What is Cryptocurrency Mining? | Crypto Mining 101
Note: Check this if mining with Tesla V100 or GTX 1080Ti.
Here’s the cryptocurrency mining guide that you’ve always wanted yet never found.
Learn what is cryptocurrency mining and how to really start today.
I know what you’re thinking. You’ve read so much on Bitcoin mining and you’re tired of it.
It sounds nice at first. You can start with a small investment and make some money. But then, you realize there’s more to it.
- You need to buy the equipment
- Then you must put it all together
- You must then install the console software and pray those commands from the internet will work
- Then comes the electricity- which you must take into account when calculating the profit!?
- And you also must consider the current Crypto market price!!??
If you’re a beginner and a non-technical person- the above can sound too much.
But don’t worry. This is not some scary type of guide. On the contrary, you will start mining Bitcoin today.
It may not be enough to buy you a Maserati, but it will be enough to get you started with cryptocurrency mining, today.
And the best part?
This method works so well it can be scaled indefinitely.
Once you learn what is cryptocurrency mining and how to do it, only the sky, the will, and the resources will be the limit of your crypto mining operations.
I know that you’re interested in crypto mining. And now you finally get to learn it the easy way:
What is Cryptocurrency Mining?
I assume you’re into cryptocurrencies already, otherwise, you wouldn’t be reading a text on crypto mining.
If this isn’t the case, just type “what is cryptocurrency” on big G, then come back if you want to learn the mining part.
The easiest analogy is comparing cryptocurrency with gold.
How do you get the gold? Miners come into the mine and get the gold out of it.
How do you get the cryptocurrency? Well, miners come into the mine and get the cryptocurrency out of it.
In the latter case, mine is a computer network and miners are the computers working on this network.
A funny way to picture this would be to imagine the robotized future.
Instead of people going into dirty mines(or robots), the financial system goes digital.
People become the supervisors of miners(computers) who mine digital gold.
The system is mathematically based(no space for error and malversation), and people don’t die or get sick inside the dark mine holes.
Luckily for us, this vision exists for quite some time now.
Maybe not into exactly the same form as I presented, but certainly in line with what I said, and believe it or not with hundreds of other benefits.
Now, before I show you how to mine your own share of this new digital gold, we have to take some more stuff into consideration.
As I said before, you will learn how to start mining cryptocurrency, today.
And for this to happen, you’ll need to have mining hardware. Guess what- you already have it:
Crypto Mining Hardware
Remember the analogy from above? Well, the analogy becomes reality.
Unless you’re reading this from a mobile phone or tablet, you can use the reading device for cryptocurrency mining.
As long as you’re reading this from a PC or laptop, you can start mining cryptocurrency today. And it is that simple!
As you progress and learn about Bitcoin mining, you’ll realize that certain things work better than others, and can bring you more profit.
The same goes for cryptocurrency mining hardware, especially for the mining GPUs.
But there will be plenty of time to gather that info, especially if you decide to give it a go. If you do, this blog can help you a lot.
For now, let’s keep it simple. Many beginners try learning too much and implementing too little, thus giving up quickly.
So, let’s go back to the mining hardware. You need any PC or laptop, that has Windows, Linux, or Mac installed and running.
If you satisfy this requirement, you can proceed. If not, you can probably borrow one from your family or friends, at least to test and learn how easy you can mine cryptocurrency.
So we’re checking the first two “scary” things needed for crypto mining- buying the mining equipment as well making sure it’s connected and working properly.
Since we have that in place(we can use any PC/laptop as a beginner), we should be brave enough to tackle the third “scary” thing:
You must then install the console software and pray those commands from internet will work
(don’t worry, I’ll simplify that one for you as well)
Cryptocurrency Mining Software
Why do you need the mining software?
Well, I could try and probably make another analogy to gold mining, but this is so simple we don’t need an analogy with some mining.
As you probably know, without power and software, your PC is just a dead stupid metal.
Whether you want to play music, watch a movie or let us say check your Facebook notifications, you need to power the PC on, as well as install the software that will play music or do any other operation.
The same goes for crypto mining. You plug in your PC, then install the mining software that will mine cryptocurrency for you.
GUI mining software
As promised, I won’t make your life miserable by introducing you to some console miners that scare the shit out of you.
Instead, I’ll show you some neat mining apps that you can use to learn about crypto mining.
Let me not be misunderstood- these apps are extremely easy to install and manage, but they don’t lack the strength and ability to be scaled and used on serious and large mining operations.
It’s simple- The current year is 2022, and Bitcoin has been around since 2009.
After 12 years, I’m happy to say that Bitcoin and cryptocurrency mining isn’t as hard and geeky as it was 10, 5, or even 3 years ago.
Cryptocurrency mining is here to stay.
And naturally, over time, we got a shift from old ugly console miners to something more suitable to the general population- GUI(graphical user interface) miners.
What this means is that I’m going to share with you a few brilliant apps that you can use for crypto mining.
All of these apps are very easy to use.
Furthermore, they are very easy to set up.
In just a few minutes, you’ll be able to download, install and configure a mining app that’s easy to use and maintain.
Here we go, top cryptocurrency mining software to use in 2022:
Kryptex
This tool is the mining software of your dreams. Very easy to set up, nice GUI, vast number of payment methods as well other great stuff.
I’m a very satisfied user of Kryptex for years now, and I strongly recommend it to anyone willing to start with cryptocurrency mining.
Unfortunately, it works only on Windows, but don’t worry if you’re using Linux or Mac. The next tool on this list works just everywhere :)
Cudo Miner
I’ve been with them since their first beta phases, and I’m not confused by their sudden breakthrough inside the crypto mining markets.
Cudo Miner works wonderfully on many versions of Windows, Linux, and Mac, so I’m sure they’re serious about their business.
But besides that, it’s important to say that their software actually does a good job.
For beginners, it’s in my top 2 favorites, so definitely try it out, and if you’re on Linux or Mac- stop wasting your time.
There isn’t a better mining software solution for Linux or Mac at the moment.
I really like the tools from above, and I’ve used them a lot in the past. Kryptex and Cudo I still use 24 hours a day and am sure there’s no easier solution for mining starters.
But with all that said, it would be a shame not to mention a few more mining apps that I feature on this website.
In fact, I believe all these apps are so easy to install and manage, and I encourage my readers to try all of them.
Certain apps may work better for some miners than others, and this especially depends on the hardware you have.
Crypto mining apps worth considering
If you want to just start as quickly as possible, try with the 2 apps above.
They are guaranteed to give you a solid start and have proved best in my own experience.
But if you want to try a bit more or simply have enough time to test as many mining apps as possible, give a go to these fellas as well:
For some of these apps, I’ve also made Bitcoin mining software videos, so feel free to check them out prior to installing, or if you get into problems during the process.
Once you install any of the apps, you can call yourself a miner beginner, and if this is the case, I’ll assume I’ve accomplished my mission.
You’ve made it! In less than 1500 simple words, you’ve learned how to start your cryptocurrency mining journey.
Since I’ve made my promise and showed you how to do it today, I hope you won’t mind introducing you to two more things involved.
If this was more than enough for you- take a break.
You’ve already accomplished more than anyone who stopped because he thought it would be too hard to start.
And you’ve already accomplished enough for the day. You can sit back and watch as your PC mines the first fraction of your own cryptocurrency.
But whether you’re eager to learn a bit more, or want to bookmark this and continue on another occasion, here are the two more things important for profitable mining:
Electricity Price and Crypto Mining
Your PC won’t work without power, and you already know that. Most of you can also assume this holds for cryptocurrency mining as well.
But what you may not know is that Crypto Mining is fairly power consuming.
The mining consists of a vast amount of complex mathematical calculations.
They are responsible for securing the network, and they do it very well. But this requires lots of electricity.
With your own PC, it’s not a big deal. That’s why I didn’t mention it earlier.
But if you want to scale, this is an expense that must be considered.
Cryptocurrency mining spends so much electricity that high electricity prices make it unprofitable.
Due to this, people try buying and mining with equipment that spends less electricity while giving good performance.
The most serious ones even change countries in order to fit the electricity bill inside their mining business models.
Since you’re just a beginner, I advise you to inform yourself as well as you can. There are lots of resources online, as well on this website.
For now, just keep in mind that you must rule in this factor if you decide to scale and become a large Bitcoin miner.
Crypto Market Prices and Bitcoin Mining
Don’t worry, this is the last bit needed to understand in order to become a successful miner.
And it’s also easy and intuitive to understand. To wrap things up, I think another gold analogy will fit quite well:
A certain expense must be taken into consideration when mining gold. Miners have this on paper, and they also know the gold price, so they can calculate whether gold mining will be profitable for them.
The same goes for cryptocurrency mining- you need to calculate the expenses associated with your mining operation(mining hardware, software, and electricity), and then check the price of the cryptocurrency you want to mine.
Only with all those factors included, you can decide whether mining will be profitable for you.
For cryptocurrency prices, I advise you to take a look at this website.
For hardware prices and their power usage, you can check some articles I wrote on the best hardware and GPUs for mining.
To expand the analogy- things don’t have to be in the future as they are right now.
The gold price can change with time, and so does the cryptocurrency price.
If the market looks bad but you believe it will stand better in the future- you still can mine then sell when you think is the best time.
I wrote some more about this in the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency mining business.
All in all, you should be a beginner miner now. As you hopefully found out, cryptocurrency mining is a fairly easy process in 2022.
And if you feel the same, I can only wish you luck and point you to some more material from this website.
Take a look at the beginners’ guide to mining as well as the mining software FAQ.