of scaling and decentralization;
"NEM" - in addition to the trend blockchain, it also uses the "EigenTrust ++" algorithms.

What is better to mine?

The above list is far from complete. According to official figures, their number has exceeded 900 and continues to grow. Needless to say, only a few of them can bring profit to miners.

Consider factors , which should be considered when choosing a currency for mining:

Market capitalization. Represents the total value of assets available on the stock market;
Liquidity. This is a value that shows the speed with which the owner of any product will be able to sell it at the market price;
Prevalence. It is important that new tools are accepted by online stores around the world;
Current exchange rate in national currency. So, bitcoin is now worth about 200 thousand rubles, which makes it an excellent investment;
Perspective. There are known, albeit rare, cases of the collapse of cryptocurrencies. The most iconic precedent happened with the "coins" "Coinye", which were created by the American artist Kanye West;
Volatility is the rate at which prices change over a short period of time. It is important mainly for speculators.

According to the totality of indicators, the most “trend” are “Ripple”, “Litecoin” and “Etherium”. The latter is worth a separate discussion.

Is it profitable to mine bitcoins in 2017?

Today it is not possible to jump on the last car of the departing bitcoin mining train: he left a long time ago. At the present stage, earnings on the cryptographic gold rush are almost zero:

An average computer farm with a capacity of 200 W at a rate of about 3 rubles per kilowatt of electricity makes a profit of 3.97 rubles. Per day. Few people in their right mind and sober memory will dare to call such earnings significant;
Subsequently, the complexity of calculations will only increase, and the income of the unfortunate miner will steadily fall. According to experts, by August 2018, the profitability of this enterprise will fall by an average of 5%;
Already today it becomes obvious that the extraction of this currency makes sense only if there is own supercomputer power regions with a cool climate (to minimize cooling costs).

What is profitable to mine?

One of the most promising areas in modern mining is " Ethereum" (or "Etherium" in English). The currency was announced back in 2013 by Russian-born Canadian developer Vitalik Buterin. Since then, it has noticeably increased in market capitalization and popularity, second only to bitcoin (which, as we have already seen, is almost impossible to obtain):

As of mid-September 2017, Efir costs about 20,000 rubles;
The total market capitalization is about $20 billion;
Volatility is at an excellent level - around 1.5%. For comparison, the market leader bitcoin has only 0.83%, while the closest competitors "Ripple" and "Litecoin" are in the "red zone" at all (-0.72% and -1.29% respectively);
The currency is well received by the expert community, business and ordinary users. If the latter value predominantly momentary profit, the former note the high security and speed of the system;
Another advantage of Ether is that its maximum output is unlimited. The same bitcoin has an installed software "ceiling" of 21 million copies.

In 2017, the question “what does it mean to mine bitcoins” is as relevant as a video recorder is appropriate in an ordinary person’s apartment. Today it is already obvious that the enterprise for the extraction of this cryptocurrency is absolutely useless. It is much more reasonable to invest in new players, for example, the now fashionable Efir.

Video about mining farms

In this video, analyst Dmitry Moskaev will show how bitcoins are mined, and explain why this activity is no longer profitable today:

Hello, dear readers of the blog site! In previous articles, we got acquainted with the most popular representative of the cryptocurrency empire - bitcoin. If you still don’t know what it is, then read the articles “Bitcoin - what is it” and “”.

The topic of today's material mining- less profitable than, way of earning (but more profitable than), but much more popular and not as risky as way to replenish bitcoin wallets.

Bitcoin mining - what is it in simple words

Cryptocurrency is information money that exists on the network due to the active work of a certain algorithm (read). It can also be called crypto gold or a virtual analogue of gold. Like gold, the amount of cryptocurrency is strictly limited and can be obtained either through purchase or by mining. The last one is called Mining.

The extraction of cryptocurrencies (and bitcoins in particular) goes by enumeration of numbers, for each of which the so-called one is calculated (it is also often used to check the integrity of data, for example, when downloading from the network). If it (hash) matches a given pattern (for example, there will be so many zeros ahead), then a new unit of cryptocurrency is released (in fact, it is mined).

The complexity of the template is set so that the probability of mining corresponds to the plan (there is a plan until 2033 for bitcoin). This difficulty is constantly adjusted so that the next coin is mined about once every ten minutes (at the same time, all transactions made during this time are confirmed).

Over time, it will only become more difficult to mine (mining). For each block (number found) the miner is rewarded. The greater the computing power of the system they use, the higher the chance of receiving a reward.

For the algorithm to be executed successfully, a computer of colossal power is needed (GPU video cards that support a huge number of parallel pipelines are best suited for calculations). The popularity of bitcoins is constantly growing (as well as the number of miners), which means that the complexity of the information operations associated with this is increasing.

Mining alone now it is practically meaningless, because the probability of getting a coin is almost zero (life is not enough). Therefore, people are united in pools (of thousands of participants), which divide the remuneration received between all participants in proportion to the capacities they use. The reward here will be less, but it will be.

Moreover, earnings from cryptocurrency mining, from 2008 to 2015, amounted to a total of more than two billion dollars (now this amount is probably already significantly exceeded):

Mining plays an indispensable role for cryptocurrency systems that need it (and there are already more than a thousand different ones, according to the service). It increases security by randomly choosing who will write the next transactions to the blockchain (the one who mined the next coin does this) and, in fact, ensures the storage of this very blockchain (block chain).

In general, without it, nowhere, and it is the consortium of miners that now, in fact, decides the fate of cryptocurrencies. As an example, recent events around the Bitcoin fork and problems with high transaction fees. Miners benefit from a high fee, although it can kill the whole idea of "virtual cash" in the bud.

Cryptocurrency mining options

Through a regular PC- you download a program to your computer, donate part of the power of your video card to the process of calculating cryptocurrency (mining) and successfully make money just sitting at your computer and doing your own thing.

In this case, no additional investments will be required from you, but you will not be able to earn a lot of bitcoins in this way.

Mining through special equipment– you buy an ASIC (“Application Specific Integrated Circuit”, literally translated) device and create a “farm” that is actively working and brings you very large amounts.

It goes without saying that in this case you will first have to spend a considerable amount of real money (from $ 1000 for everything about everything) in order to start making virtual money (cryptocurrency) on an industrial scale.

Recently they have been issued video cards specially sharpened for mining. There is nothing superfluous in them, but only pure performance. Some of them do not even have video outputs, because miners do not need them.

Due to bitcoin price has gone up a lot lately, cryptocurrency mining is gaining more and more popularity, because the cost of equipment and electricity is more than paid off. after a sharp take-off up until it is in no hurry to descend.

Many on this wave are now striving to invest in ASICs (and powerful video cards used in it, often specialized), and services have also appeared to provide computing power.

For some people it will be a revelation that Cryptocurrency is not limited to bitcoins alone: there are also litecoins, dodecoins and so on and so forth. In the process of mining, you should probably pay attention to new types of cryptocurrencies, since bitcoin is already quite an outdated option.

An increasing number of people are making transactions with Bitcoin, and the maximum number of units of this informational money - 21,000,000 - sooner or later the limit will be exhausted. It is necessary to analyze, of course, a number of indicators in order to make the right choice. There are special mining calculators, helping to make the right choice, for example, WhatToMine :

But it's up to you to decide, and I'm just trying to briefly describe the current situation in the mining market and describe the emerging trends.

cloud mining

As in many other areas of business, some processes are also possible in making money on cryptocurrency mining. You probably know that now, for example, no one hosts websites on their computers, but uses . It is cheaper, easier, more reliable and more profitable, finally.

So why mine on your hardware? This is inconvenient in many ways. After all, you need to buy video cards or ASICs, configure, mount and place them in a suitable place, monitor and constantly monitor the performance, as well as the state of this hardware and the situation for fire and other dangers. Really troublesome.

Therefore, they have appeared on the market for a long time. The company buys iron in bulk at a price well below retail (at which it will not be sold to you). It is placed in special rooms (data centers), where the cost of accommodation, cooling and monitoring is minimized. After that, they rent out part of the available power (or all of it) for mining.

Why don't they make money on this iron themselves? And why don't companies specializing in logistics, for example, deal with the entire process (from production to sale)? Because by focusing on one thing, you can achieve greater success and get more net profit by reducing risks. It's the same here.

Online services that provide cloud mining services have a stable income (by charging a fee for renting their equipment) no matter how correct their mining strategy is. It's like hosters who don't care what kind of sites they host and how successful they are - as long as they get money for rent.

Therefore, the main criterion for choosing cloud mining will be the analysis of reviews about the service on the Internet. Keep in mind that there are only a few really working data centers with real mining equipment for a hundred "tricks". And everything else is a fast-dying scam where you can earn money, but the risk of losing everything without having time to withdraw money is always very high.

If you'll allow me, I'll bring mine list of cloud mining services for bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies, which you can trust (at least you can start your consideration of the topic with them). It is clear that the situation in this market is constantly changing and therefore your additions in the comments will be very appropriate.

I can’t cite other cloud mining services that more or less actually mine cryptocurrency, and not build a pyramid. If you know, then write in the comments.

Conclusion about earning on mining

The efficiency of mining is directly proportional to the power that you are willing to donate to the resource in exchange for money. From a qualitative analysis, it can be concluded that income is not very impressive, taking into account the cost of electricity and other parameters. Cloud services also have their own nuances and a lot depends on how much it all brings you.

Now, of course, the growth of the cryptocurrency rate plays into the hands of the miners. True, the prospects of bitcoin and others, which are much talked and written about today, are not so unambiguously rosy: a large number of people are involved in the business, therefore, the likelihood of this “bubble” depreciating is growing. However, time will tell. So far, everything is very tempting, because the cost of cryptocurrency is growing by leaps and bounds.

Yes, I almost forgot, earned for the currency you need or withdraw it to your account through the list of exchangers provided by the link:

If you have the time and desire to understand the intricacies of how crypto exchanges work, then you can even more profitably use the cryptocurrency you have earned here:

Good luck to you! See you soon on the blog pages site

What is a cryptocurrency?

Speaking more intelligibly, then cryptocurrency is digital banknotes that have cryptographic protection. A new unit appears in the process of solving complex mathematical algorithms and consists of one hundred million parts, each of which carries a unique cryptographic code (signature). I would like to immediately note the fact that it is impossible to fake a digital currency, since information about each unique cryptographic signature is copied and stored on all computers involved in the extraction (mining) of cryptocurrency.

Cryptocurrency has only a digital form. It is impossible to feel it, put it in a purse or a safe in a bank. The main advantage of such money is that it is decentralized and not under the control of any state or institution.

The number of coins created is strictly limited, it cannot be changed. Everyone can find out for sure when, for example, the last bitcoin will be mined. Controlled emission gradually complicates and slows down the mining process, and also eliminates such problematic phenomena as inflation.

The value of digital money directly depends on demand. The more investors show interest in a particular cryptocurrency, investing a significant amount in its development, the more expensive it will be. State banknotes are backed by gold reserves, and cryptocurrencies are backed by investments.

What is cryptocurrency mining in simple words?

We have already mentioned that cryptocurrency appears as a result of solving complex mathematical algorithms. It is beyond the power of an ordinary person to effectively cope with such tasks, which is why they began to use the computing power of a computer for this purpose, and the process itself was called mining.

During the mining of cryptocurrency on a PC that is connected to the Internet and is involved in the cryptocurrency system, information comes in the form of blocks (blockchains). Such blocks contain a huge number of algorithms that need to be processed and the only correct solution obtained. Each decision is a digital signature for a certain information cell located in the block. And also it is the same cryptographic protection against hacking.

The blocks themselves appear as a result of transactions using a certain type of cryptocurrency. For example, if someone paid for a purchase in an online store using Bitcoin, and your equipment is configured to mine the Bitcoin cryptocurrency, then it will immediately detect this transaction and contribute to its completion by solving all the same algorithms. And you will receive a reward in the form of several hundred Satoshi (1 Bitcoin = 100,000,000 Satoshi).

First steps in mining

We hope that we managed to explain in simple terms what cryptocurrency mining is. If you decide to mine, for example, Ethereum or Bitcoin, it will be enough to have an idea of how the system works. Let's move on to the technical part and find out where to start cryptocurrency mining.

The most effective way to extract digital currency is mining using a video card. Just a few years ago, it was possible to earn several thousand bitcoins per day, using a weak video adapter and a simple processor for this purpose. However, the process of mining any demanded cryptocurrency is constantly becoming more complicated. And in order to profit today from this kind of activity, it is necessary to think about assembling a “farm”.

"Farm"

The most profitable cryptocurrency for mining is bitcoin, ethereum and littlecoin. It is on their extraction that the main capacities of miners around the world are directed. Day by day, getting these coins becomes more difficult. In order to speed up the process, miners have begun to build "farms" that have much in common with a conventional computer, but are significantly superior in performance.

To assemble the farm, you need to acquire the following components:

motherboard with the ability to connect multiple graphics adapters;
hard disk with a small volume;
high-frequency processor;
one bar of RAM (4-8 GB);
4-8 video cards with video memory from 2 GB;
powerful power supply (from 750 W);
risers (adapter extensions from the video card to the motherboard);
additional cooling;
start button;
frame.

Video cards for the "farm"

The most optimal video cards for cryptocurrency mining in 2017 are the Radeon RX 470. Having impressive characteristics, they are much cheaper than their closest competitors from Nvidia. However, giving preference to Radeon, you will have to think carefully about the additional cooling system, since these video adapters heat up much more than the same Nvidia ones. The average cost of a semi-professional "farm", working with four video cards, is $ 2300-2700, which is quite expensive for the budget of the average Russian. However, with proper setup and continuous operation, such a “farm” will pay for itself in 6-9 months and will start bringing you income.

Cryptocurrency mining step by step instructions

After the equipment has been purchased, fixed in the frame and connected, you need to install all the necessary software. The step-by-step instruction for cryptocurrency mining is as follows:

operating system installation;
registering a wallet and obtaining an address;
installation and configuration of the client;
pool selection.

OS and cryptocurrency wallets

We install the operating system in our "farm". Then we set up access to the Internet and start a special wallet for digital currency. You can create a wallet for specific coins, for example, bitcoin. But we recommend using a universal one, in which you can store absolutely any cryptocurrency.

Among those involved in cryptocurrency mining, the following multicurrency wallet services have extremely positive reviews:

MultiCoin Wallet.
holytransaction.
NoobWallet.
Cryptonator.
c-cex.com.

Cryptocurrency mining client program

Having chosen one of the services, on which, after registration, you will be assigned a unique address-account, you need to download the client program for mining digital currency. To figure out which program is better for cryptocurrency mining, we will be helped by a rating based on the popularity of a particular client, which looks like this:

50Miner. This program will not take up much space on your hard drive. With a fairly small “weight”, it has all the necessary functionality, and a simple and pleasant interface will make setting up the client simple even for a beginner.
BFGMiner. The most popular program in the post-Soviet space, as it has a Russian interface language. Setting up the client will not take much time, since everything is very clear. A distinctive feature from many other programs is the ability to control the cooling system. You can set the optimal parameters for the rotation of coolers.
CGMiner. This client is perfect for those who know perfectly how cryptocurrency mining works, and also have an idea about the MS Dos OS. Using this utility, you can create your own pools, configure them, and also increase the performance of video cards installed in the "farm" by overclocking them. In order to use the program, you must have high-performance graphics adapters.
DiabloMiner. This program is popular among experienced miners who know MS Dos. To use the client, it is necessary to equip the "farm" with a high-speed processor and powerful video cards. In the mining process, you can use the processing power of the processor and video adapters. Works with operating systems such as Mac, Linux, Windows.
bitminer. In terms of functionality, it is very similar to 50Miner. In order to start earning your first Satoshi, you do not need to install the program on your computer, you just need to run the "exe" file from the downloaded folder. A serious disadvantage of this client and 50Miner is the consumption of a large amount of RAM.

Pool selection

In our article, we have already talked about cryptocurrencies. In simple words, this is the earnings of digital currency by using the computing power of your equipment. And they also said that this process is constantly becoming more complicated. In order to make mining more efficient, people are united in groups (pools).

After installing one of them, you will have the opportunity to get involved in the work of one of the pools, of which there are already about two thousand at the moment.

Choosing the right pool can be confusing for a beginner. After all, there are both simple groups that mine only one type of digital currency, and multipools, in which it is possible to earn several cryptocurrencies at once, for example, bitcoin and ethereum.

Before connecting to a particular pool, it is better to spend a little time studying it. Give preference to those resources that have been working stably for more than one year and have the most positive reviews. Also pay attention to how the accumulated coins are paid out. In total, there are about thirteen of them, but the most popular are the following:

PPLNS - all miners in the pool receive profit, the amount of which directly depends on the last number of invested shares.
PPS - the resource determines the share of each pool member and pays for it according to the contract.
PROP - the amount of payments is proportional to your share of power in a particular pool.

The best pools in 2017

From the moment that cryptocurrency attracted the attention of millions of people, pools began to appear like mushrooms after rain. However, most services, unable to withstand the competition, cease to exist. Many of them never returned the money they earned to people who used the computing power of their PCs in their pools. In order not to lose your own money, we recommend that you use only proven and most reliable sites. The rating of pools today looks like this:

F2Pool.
AntPool.
BTC China.
B.W Pool.
Bitfury.

Cryptocurrency faucets

Not everyone has the opportunity to allocate about $ 3,000 from the family budget to build a "farm". But this is not a reason to think that you will never become a miner. Today, there is a way through which cryptocurrency mining without investments becomes real. It is this opportunity that is provided by sites that are called cryptocurrency faucets among miners.

The principle of operation of such resources is quite simple. You enter the site and perform one of the actions for which you receive a reward. For example, you may be prompted to enter a captcha, play a game, solve puzzles, or watch some kind of video sequence, after which a certain number of coins will be credited to your account. It may seem to you that the owner of the resource is a rich and very generous person, but this is not so. The webmaster receives income from advertising that has been placed on the site. The more visitors to its resource per day, the more the advertiser will pay for the banner space.

It will not be possible to earn a lot on such “faucets”, however, the collected funds can be reinvested in the purchase of capacities on resources offering cloud mining services. Such a scheme can be useful for people who do not know where to start cryptocurrency mining.

Top cryptocurrency faucets

In order not to waste time, we suggest that you familiarize yourself with the list of the most reliable and generous "faucets":

Cryptoblox.
Getmyfaucet.
Cryptospout.

Today there are many such resources, but most of them are insolvent.

Alexey Russkikh

It is unlikely that today you can find people who have not heard about mining. The emergence of cryptocurrencies and their integration into the global economy created an incredible hype. However, not everyone understands what mining is. This can create a misconception not only about the process itself, but also about the prospects for currencies. In this article, we will talk about the main technical features of mining, consider the principles of creating a currency, and also evaluate the degree of profitability and future prospects for digital money.

The concept of mining

Let's start with the most basic - the essence of the work of mining and determining the process of creating new crypto-money. If we simplify the term as much as possible, it turns out that it consists in mathematical calculations that are carried out on computers, farms or specially organized large mining centers. The latter are entire hangars stuffed with "iron", they have huge computing power and consume a large amount of electricity. The most common currency at the moment is bitcoin, which has become almost synonymous with the concept of "cryptocurrency".

In simple terms, cryptocurrency mining is a computational task based on a cryptographic algorithm (and hence cryptocurrency). During mining, new cryptocoins are issued.

In the case of Bitcoin, the block reward in the early years was 50 BTC. In 2012, the issue size decreased to 25, and since 2016 - to 12.5 BTC. According to forecasts, the emission will slow down by 2040, the reward for creating a block will not exceed 10-8 BTC. Further construction of new blocks will be carried out only at the expense of commission fees.

How does bitcoin appear

How are bitcoins created and cryptocurrency mined? The emission of cryptocurrency, unlike fiat currencies, does not occur with the help of a printing press. New coins give rise to transactions (transfers, purchases, sales, etc.). Carry out (carry out) transactions - miners. They collect them in blocks. Blocks are combined into a chain. It turns out a long chain consisting of transaction blocks.

The continuity of such a chain is ensured by including the hash sum of the previous block in the new block. Hashing is the transformation of input data (in our case, data on previous transactions) into a specific bit string.

An example of a SHA-256 hash of the phrase "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" = D7A8FBB3 07D78094 69CA9ABC B0082E4F 8D5651E4 6D3CDB76 2D02D0BF 37C9E592.

The hash sum is a digest of hashed blocks. Each new block contains information about all previous blocks. Thus, it is not possible to change a block without changing the hashes of previous blocks.

Hashing is carried out according to a cryptographic algorithm. It is with the help of such an algorithm that the “Byzantine generals problem” is solved, in which the success of the transaction is ensured, even if the majority of network participants are intruders.

If the problem is solved correctly, the block is created. For the created block, its creator (miner) receives a reward in the form of a new cryptocurrency. This is how new cryptocurrencies appear. This is how bitcoin is born.

Decentralized distribution system

The task of the Byzantine generals:

In the morning there will be a battle with the enemy. The army of Byzantium consists of several legions, each with its own general. All of them are subordinate to the Supreme Commander. Some generals of the legions are suspected of betrayal and interest in the fall of Byzantium. In the morning, everyone receives an order from the Supreme Commander-in-Chief: “advance” (on the enemy) or “retreat”.

Possible scenarios for the outcome of the battle:

All loyal generals join the battle - Byzantium wins (favorable outcome).
All loyal generals retreat - Byzantium will keep the army without losses (intermediate outcome).
Some loyal generals join the fight, some retreat - Byzantium is defeated (negative outcome).

It must be taken into account that the Supreme Commander can also be a traitor and give different orders in order to achieve the defeat of Byzantium.

If each general acts independently, the probability of Byzantium winning is extremely small.

How should generals communicate and what decision should be made?

This task reminds you of something, doesn't it? You guess right. Transactions are a favorable outcome. Generals are miners. The supreme commander is the network. Blockchain is a system in which mining is carried out, provides communication and does not allow traitors to carry out their malicious plans. The agreement between the generals and the Supreme Commander, in which a favorable outcome (transaction) is achieved, is called consensus.

Consensus structure

So, we have learned that blockchain is a system of consensus algorithms. Like any system, the blockchain has levels. There are only 3 of them:

Consensus nodes (miners) - form a blockchain, group transactions into blocks.
Audit nodes - distribute the load over the network, check the work of the miners.
Light nodes - clients - do not have the full version of the blockchain (cryptocurrency wallets, programs).

The Bitcoin blockchain is the largest blockchain. More than 7000 network nodes have a complete copy of it.

Cryptographic Algorithms

Despite the fact that the task of the Byzantine generals was solved back in the 90s, the blockchain is a more difficult task. All of its nodes are in a state of constant change. Cryptographic algorithms here are different from those used in the Byzantine puzzle.

Most cryptocurrencies use proof-of-work (PoW) and proof-of-stake algorithms. Read the article for more details about.

The extraction of currency based on PoW is commonly called mining (mining - English production), based on PoS - forging (forging - English forging).

The most common algorithm used by cryptocurrencies is SHA256.

The task of the algorithm is to hash blocks of transactions. SHA256 generates a 256 bit hash.

Mining speed is measured in hashes per second (h/s). As it turned out, the hash sum can be calculated with a pen and paper. If we expand the algorithm mathematically, then we can achieve a speed of 0.67 hashes per day (with a 12-hour load, this is approximately 0.000016 h / s). However, most likely, this is not the best way to mine, because. modern miner systems are able to build blocks at a speed of several terahashes / sec, which is a quintillion times faster than a person.

VIDEO - bitcoin mining with pen and paper:

In addition to SHA256, the following encryption algorithms are known:

ECDSA;
SHA3-512;

Table. The most famous cryptocurrencies with types of algorithms:

Mining Options

For a beginner, this area can be completely incomprehensible, so it is worth considering the most relevant types of mining. According to the principle and mechanism of action, today they are divided into:

mining on video cards ();
mining on Asic or just asics (specially designed devices that have more computing power and much lower power consumption);
forging (or);
association in .

The latter type of mining is becoming more and more popular. Due to the arrival of “big players” on the market and the significant complication of mining cryptocurrencies, which require more and more power for home mining and singles, pools are the only way to somehow earn. Otherwise, a lot will depend on luck, which is a rather important factor when opening new blocks.

Cloud mining is becoming incredibly popular as it does not require investments in expensive hardware. For example, the Hashflare platform makes it possible to buy contracts for the production of several cryptocurrencies: BTC, ETH, LTC, Zcash and Dash.

As for the currencies themselves, Bitcoin is the most popular today, although the following cryptocurrencies can also bring profit from mining:

Ethereum;
Zcash;
Monero
Litecoin;
Ripple
Dash.

It is also worth considering that in addition to farms, asics and other technologies, computing on processors has long become an unprofitable and inefficient process. Today it makes almost no sense.

How profitable can mining be?

Initially, it is worth clarifying that mining for beginners ceased to be a simple and profitable activity back in 2016. In 2018, it became completely unfavorable. Even 7-8 years ago, even on one PC, you could get quite an impressive monthly income. Unfortunately, today it will make sense to mine only in the following cases:

there is access to free electricity (then the main costs of mining, that is, paying electricity bills, can be ignored);
there are 4 or more video cards available (especially from AMD);
there is a sufficient amount of free money that can be invested to save from inflation and a small income in the future.

In other words, anyone can. That is why video cards disappeared from the shelves in a very short time, and even the largest stores in the world justified themselves for empty warehouses. What happened a few months later?

All hopes of receiving passive income burst, the payback of video cards increased by 2-3 times, the complexity of mining increased significantly, which significantly reduced income. Without investments to increase computing power, without buying ASICs (which are already very expensive), mining is now unprofitable for most participants. The minimum income will be "eaten up" by electricity bills and other costs, and the profit as a result will be so insignificant that it will not justify either the investment or the time spent.

Consider a short example of currency gains in 2018:

The average investment in mining this cryptocurrency is about $2000.
Without taking into account electricity, with an average farm income in the range of $ 125-140 per month, the payback will be from 15 to 19 months, depending on changes in the value of the currency.
If we take into account electricity, which on average will cost in Russia with such investments at the level of $30-34 per month, the total income will decrease and will be about $100, and the return on the farm, on the contrary, will increase.

At the same time, simply working in any specialized position, gaining experience and improving qualifications, will in most cases be even more profitable than mining.

Greetings friends, in this article, by the way, the first on this site about mining (the article is constantly updated), we will talk about how to start mining on a video card (GPU) and where to start. If you are too lazy to read, at the end of the article there will soon be a video on how to start mining for beginners. But first, I advise you to read the first 2 paragraphs on how to start mining for a beginner.

Mining start

This article deals with, as you understood above, about mining on a video card and step-by-step instructions. This mining guide is for beginners. We will set up mining, connect, install software, overclock the video card, and so on.

Mining getting started

What do we need to start mining from scratch

step by step mining

And probably the most important thing for mining on a video card is a video card (GPU), at least one, also more or less modern, about no more than 3-4 years old, and not a budget one. (It is also possible to mine on, hard drives and). If you want to choose a video card, then you are here -, the best cards are selected there, tables and top are compiled.
Naturally, a computer (system unit) or with an operating system installed (Windows x64). It's the 64 bit version
Decide on the currency that we will mine. Depends on the video card, in our example, the description will be mining ether eth. It is better to mine on Nvidia at the moment (12/28/2017) ZCASH - more on that below. Now broadcast.
Since mining is online, we need the Internet. Fast speed is not needed, but good ping is desirable, more on that below.
Select a pool (POOL) where we will mine ethereum (do not confuse with etherium). Next, select the miner program and configure.
Choose an exchange or a wallet where ours will drip and accumulate for mined ethereum coins, as well as services where you can transfer our earned coins to rubles and withdraw to a card.

Mining instruction start

And so let's start, you have a suitable video card and everything listed above in paragraphs 1, 2, 4 which are above and drivers must be installed. If there is no video card, then read which article. If you do not have video cards and equipment, for more information about what kind of equipment you need for mining, follow the link -.

In our example, there will be Windows 7 x64 (by the way, ether mining is only on x64 bit operating systems), two AMD Radeon Sapphire RX 470 4gb video cards. The processor does not matter, in principle, as well as the amount of RAM, but it is recommended from 4 gigabytes. The easiest maning kit for beginners. UPD 3 GB and lower versions of video cards are no longer under go for mining ether, if you have 3gb or less, then you need to look for an alternative. There are other algorithms and currencies for mining, the list is .

Internet fast is not needed, but with a good ping. If you connect via a cable, then of course it’s better than the Wi-Fi option, but Wi-Fi is also suitable (I’ll write about this later), you can also read -.

How to start mining

Choose a pool (pool) where we will mine Ethereum coins:

1.ethermine.org

Advantages of this pool:

+ Large pool power
+ Small and fair commission 1%
+Good ping

Pool in English
A bit incomprehensible site (for beginners), but we will describe here how to set it up using its example

2.dwarfpool.com/eth
pros:

+ for those who are in Russia, they have a server in Russia which is good for ping
+ a small commission of 1% which is not secretly overestimated
+ Good pool power
+ Easy miner setup

- A little incomprehensible site (for beginners)

3. www2.coinmine.pl/eth/
Pros:

+ Honest small commission 1%
+ good ping
+ good power
+ Better protection

- More complex customization manner
- There are also difficulties with the site

4.eth.nanopool.org/

+ Simple site
+ Easy miner setup
+ Big power

- There are rumors among miners and many claim that the stated commission of 1% is well underestimated

At the moment, I have chosen and will show the setting using example 1 - ethermine.org open the site in your browser

So the pool was chosen, now you need to select a wallet or an exchange in advance. What is a wallet, Ethereum Wallet? This wallet is located on your computer, coins are received on it, then from this wallet through the services they can be withdrawn to the card, which is not profitable at the moment, it is more profitable to transfer to bitcoins, and then to the card in rubles, but this can be done on the exchange. But the wallet is much safer than exchanges, soon I will write an article on how to create
wallet.
But for beginners it is better to work with exchanges

Binance is a more professional exchange, a good alternative to exmo!
Exmo is a great exchange, especially for beginners, loves miners.
Yobit is a good Russian exchange.

There are many of them, but let's start with the simplest, then with the advent of experience you will switch to a more interesting exchange, I also advise you to read the list of good ones.

After downloading, unpack the archive with the miner to a place convenient for you, the folder into which you unpack, preferably what was named in Latin (in English). This is what the content should look like.

Now let's start setting up the miner and mining
Next, the Start.bat file, right-click on it, and select edit. If the Run button appears, click it.

Here is the code for our file that we will run

and we need to edit it for your pool and your wallet (exchange)
-epool and after we specify the address of the pool, since we chose ethermine.org, we should succeed:

Epool eu1.ethermine.org:4444

(This is the address and port for mining, for other pools you can find out on the pool website)

Do not close text editor

If you do not have equipment, then I advise you to read -.

Also, if you do not want to suffer with setting up and buying equipment, there is a cloud mining solution -.

The video of this article is coming soon - how to create mining.
Mining in Russia is developing, so you develop with us in 2020, good luck to everyone in mining, now you are not a mining beginner!!!

If your card is less than 3 gigabytes, then you can choose a different algorithm, the list is .

Write questions in the comments.

You can also ask your questions on the forum, and be sure to get an answer -.

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