Mining cryptocurrency is somewhat similar to mining precious metals. While miners of precious metals will unearth gold, silver, or diamonds, crypto miners will trigger the release of new coins into circulation. For miners to be rewarded with new coins, they need to deploy machines that solve complex mathematical equations in the form of cryptographic hashes.
Crypto mining is one of the best ways to earn cryptocurrencies, however mining profitable coins can be expensive, requiring high-end computing machines. Apart from machine costs, miners have to factor and take into consideration other expenses like maintenance and electricity.
Cloud mining offers crypto enthusiasts the opportunity to mine cryptocurrencies while paying a fraction of the total costs. Miners pay subscription fees to mining companies that have mining centers located in mining friendly regions and get profits based on hash power subscribed to.
Hello there and welcome to HotNaija, your one-stop destination for latest entertainment news, celebrity gossips and stories, lifestyle content and cryptocurrency news. Today we're going to be sharing with you exclusively on how you can mine cryptocurrency in Nigeria for free in 2021. So without any further ado, let's get started.
★ What Is Required To Start Mining Cryptocurrencies?
To be able to mine cryptocurrencies, computers with special software specifically designed to solve complicated, cryptographic mathematic equations are required. In the early days of technology, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin could be mined with a simple CPU chip on a home computer. However, over the years, CPU chips have become impractical for mining most cryptocurrencies due to the increasing difficulty levels.
As of 2021, mining cryptocurrencies requires a specialized GPU or an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) miner. In addition, the GPUs in the mining rig must be connected to a reliable internet connection at all times. Each crypto miner is also required to be a member of an online crypto mining pool as well.
Note: Most people think of crypto mining simply as a way of creating new coins. Crypto mining, however, also involves validating cryptocurrency transactions on a blockchain network and adding them to a distributed ledger. Most importantly, crypto mining prevents the double-spending of digital currency on a distributed network.
Similar to physical currencies, when one member spends cryptocurrency, the digital ledger must be updated by debiting one account and crediting the other. However, the challenge of a digital currency is that digital platforms are easily manipulated. Therefore, Bitcoin’s distributed ledger only permits verified miners to update transactions on the digital ledger. This gives miners the extra responsibility of securing the network from double-spending.
Meanwhile, new coins are generated to reward miners for their effort in securing the network. Since distributed ledgers lack a centralized authority, the mining process is crucial for validating transactions. Miners are therefore incentivized to secure the network by participating in the transaction validation process that increases their chances of winning newly minted coins.
Keep In Mind: In order to ensure that only verified crypto miners can mine and validate transactions, a proof-of-work (PoW) consensus protocol has been put into place. PoW also secures the network from any external attacks.
★ Is Mining Bitcoin Hard?
Bitcoin enthusiasts around the world acquire Bitcoin basically by – purchasing Bitcoins on a verified cryptocurrency exchange; accepting Bitcoins as a form of payment for goods and services, and through mining new Bitcoins. As for the mining Bitcoin, it signifies the process of discovering new Bitcoins by solving actual complex mathematical problems.
And yes! The process is as hard as digging the ground in the hope of finding gold. As a matter of fact, miners need to set up a node (network) of high powered computers to be able to find out the verification key of Bitcoin transactions.
However, miners aren't expected to just verify one Bitcoin transaction – they are required to constantly try to verify many of them at the same time. All of these transactions are virtually locked up in a Blockchain (a form of ledger network) as soon as they're gathered into boxes known as hashes. Miners only run the software to find out the key that can open the box.
As soon as a computer in the node finds the key, the box or hash pops open and the transactions are verified. Miners are to solve thousands of incorrect puzzles to find out the correct one. The process is as hard as finding a needle in a packed pile of hay. So, after successfully creating a Bitcoin block, the miners get rewarded with 25 newly generated Bitcoins.
★ How Does Bitcoin Mining Work?
As mentioned earlier, Bitcoin mining is nothing but the hash verification process to validate the Bitcoin transactions. After validating the transactions, miners provide the essential security for the distributed ledger of the Bitcoin network. The hashes measure the speed of mining Bitcoins per second.
A new Bitcoin block is produced when a miner initiates new transactions to the network of nodes, using the hash of the previous block. Miners verify that the new block is accurate and after that, the network confirms the transaction.
Bitcoin miners get compensated for their effort through the Bitcoin network. The mining pool releases newly formed Bitcoins for each miner. These rewarded Bitcoins are provided according to the computing power miners contribute to the process of mining.
★ How Do You Mine for Free?
To become a potential Bitcoin miner, you need to have the most essential things in hand before mining free Bitcoins. First off, you need to install a Bitcoin wallet and create an account where you could hold whatever you earn. After creating the digital wallet account, you will need an encrypted online bank account for transferring your earnings.
Secondly, you would require free mining software on your device. After installing free Bitcoin mining software, you need to set up the software and link your Bitcoin mining account with the Bitcoin wallet.
★ Is A Bitcoin Wallet Necessary?
Setting up a Bitcoin wallet is the basic thing a potential Bitcoin miner is required to do before starting the mining process. A Bitcoin wallet will allow the miner to store, send, and receive Bitcoins securely and will also prevent Bitcoins from being exposed to possible risks.
Miners are allowed to store everything in the wallet starting from the smallest unit of Bitcoin (a Satoshi), to hundreds and thousands of BTCs. Miners need to create a wallet address using their email ID before installing any free mining software in the device.
★ Download A Free Bitcoin Mining Software
If you’ve put together a machine that you’ve decided you’re going to use for mining Bitcoin, then it’s time to move on to the next step and find some software that will allow you to do this. There are plenty of Bitcoin software options available for this purpose, but when you’re just getting started you might want to try a free option. By going with free software, you’ll be able to figure out how the whole process works at no cost.
The miners get the work delivered by the software and further complete the work and give the information to the software. The mining software relays the information back to the Blockchain network as well as to the Bitcoin mining pool.
Note: The actual Bitcoin mining process is primarily handled by the mining hardware. But, the Bitcoin mining software is also essential to connect you to the distributed Blockchain network and your Bitcoin mining pool as well, if you are connected to a network of mining pools.
Majority of the free Bitcoin mining softwares out there can run on nearly every operating system, such as Windows, Linux, OSX, etc. Some of the software can even be ported to work on some low cost, credit-card sized computers such as Raspberry Pi. You can port such software with some modifications depending on your mining setup.
The Bitcoin mining software also monitors the input and output in the Blockchain and displays general statistics for the temperature, hash rate, fan speed, and the average speed of the miner.
There are several different types of free Bitcoin mining software out there having advantages and disadvantages each. So, you need to ensure that you have done your own due research on all the various mining software available, regarding the safety of your mining device. Below are some of the best free Bitcoin mining software:
• BeMine
• EasyMiner
• BTCMiner
• MinePeon
• MultiMiner
• BFGMiner
• CGMiner
• Awesome Miner
• 50Miner
• BeMine:
Bemine is a cloud mining platform that offers novel features and practices for users to mine cryptocurrencies with minimal learning curve. Since its inception in 2018, BeMine has over the years grown massively and now boasts of more than 50,000 users globally. BeMine offers extensive features that make it ideal for crypto enthusiasts looking to get into mining. It is well known that long-term mining is the best since it offers more profits due to price increase from cryptocurrencies over time.
BeMine is ideal for long-term miners thanks to its flexible contracts, that provide users full assurance of their capital. It also provides a great market for users that don’t have huge resources to purchase higher hash rates and prefer to start small while earning steady returns from their mining activities. Miners are invited to store their equipment in partnered data-centers, while users can purchase and store mining equipment, without the need for personal presence during the purchase, transportation, installation, configuration, and maintenance of ASIC.
• EasyMiner:
Looking for something a little more user-friendly? EasyMiner is designed to be a free and open-source option that has a GUI-based system. Easyminer is highly optimized for x86, x86-64 machines and supports the getwork mining protocol as well as the Stratum mining protocol. Mining can be used for both solo and pooled mining.
It is a GUI based free Bitcoin miner for Windows, Linux, and Android. EasyMiner auto configures your Bitcoin miners and is very transparent in terms of usage. With a user-friendly dashboard, the software provides performance graphs for easy visualization of your Bitcoin mining process.
• BTCMiner:
If you’re in need of cloud-based mining software, you should consider BTCMiner. This system is based on FPGA mining hardware. Once you start mining, you can begin to withdraw your Bitcoin to your wallet, starting at only 0.005 Bitcoin. BTCMiner automatically finds the frequency with the highest hash rate, to achieve the most profitable mining.
BTCMiner is an open-sourced Bitcoin miner containing a USB interface for communicating. This interface reduces additional hardware requirements such as the JTAG programmer. The process of BTCMiner is fully automated in its system. The software scales dynamic frequency based on error measurement.
• MinePeon:
It is also an open-sourced Bitcoin miner with prominent stability and performance. Once it is installed on the mining device, the user needs to configure it and then leave it to do the mining works automatically forever without any human interactions.
• MultiMiner:
MultiMiner is a desktop application for crypto-coin mining and monitoring on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. MultiMiner simplifies switching individual devices (GPUs, ASICs, FPGAs) between crypto-currencies such as Bitcoin and Litecoin. MultiMiner uses the underlying mining engine (BFGMiner) to detect available mining hardware and then presents an intuitive screen for choosing the coins you’d like to mine.
MultiMiner was designed from day-one to cater to both new miners and power users. From the Getting Started wizard to MultiMiner Remoting, you can be certain you’ve found the Bitcoin mining software to fit your needs.
• BFGMiner:
It is a modular ASIC/FPGA miner that features dynamic clocking and monitoring along with remote interface capabilities. Written in C, the software is in-built with multi-threaded multi-pool GPU. The software also includes support for OpenWrt-capable routers.
BFGMiner features dynamic clocking, monitoring, and remote interface capabilities. This software is compatible with FPGA and ASIC mining hardware. When you use BFGMiner, you’ll be hash on the most popular mining algorithms like Scrypt and SHA256d. You can even use BFGMiner to mine multiple cryptocurrencies at the same time.
• CGMiner:
Developed in 2011 by Australian anesthetist and programmer Con Kolivas for mining cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Litecoin, CGMiner is widely regarded as one of the best bitcoin mining software available due to its open-source nature, simple interface with direct controls, and cross-platform and cross-hardware compatibility.
It’s available on Windows, macOS and Linux, making it an extremely versatile option. The software is an open-source project written in C. This is an ASIC/FPGA miner that includes support and binaries for RPi and OpenWrt routers.
CGMiner uses a command-line interface and is filled with other great features like overclocking, monitoring, fan speed control, and remote interface capabilities. The software also offers advanced detection of new blocks with a mini-database, making it easy to scale up hashing power without delays.
It also supports binary loading of kernels, multi GPU support, and CPU mining support. It is a very simple and lightweight miner in the crypto mining world. The software also provides stable performance with decent hash rates.
• Awesome Miner:
It is a complete solution to manage and monitor mining operations. It’s scalable up to 200,000 ASIC miners and 25,000 GPU/CPU miners. Manage and monitor GPU miners running on either Windows or Linux. Awesome Miner Remote Agent supports both platforms.
This software includes support for over 50 of the most popular mining software. Several hundred cryptocurrencies are included with statistics and revenue information. Full flexibility to add and deploy any custom mining software, algorithm, cryptocurrency, and mining pool.
Display and monitor GPU properties including clock speed, fan speed, power consumption, and temperature. Define actions to take in case a GPU is failing or running too warm.
• 50Miner:
This is a GUI frontend miner for Windows. To start mining with this software, a miner only needs a username and password. It starts the mining process automatically with the optimal hardware settings. This software can work in advanced mode.
★ Do You Really Need To Join A Bitcoin Mining Pool?
Once you’re ready with a Bitcoin wallet and free mining software to mine Bitcoins, you should join a Bitcoin mining pool. A group of Bitcoin miners working together to solve a block is called the Bitcoin mining pool. The mining pool shares the rewards received after creating a new Bitcoin block.
A mining pool is needed to reduce the time of an individual miner. Because without a Bitcoin mining pool an individual miner might take over a year to mine a single Bitcoin and will never earn any Bitcoins. It’s far more convenient to share the work of each miner in a pool and split the reward with the members in a much larger group of Bitcoin miners.
Mining pools allow miners to combine their computational resources in order to increase their chances of finding and mining blocks on a blockchain. If a mining pool succeeds, the reward is distributed across the mining pool, in proportion to the amount of resources that each miner contributed to the pool.
Most crypto mining applications come with a mining pool; however, crypto enthusiasts now also join together online to create their own mining pools. Because some pools earn more rewards than others, miners are free to change pools whenever they need to.
Miners consider official crypto mining pools more reliable, since they receive frequent upgrades by their host companies, as well as regular technical support. The best place to find mining pools is “CryptoCompare”, where miners can compare different mining pools based on their reliability, profitability, and the coin that they want to mine.
★ Is Crypto Mining Legal?
Most jurisdictions and authorities are yet to enact laws governing cryptocurrencies, meaning that, for most countries, the legality of crypto mining remains unclear.
Under the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), crypto miners are considered money transmitters, so they may be subject to the laws that govern that activity. In Israel, for instance, crypto mining is treated as a business and is subject to corporate income tax. In India and elsewhere, regulatory uncertainty persists, although Canada and the United States appear friendly to crypto mining.
However, apart from jurisdictions that have specifically banned cryptocurrency-related activities, very few countries prohibit crypto mining.
Thoughts: For aspiring crypto miners, curiosity and a strong desire to learn are simply a must. The crypto mining space is constantly changing as new technologies emerge. The professional miners who receive the best rewards are constantly studying the space and optimizing their mining strategies to improve their performance.
On the other hand, climate change advocates have become increasingly concerned, as more and more fossil fuels are burned to fuel the mining process. Such concerns have pushed cryptocurrency communities like Ethereum to consider switching from PoW frameworks to more sustainable frameworks, such as proof-of-stake frameworks.
Well, there you have it. Make sure you check out our other blog posts for more information about the crypto market and trending entertainment headlines. Thanks for reading!
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