Bitcoin Mining

[TransAmDan]

Bitcoin is a worldwide cryptocurrency and digital payment system called the first decentralised digital currency, since the system works without a central repository or single administrator. It was invented by an unknown programmer, or a group of programmers, under the name Satoshi Nakamoto and released as open-source software in 2009. The system is peer-to-peer, and transactions take place between users directly, without an intermediary. These transactions are verified by network nodes and recorded in a public distributed ledger called a blockchain.


Besides being created as a reward for mining, bitcoin can be exchanged for other currencies, products, and services. As of February 2015, over 100,000 merchants and vendors accepted bitcoin as payment. Bitcoin can also be held as an investment. According to research produced by Cambridge University in 2017, there are 2.9 to 5.8 million unique users using a cryptocurrency wallet, most of them using bitcoin. On 1 August 2017 bitcoin split into two derivative digital currencies, the classic bitcoin (BTC) and the Bitcoin Cash (BCH).

So why am I writing this.
Well you can run software on a PC which processes Bitcoin transactions, you can make money from it, you get paid in bitcoins. The PC one does 100kh/s (so 100,000 hashes per second) this returns about 16 pence per week. Lol, not worth the effort. What is basically doing is SHA256 decrypting.


You can get a USB device(pictured above) with has a chip on it tuned for processing these packets of information. These USB ones may do 1 million hashes per second. This have an ASIC custom chip geared up for this processing, so faster than a PC doing it. It uses the USB port to get work units from the internet via your PC.


However you can buy boxes of hardware full of these processing chips that do a heck of a lot of processing(pictured above). The Antminer S5 does 1.2Th/s, so 1,200,000,000,000 hashes per second. The S9 does 14th/s.

To make money you need a cryptocurrency wallet, this can be installed on your phone so you can see your earnings.


My computer has always done Seti@Home (looking for aliens), and a few other researching things, so always had an interested in using unused processing power. So run it on a PC for a bit. It will be interesting to see what the purpose built hardware brings in.


Just ordered the Antminer S5 with PSU (Bitcoin miner), uses around 500watts of power, and processes 1.2Th/s, not as good at the Antminer S9, but can’t justify over £2k on one just now. I will see how it goes with the S5, and perhaps upgrade later. At least with it being smaller, it could be plugged in under my desk at work and no one would know, providing the fans are not too noisy. I may see about to fit quieter fans if they are noisy.


Loads of information on the web, more info on the Hardware:- 6 Best Bitcoin Mining Hardware ASICs Comparison In 201

 

[AmericanThunder]

Interesting, in for updates.

 

[TransAmDan]

Yes will certainly post updates.

The Antminer S9 looks like it can generate 0.36 bitcoins a month.
The one I'm getting is 10 times slower the S5. So should generate around 0.036 bit coins a month, A bitcoin is worth £3623 at this moment, so should generate over £120 a month, but who knows, if its more than £60 I'd be over the moon. Bitcoins are on the stock market, I have traded in them, the value is generally going up, with a few drops along the way. Bit coins were worth £800 or so back in April. So its rapidly increasing, but could be like a balloon, one day pop, and not be worth much.

 

[TransAmDan]

Arrived in UK, awaiting customs clearance.

 

[AmericanThunder]

Based on cost, shipping, customs and VAT have you worked out your return on investment?

 

[TransAmDan]

Well, you have to join a mining pool, where payment shares are given out depending on work achieved. So many things will all be new.

Going by another website saying it should achieve 0.036 bitcoins per month(currently £122). It will pay for itself in 2.5months. I guess once I have run it for a month I will know the true returns on it.

I have signed up to Slushpool for mining, their returns are explained, however no figures. Help Center – slushpool.co there are other mining pools, so could change if the returns seem poor. Slushpool have 6000 people signed up to this, which means more chance of getting a pay packet, but shared out to more people.

 

[AmericanThunder]

The ROI would be interesting. Perhaps post starting number as a negative and then amend on a weekly basis?

 

[TransAmDan]

Yes will be interesting, the ROI may be 2 years, lol. Its just for fun, but if it works out, I may get another.

 

[TransAmDan]

Well my Anyminet S5 has arrived, collected it from Parcel force at the solent depot.

Bit of a weird one there, I was watching tracking, arrived and customs charge raised, they said they posted a letter, but it never arrived. I nipped down to the depot to pay the £22 customs fee and picked up the parcel.

Powered the device up and wow, them fans are whizzy. This thing generate some heat too. Mind you the processing power is whizzy. Since I looked into bitcoin mining, i also looked into Zcash mininh, the 'zcash' requires more RAM, and not so fesable to do in custom hardware, but zcash can use Cuda core which is in Nvidea grapics card, my one at work have an NVidia GTX750 which has 512 CUDA core, this turns about 30 hashes per second (hashed is a measurement of performance)

Well this Anyminer S5 I have does 1,200,000,000 hashes per second, although it is a different algorithm, its still pushing an huge amount of data.

Going to leave it on over night if the fans are not too noisy and see why it can produce in the overnight hours. Consuming about 700watts of electric.

I will keep the thread updated.