Blockchain

How do you mine bitcoin?

The entire bitcoin blockchain, for all the transactions it moves around, relies on bitcoin miners to keep the network humming away. Especially with the recent blocksize debate, the role of miners has come to the fore. Regardless of what people using the network think, miners at the end of the day will decide on which way things go. So we thought we’d put together a piece looking at bitcoin mining in it’s various forms over the years, and what the situation is like today. Firstly, you’re probably thinking while reading this article, I have a computer, can’t I just mine

Published

3 years ago

May 7, 2018

Republished by Plato

So we thought we’d put together a piece looking at bitcoin mining in it’s various forms over the years, and what the situation is like today. Firstly, you’re probably thinking while reading this article, I have a computer, can’t I just mine on this? Back in 2009, yes you could. These days, no. And here’s the damage it can do to your equipment. Bitcoin mining works on an algorithm that takes into account the SHA256 hash, some information relating to block height, and a difficulty. Doing one hash by hand is shown here, and is time consuming.

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Things started on PC’s, with CPU’s doing the calculations As more people came into the network, these kilohashes quickly became less profitable. People moved onto using GPU’s (particular ATI cards over Nvidia cards), as these could do megahashes. However, as the arms race continued, FPGA devices came on the scene. By basically 2012, these were then obsolete.

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The first ASIC hardware came on the scene, which revolutionised bitcoin mining. At the start, individual miners upgraded to equipment like the Antminer’s we use in our review rig, which could pump out gigahashes of processing power. Once these came on the network, any non-ASIC mining effectively became worthless. Some hardware suppliers also began running their own mining pools, while hardware moved up towards terrahashes in processing power, and very shortly after larger scale groups of miners came on the scene with data centres full of mining hardware with petahashes of processing power.

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So at this stage, if you are looking to mine bitcoin you have a couple of options. You can solo mine, in the off chance that you may hit the jackpot, and win the block finding reward and transaction fees. A lot of hobbyists do this, to either run a node and keep the network decentralised, or via some of the solo mining pool options that are out there. Larger datacentres can also mine this way, putting large amounts of processing power into the attempt to solve the bitcoin algorithm.

Most of the bitcoin mining scene though has centralised across a number of bitcoin mining pools, and you can find the stats on which pools are finding blocks at a given time by checking over at blockchain. These pools allow you to sign up, point your processing power to them, and pay on a proportional basis to the power you contribute, paying per share, or other variations of the payout stucture. Here you will not get a full block reward, but a section of the overall earnings each time everyone finds a block between them.

So what’s involved with being a miner? There are three main components that go into bitcoin mining. Firstly, you’ll need hardware. The more efficient equipment is quite expensive (ie several thousand or hundred euro per piece of hardware) plus a power unit to power it, and your fixed processing power will always go down as a proportion of the network over time, which means earnings will also drop over time. Once bought, these will need power, internet connection, and a place for them to run. Often they’ll pump out a fair bit of heat, so removing this heat may be a factor wherever you are based. In a clean datacentre, equipment will stay clean, but in a home environment, it will clog up with dust and dirt from the air, so maintenance needs to be factored in.

In Ireland, with our electricity prices, it is nearly impossible to make a return on investment on new hardware, and even second hand hardware, letting the original purchaser take the depreciation hit, you can make some bitcoin, but it will cost you more to make the bitcoin than if you were to say purchase it from a bitcoin atm or a bitcoin exchange.

With that, you may think of one of the many cloud mining providers. Here, they offer fixed amounts of hashing power for various length contracts, which will then pay out the resulting bitcoin over time. We’ve always been wary of these providers on the site, as doing the maths, it’s nearly impossible to make a return of break even.

So in conclusion, if you’re getting into bitcoin these days to mine, you’ve missed the boat in terms of having a realistic chance to make money. If you’re investing in new hardware, you can certainly get a chunk of bitcoin, but it’s value is dependent on the fluctuating price of bitcoin. If you’re cloud mining, you’re paying someone else’s hardware costs, and will probably make an even bigger proportional loss, despite not having the capital requirements. But if you want to learn about the blockchain and bitcoin mining, you can often pick up secondhand equipment on sites like adverts. Depending on how you set these up (ie we’ve undervolted our review rig), you might be able to break even for a while, and have a bit of fun with the hardware and configuration. But if you’re looking to just get your hands on bitcoin, buying it will always be the most cost effective way.

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Source: https://bitcoinsinireland.com/how-do-you-mine-bitcoin/

Blockchain

BTG Pactual becomes first bank in Brazil to participate directly in the crypto market

Published

37 mins ago

September 21, 2021

Republished by Plato

Financial institutions have been increasingly keen on being part of the booming $2 trillion cryptocurrency market, with over 13 of the world’s largest banks pushing roughly $3 billion in funding so far, into cryptocurrency. The latest major news came from Brazil.

One of the leading Brazilian investment banks BTG Pactual has been trending within the crypto community. It launched a new platform enabling customers to make direct investments in cryptocurrencies. Ergo, making it the first major financial institution in Brazil to participate directly in the crypto market.

According to local news outlet, The Rio Times,

“…the launch of Mynt, a platform that allows BTG Pactual Digital and BTG+ clients to trade directly, cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ether.”

Andre Porthilo, BTG Pactual’s head of digital assets, stated,

“At this first moment, we will have the two main assets of the market, but we will include other cryptos for trading over time. We will have a complete platform with blockchain-based assets.”

One thing that remained in common with different banks incorporating these tokens is the fact that they have been responding to “demand from our customers who wish to trade crypto.” This news is no different.

Plans

BTG Pactual CEO, Roberto Sallouti laid out his plan of action with this development. He opined, “As a new asset class, we will also have content to educate and inform our customers about these assets and the technology.”

Needless to say, Brazil has witnessed an immense amount of crypto traction. That said, regulators too have taken steps to curb illicit activities. As asserted by the CEO, the said bank will be regulated by both the Brazilian Securities Commission and the local central bank. Moreover,

“With the support of BTG Pactual, Mynt has fundamental differentials in security and credibility…”

Past

The said bank had previously incorporated digital assets in previous operations as well. In 2019, it launched its real estate-backed security token ReitBZ. This step was executed post-examining digital assets for a couple of years. Just recently, the bank announced collaboration with Gemini, the U.S.-based crypto exchange. Gemini provided custody services to the first Bitcoin fund issued by a Brazilian investment bank.

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Source: https://ambcrypto.com/btgpactual-becomes-first-bank-in-brazil-to-participate-directly-in-the-crypto-market

News

Basel Committee Crypto Rules Face Backlash

Published

39 mins ago

September 21, 2021

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Source: https://cryptobriefing.com/basel-committee-crypto-rules-face-backlash/?utm_source=main_feed&utm_medium=rss

Blockchain

Ethereum NFT Game Sorare Fantasy Soccer Raised $680 Million

Published

43 mins ago

September 21, 2021

Republished by Plato

Ethereum NFT game Sorare fantasy soccer just raised $680 million and it is now valued at $4.3 billion while launching a US office so let’s read more today in our latest Ethereum news.

The Ethereum NFT game Sorare fantasy soccer raised $680 million and the french startup now plans to expand into other sports as well as to onboard women’s soccer teams and US office. Sorare is an Ethereum-based fantasy soccer game based on NFT trading cards and grew dramatically in 2021 with a rising base and huge trading volume not to mention the new licensed teams in the mix. Today, however, the startup is using the momentum with the announcement of a new funding round.

NFT Game Founder, scammer, eth, cryptopunks

The $680 million Series B round values the company at $4.3 billion after a $50 million Series A round which was announced back in February and the new series was led by Japanese tech and investment conglomerate SoftBank that has a number of crypto industry dealings through SBI holdings financial services division. Sorare is focused on soccer with players from more than 175 licensed clubs like FC Barcelona, Juventus FC, and Paris Saint Germain FC as some of the most popular. Nicolas Julia, the co-founder and CEO of Sorare said that this week the company plans to expand into other sports and it will open a US-based office in the upcoming months to help “continue to grow with fans and sports leagues.” He continued:

“We have ambitious plans to keep growing Sorare into a sports entertainment giant. The new funding will be used to help us continue to grow a world-class team, expand to new leagues and new sports, and keep improving our experience for users, including shipping a mobile app.”

nba top shot

Dapper Labs’ NBA Top Shot is similar to Sorare, built around NFTs and based on professional athletes. An NFT acts like a deed of ownership to a scarce digital item so in the case of Sorare, it’s a digital trading card that can be purchased and resold with each available in limited quantity. One NFT card can even reach $290,000. Unlike Top Shot, however, Sorare has an ongoing game component and is similar to other fantasy sports in that you can choose your top players each week as well as the leagues with other users. Sorare also has close ties with Ubisoft as it took the accelerator program this year.

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Source: https://www.dcforecasts.com/ethereum-news/ethereum-nft-game-sorare-fantasy-soccer-raised-680-million/