How to Mine Ether: The Most Affordable Ways

The cryptocurrency market is growing every day. The two most popular coins were and still are Bitcoin and Ether.

Previously, an ordinary user could get Ether in two ways: buy it from another user on an exchange or make it himself. For the second method, one had to buy equipment and install certain software, as well as understand the actual process of mining Ether.

On September 14, 2022, the Ethereum network changed its algorithm. The most important consequence of this change was that it is no longer possible to mine ether. Blockchain switched to stacking, and the main “heroes” of the network are no longer miners, but the so-called validators – ether holders who have “blocked” their part of crypto coins.

Alternatives to mining Ethereum today
There is another way to make money from cryptocurrency. It is applicable to any cryptocurrency and to Ethereum in particular – it is trading.

OKX is a convenient trading platform for trading cryptocurrencies.
Dash 2 Trade is an original cryptocurrency project that helps to analyze the crypto market and earn from trading and investing.

The main ways to mine Etheram in the past

There were several ways to mine this cryptocurrency: in pools or solo. It is impossible not to mention the option of cloud mining – it was another convenient way to mine the cryptocurrency, without spending money on expensive equipment.

The most convenient way to mine Ether was to join a pool. Essentially, joining a pool is jointly mining a particular cryptocurrency. There are pools for a wide variety of coins, so miners all over the world are willing to join together to increase their likelihood of making money.

There are several profit sharing schemes in pools:

PPS – accounts for shares. As a result, a miner is rewarded for each one sent, although its value may be minimal. Great for beginners, such pools do not necessarily give the right solution to the problem, but the commissions in such pools are the highest.
PPLNS – counts only mined blocks. When the pool mines a new block, it makes special calculations and then divides the profit between all participants, but does not forget about the commission to the organizer.

Other mining pools

Considering that pool mining is the most reliable way to mine a block, you should be careful when choosing a pool. They work on different terms and with different ways of getting the reward – you should definitely check that before you join a pool. Almost all of them use special accounting systems, plus the pool itself always takes a commission on the final result.

Popular among users except OKX, are considered to be the following:

EthPool – the very first pool, the oldest. There was a time when it even rejected new users because of the high load.
Minergate – multicurrency pool. It is popular, but users sometimes complain about the impossibility to withdraw money;
Nanopool – a fairly young pool, but the number of participants in it is more than 400.
WeiPool – handy, simple interface, but it is a very new resource.
First of all, when choosing a pool, you should pay attention to its capacity and the number of participants. When mining cryptocurrency, it is important to understand that the complexity of mining is constantly changing, and to mine each subsequent block will be more and more difficult. It is recommended to choose only proven pools, so as not to run into scammers.

There are also some peculiarities of mining in pools, which should be taken into account: for example, the mandatory fulfillment of the pool rules. They are stipulated in advance, and a participant should decide if he is ready to obey the rules accepted in the system or not.

As a convenience, some pools offer to test the equipment and the pool, which usually takes 2-3 days and gives a complete understanding of whether a particular pool suits a miner or whether he should look for something else.

Solo Mining

It is risky to mine alone. You need to have sufficient computing power, and not every miner can do that. You will have to buy very expensive equipment to compete with the same.

Analysts say that solo mining is receding into the background and will soon be completely gone, but for now there are still enthusiasts who want to mine blocks alone. This looks profitable only at first, because in general it is almost unrealistic to mine alone, especially now. There is news on the Internet about some lucky people who mine an entire block for themselves, but these are just isolated cases.

To work solo, you can either join special solo pools (the commission will be about 1%), or create a pool yourself, if you have enough knowledge and skills. The advantage is that the self-made pool will open more statistics, which means that it is better to understand if you can get the reward and if you have enough power for mining.

The advantage of solo mining is obvious – you can get the reward only for yourself and not share it with others. That will not be the case with pool mining: there, the mining is divided among the participants according to a specific system.

If it still seems that solo mining is easier, it is better to use special programs.

Cloud mining

If there are problems with the purchase of equipment, and the current capacity is not enough for the stable work of the miner, then there is a way out – to use cloud solutions. It is no longer necessary to buy devices, you can simply rent them.

It’s convenient because you don’t have to think about repairs and electricity bills, as with your own equipment – companies that rent out computers take responsibility for any breakdown.

The problem is the price – if the price of a crypto coin falls, then cloud mining becomes unprofitable. It is important for the rental company that the equipment tenant pays them money in any case, no matter how much the cryptocurrency is worth now.

Another problem in cloud mining is scammers; it’s very easy to run into them. Ideally, choose the service most carefully, choose long and try different firms.

The following companies are most often mentioned positively: IQ Mining, HashFlare and Genesis Mining. Experienced miners recommend evaluating services according to several criteria:

Profitability – calculate and check when the investment will pay off.
Profitability – to see if the final “gain” covers the costs.
Commissions – compare rate plans from different companies and determine the one that suits you best.
Reliability – whether it is easy to find reviews on the company on the Internet, whether they are true enough or look like bought.
You can also look at some unique features or services that the company offers its tenants.

What was required to mine Ether?

Each of the mining methods had its own characteristics, advantages and disadvantages. Ether could be mined even on laptops, not to mention desktop computers, but you had to take care of the power and other technical things beforehand.

Purse for Etherium

To store the coin, it is worth opening a wallet suitable for Ethereum. There are two kinds: stationary and online.

To work with the first one, you will need to download a special application to your computer and install it. These wallets guarantee high reliability, but they have a disadvantage – there is no way to get into a wallet from another device.

Online wallets are quite common among miners. You can choose a suitable site and register on it. The main thing is not to forget your login and password, so you can always access your wallet at any time and any place. Most often, online wallet can work with a variety of cryptocurrencies – it is convenient.

Mining equipment

Unlike bitcoin, there was no special equipment for mining ether.

Therefore, miners used the following for crypto-mining:

A video card. The RAM had to be at least 2 GB, but otherwise, any one was fine. It was possible to combine two of them to increase performance. It was recommended to use AMD cards.
Power supply. Mining consumed a lot of energy and it was recommended to buy a powerful unit.
Equipment for cooling the farm. Large firms purchase special cooling systems, while at home it was possible to cope with improvised means – keep a window open all the time or install an air conditioner.
A farm at home is a huge strain on the wiring and constant noise. This, too, had to be taken into account when mining.

Ether mining software and computer software

The system for mining had certain requirements. It had to be running Windows 7 or higher, and the newer the better.

It was mandatory to update the video card drivers before mining, so that there were no unforeseen situations.

There were two most popular programs for mining Etherium:

Ethminer – about it was written above: stable, reliable, works both solo and with pools.
Claymore’s Dual Ethereum+Decred – it was considered convenient for mining several cryptocurrencies at once, but the service charged a fee of 1% of ether value.

Where to store ether?

Like any other cryptocurrency, ether can be stored in wallets. There are several well-proven services:

Official Ethereum;
MyEtherWallet;
Coinbase Wallet;
Dash;
Trust.
To say that cryptocurrency is stored in a wallet is not quite right, rather it is stored in a blockchain. You could say that it is an analogue of a ledger, where it is clearly spelled out which part belongs to whom.

Advantages and disadvantages of mining

Ether mining had its advantages and disadvantages.

The former include:

Easy immersion in the mining process;
constant updating of the software;
the promise of the currency;
transparency and security;
protection from hackers for the user.
The second most common are:

floating rate – at the beginning of the year it was high, and now it is gradually falling;
arising technical problems with different pools;
overheating of equipment, particularly graphics cards.
Otherwise, the disadvantage can be considered as a large investment before the start of mining – not everyone can afford it, and to reach the payback period was not for everyone.

Course outlook and forecast

The cryptocurrency is considered promising on the market, despite the current drop in its price. At the same time, the coin is breaking records – for example, in the fall of 2021, its price was $5000, and this is not the limit.

The rate is volatile and is affected by several factors: the relations between Russia and Ukraine, as well as a tightening of monetary policy in the United States. It should not be forgotten that in its history, the cryptocurrency market has fallen many times, but then recovered and rates went up.

Experts predict the growth of Etherium up to $26,000 in the short term – by the end of 2022 or early 2023. So far, their predictions are not confirmed in reality, but everything can change in one day.

At the same time, there are other analysts who believe that the currency will continue to fall. The creator of the coin, Vitalik Buterin, also says this. He says that the period when the coin will fall for months, and in the near future we shouldn’t wait for the rate to increase. Such a time in the market is called “cryptocurrency winter”.

All this did not prevent the miner from earning from mining. On average, it was possible to get about 125 rubles per day. Ether is also profitable because it has a large area of application, unlike the same Bitcoin. It is now used for DeFi and NFT.

It is predicted that the currency will start to grow again and the rate will be high. However, unfortunately, it will not be possible to earn money by mining anymore.

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