Getting Ready to Mine Bitcoin: Simple Steps

Today, even with the huge diversity in altcoins, Bitcoin still proudly stays the first one in the list. It is the most popular digital coin and is familiar even to those who are not engaged into decentralized world much. However, getting profits from Bitcoin has become more complicated than it had been in the beginning of crypto world formation. Mining difficulty has significantly changed and for gaining positive results, you should work harder today. But remember: if you do it right, it will be effective.

 

How Does Bitcoin Mining Work?

For mining Bitcoin, complicated calculations should be solved. This is why mining equipment is needed. It runs a special software which solves these calculations and creates transactions being added to the list. Those who get an equipment and contribute to the process are rewarded with coins coming directly to their wallet. However, to get a really good profit and make the cost of equipment pay out, miners should know and keep in mind some important details: equipment efficiency, computing power, electricity costs, to name a few.

Already sounds complicated? In fact, if you learn some basics about these elements and follow the steps right, mining will be effective and will please you with results.

 

What to Start with?

     1. Get an Efficient Hardware

Your computer is not enough anymore: for smaller coins it can be used but if you want to become a big player and mine Bitcoins, you need a special hardware which is created specifically for this one purpose.

Bitcoin Mining Hardware Comparison

The equipment for Bitcoin is called ASIC chips. They differ in price and performance, so the one you get will have an impact on your result. While choosing, consider hash rate amount of calculations ASIC can solve in one second) and energy consumption. Today, the most effective ASICs are AntMiner S7, AntMiner S9, AntMiner R4, Avalon6, Dragonmint 16T.

	Hash power	Price	BTC earned/month
AntMiner S7	4.73 Th/s	$479.95	0.1645
AntMiner S9	13.5 Th/s	$1,987.95	0.3603
AntMiner R4	8.6 Th/s	$1,000	0.0199
Avalon6	3.5 Th/s	$499.95	0.1232
Dragonmint 16T	16.0 Th/s	$2,729	0.0304

For those who don’t want to choose and set up the equipment themselves, cloud mining is a great option. This way, you don’t have to worry about anything: you sign a contract with the cloud mining server and they mine for you. Usually, companies offer different packages for various time periods and with different equipment. Your task is just to choose the one which is better for you and get coins to your wallet. But keep in mind that this or that server can be a scam, so definitely make sure it is not before signing contract.

Best Bitcoin Cloud Mining Services

• Hashflare (you can enter only if you buy min 10 GH/s)
• Genesis Mining (largest Bitcoin cloud mining provider)
• Hashing24 (employs ASIC chips from BitFury)
• Hashnest (operated by AntMiner producer – most effective equipment)
• MineOnCloud (has AntMiner ASICs for rent)

     2. Connect to a Mining Pool

Miners tend to unite and help each other to make the process work the best it can. These groups of miners are mining pools. There, people share the work and then split the reward. This way is much more profitable than so-called solo mining when your equipment solves calculations alone. If you are a solo miner, it is possible that you will mine for a year and get almost no result. There will be no profits and the equipment will not even pay out since you probably will not have enough hashing power. This is why mining in a pool is so popular.

Best Bitcoin Mining Pools

• p2pool (works since 2011)
• BitMinter (works since 2011)
• CK Pool (provides accurate statistics updates every minute)
• Eligius (works since 2011)
• Slush Pool (works since 2010)

     3. Install a Software

As the hardware equipment that you got runs a software, this special software should be downloaded and installed. You can get a software for free. It is what hooks your hardware into your pool.

Best Bitcoin Mining Software

• BFGminer (ASIC, FPGA, GPU and CPU miner for Linux, Mac, and Windows)
• CGminer (multi-pool GPU, FPGA and ASIC miner)
• EasyMiner (GUI based miner for Windows, Linux and Android)

     4. Get a Safe Bitcoin Wallet

When you mine, coins you are rewarded with flow into your crypto wallet and are kept there. For storing Bitcoins, make sure your wallet is fully secured so that you can forget about worries. Wallets are diverse, and some of them are not reliable, so it is crucial to choose a safe one. In other case, wallets can be hacked, and coins can be stolen.

Crypto wallets exist of several types but the safest ones are hardware or desktop ones. For more safety being ensured, get a wallet with two-factor authentication system and keep your computer offline.

Best Bitcoin Wallets

• Copay (available on iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Linux, Max OS X, and Windows)
• Ledger Nano (hardware for any computer)
• Armory (most secure desktop wallet)

     5. Set It up and Get Profits!

Last but not least, you should finish the preparation and organize things to work. This step is not complicated: once you have a hardware and software, you are in a pool and you have a wallet, you should prepare everything for mining.

Connect your miner to the computer, start the software and login to the pool.

There it is! Mining starts and your wallet is being filled with coins!