How Does Ethereum Mining Work

If you are not interested in buying or earning Ethereum, the only way to increase the total volume of your Ethereum digital tokens is through mining it. In general, the mining process is also needed to secure the network by creating, verifying, publishing, and propagating blocks in the blockchain.

Ethereum mining algorithm

Ethash is a Proof of Work hashing algorithm used to mine one of the world’s most promising cryptocurrencies – Ethereum. It is GPU memory intensive to discourage CPU mining and future development of ASIC‘s.

Basic steps for mining ethereum on your own

  • Get an Ethereum wallet
  • Download mining software
  • Join a mining pool
  • Configure and run your miner
  • Get more ETH than you pay for electricity

You can install software and start mining ether right away: visit Ethereum.org and Github to download the latest mining software. After you install the software and hardware, you should also join Ethereum mining pool – a pooled mining service that allows multiple users to work together to mine more efficiently. If you have some tech skills, you can also buy hashing power directly from Ethereum mining pools.

How to mine Ethereum on your computer?

Mining Ethereum on Windows PC: With a bit of help and this tutorial you can get your miner up and running to start your own Ethereum mining project in half an hour. You will need to download two programs and need to have a decent GPU (Graphics Card) with more than 1GB of memory to get the most bang for your buck regarding mining as Ethereum works on a memory-hard hashing technique which GPU’s are best at. Also, standalone application from MinerGate that you can put on your laptop/desktop to mine Ethereum is helpful.

Mining ethereum on Mac: Probably the easiest way to start mining on your Mac is to download s standalone application from Minergate. Ubuntu and Fedora mining application is also available.

ethereum cloud

Ethereum cloud mining

Is this all Greek to you? With cloud mining services, there is no need to have your mining hardware. You do not need to deal with electricity bills, software and no mining knowledge are required. For a mining share, somebody else does that for you.

See our extensive guide on buying a cloud mining hash power with tips and profitability details. We list only the best Ethereum cloud mining providers.

Bitcoin mining vs Ethereum mining

Bitcoin is built on SHA cryptographic algorithm that uses proof of work algorithm. It mostly depends on the amount of processing power spent by the miner to discover and decrypt new blocks. This has allowed miners to graduate from PC’s, GPU’s to Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC’s). The use of high-performance mining equipment has led to an increase in mining difficulty, leaving miners using PC’s and less powerful mining equipment obsolete.

Ethereum platform started with its version of the proof of work algorithm called Ethash. It is designed to resist the use of ASIC’s by miners due to an increased memory requirement. While the miners currently available in the market are not compatible with Ethash, they may soon become available. However, they won’t stay useful for long as the platform intends to switch to a proof of stake algorithm in the next release. Proof of stake algorithm is inherently ASIC resistant as the miner can only mine a particular portion of the blocks depending upon the percentage of crypto coins they own. This will, in turn, keep the difficulty level in check while maintaining a constant hash rate over an extended period of time.

Is Ethereum mining worth it?

Mining profitability depends on a few different factors, the most important two are Ethereum market price and the cost of hardware. In general, you need to compare how much you pay to run the mining hardware and how much coins you get in return. Ethereum profitability calculators such as this one give you an estimate of your projected profit, however they can not predict the future, especially not the future coin price. See how much we make with cloud mining.

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