June 2020 Work Progress Report: Beam Hardfork, New Front-end
July 1, 2020
Beam Hardfork, unstable BTG, new 2Miners front-end.
BeamHash III Hardfork
Beam cryptocurrency hardfork was successfully performed on block 777 777 (June 28th). Mining algorithm has changed from BeamHash II to BeamHash III. This hardfork was planned in advance. The main idea was to prevent the ASIC/FPGA devices from entering the Beam mining. Fork has included other important updates such as support for confidential assets, support for Lelantus Mimblewimble, support for one-sided payments. If you want to get more information about the updates check our post Beam Hard Fork. What Will Change and How to Get Ready for BeamHash III?
Beam One-sided Payments
Classic Mimblewimble payouts are processed only if both wallets sending and receiving are up and running. Beam developers have designed the mechanism to make direct anonymous payments. They are told to be less secure but still, this option could be very useful especially for the mining pools. At the moment the pool could send the payout to the miner if only his wallet is online. Sometimes it is problematic for the miner to keep it online 24/7. We look forward for the one-sided payment implementation. At the moment the Beam devs are just developing this technology. It is not ready yet. So in order to receive the payment from the Beam PPLNS or SOLO pool you still need to keep your wallet running.
Beam Network Difficulty Drop
Beam Network Hashrate and Beam Network Difficulty have dropped 2 times after the hard fork. That is absolutely normal. It doesn’t mean that half of the miners have left Beam mining. The new BeamHash III algorithm is just different and each video card gives about 2 times less hashrate.
BeamHash III Mining
Mining process has not changed much. We still recommend Gminer for NVIDIA graphics cards and lolMiner for AMD. As the fork has been performed just a couple of days ago the mining software developers are constantly updating their products. The latest ready-to-use version of the miner is always available in our quick start archive. Archive password is 2miners
Miners who rent hashing power on Nicehash should note that the new algorithm is called BeamV3. Nicehash settings for 2Miners could be always found on the pool Help page. For Beam Solo the setting are presented below.
First, the Nicehash pool validator was not working. We have reported this problem directly to Nicehash and they have solved the issue. Now everything is fine.
Bitcoin Gold Network Instability
On June 21st Bitcoin Gold network was unstable. We are not sure if it was an intentional attack on the network or just an unwanted accident. 2Miners pool have stopped the payout for 1 day. At the moment the BTG network is operating fine. Welcome to 2Miners:
2Miners front-end code refactoring has been performed in the last 2 months. Finally, it is ready.
It is difficult to see the design changes as they are really minor. However, the code is absolutely new. The website is operating much faster than before and this should provide our miners even better user experience. If you see any errors in 2Miners website operation you could always contact us by email, helpdesk or Telegram chat. We would be glad to receive your feedback and suggestions.
Miner since 2017, the 2Miners pool co-founder. Became interested in cryptocurrencies at the dawn of the latest bull run and bought his first graphics cards. After having built and set up a few mining rigs, he realized that existing mining pools didn’t satisfy him – that’s how the idea of creating the 2Miners pool was born.
John published a series of articles about the basics of cryptocurrency mining. He gave valuable tips on how to buy ASICs and GPUs from abroad and then shared their mining performance. On the website, you can find early articles about cryptocurrency mining, blockchain in general and mining pool operation principles. The readers gave positive feedback on John’s practical guides, such as building an Ethereum mining rig and Nvidia 1080ti overclocking.
Beam Hard Fork. What Will Change and How to Get Ready for BeamHash III?
June 26, 2020
The first Beam hard fork was held on August 15, 2019. Its main goal was to protect the cryptocurrency network from ASICs and build up the presence of GPU miners. The second blockchain update is scheduled for this week. The update is consistent with the project roadmap, but it still requires some preparation. Let’s see how to get ready for it.
Indeed, the hard fork was planned in advance making part of the Beam roadmap. The developers were going to introduce changes into the blockchain months before the hard fork. The final block number was announced on April 22, 2020, two months before the update. Last time the hard fork was announced one month in advance.
Beam Hard Fork in June 2020. What Will Change?
The hard fork will be executed on block 777 777. Approximately, it will happen on June 28, 2020, when the cryptocurrency network reaches the necessary block height.
The developers point out four major changes.
BeamHash III algorithm. Beam will switch from BeamHash II to the new BeamHash III algorithm. It is supposed to become the final PoW algorithm.
Support for confidential assets. It will allow to issue an unlimited number of new asset types on the same blockchain. Each of them will be tagged with a corresponding generator point, thus allowing to distinguish between them during the transaction validation.
Support for Lelantus Mimblewimble. The Beam developers rewrote the original Lelantus protocol created by Zcoin’s cryptographer Aram Jivanyan. Thanks to the changes they introduced, transaction values will never be revealed, and the network will support shielded outputs and inputs.
Support for one-sided payments, also known as direct anonymous payments. In February 2019, Beam developers came up with an idea of one-sided payments. After the initial setup they made it possible for any sender to issue fixed-value payments to a specific payee without any further assistance on his side. However, it was less anonymous and the payment functionality was limited. Direct anonymous payments in Lelantus don’t have this limitation and allow to create shielded outputs.
BeamHash III Algorithm
The new mining algorithm is a key feature of the upcoming hard fork, so it deserves special attention. The new Beam algorithm is called BeamHash III. It is supposed to be the final algorithm. The creators are not planning to change it unless there is a serious reason to do so.
In comparison to the previous algorithm, BeamHash III will decrease the difficulty of the compute operation and will have a reduced solution size. Moreover, the developers added the forkheight2 parameter to the response of the Beam stratum. This will allow to inform mining software about the upcoming hard fork. The developers hope that this feature will ensure a smooth network update.
All the details about BeamHash III are in this video. It was created by a Beam Foundation team member Wilke Trei, known as Lolliedieb. The video has subtitles.
The developers point out that all Beam algorithms, including BeamHash III, belong to the same type of interface. It means that the preparation for the upcoming hard fork will be identical to the previous ones. Miners just have to update their software to the latest version.
How to Get Ready for Beam Hard Fork?
When Beam reaches block height 777 777, wallets earlier than 5.0 will stop working. Miners won’t be able to get access to their funds. In order to avoid this issue, miners need to upgrade their wallets to version 5.0 or later. However, there is nothing to worry about. Even if you don’t update the wallet in time, your funds will stay where they are.
You can also download a desktop wallet, CLI Wallet or Node for different operating systems, on the official website of the project. The latest software version is 5.0.9328. The link contains the update for MacOS, Windows, Linux, Android and iOS.
What Should Beam Miners Do?
Miners should update Gminer to the latest version. The final miner version is available in the archive linked here. The archive password is 2miners. The developers promise that the transition will be smooth and comfortable.
The 2Miners pool is ready for the hard fork. We have both PPLNS and SOLO mining options. The pool users with NVIDIA GPU’s can keep mining the cryptocurrency and just need to update their mining software.
The correct bat file for Beam mining with lolMiner in the 2Miners pool remains the same. It looks as follows.
The Beam developers point out two major features of the upcoming hard fork that will influence miners.
BeamHash III and graphics cards. According to the developers, the new algorithm is going to be a great improvement to the Beam mining network and GPU miners. The wider memory operations in the design of BeamHash III will allow the better use of GPU capabilities. As a result, the algorithm will easily saturate the given bandwidth of the GPU card, reducing the potential advantage of other devices, especially FPGAs. The developers say that secret mining on unknown devices will be more unlikely. They believe that at least for the foreseeable future mining in the Beam network will be 100% ensured by GPUs.
BeamHash III and ASICs. The lower compute dependency of BeamHash III reduces the potential advantage of ASICs over GPUs. At the same time, it allows GPUs to run fewer clock rates for the improved hashrate. If, eventually, there is an ASIC that can handle BeamHash III, it would need to have a smaller compute fraction, which would make it less efficient. The developers hope that the production of such devices won’t be cost-effective. So the network is supposed to be ensured exclusively by GPUs.
As a result, the Beam network will update according to the initial plan, the new mining algorithm will become final, while ASICs and FPGAs will lose their advantage in performance and profitability. The project creators care about Beam miners making sure that the network remains appealing to them.
The 2Miners pool co-founder, businessman, miner. In 2017 started mining cryptocurrencies and built many rigs on his own. As a result, he gained lots of practical knowledge and became interested in sharing it with others.
In his articles on 2Miners, he shares useful tips that he tried and tested himself. For example, Darek gives advice on how to buy hardware components for the basic mining rig and how to connect them to each other correctly. He also explained lots of complicated terms in simple words, such as shares, mining luck, block types, and cryptocurrency wallets. After the pool was launched, he published a series of articles ‘Crypto Mythbusters’ where he explained how to protect the network against 51% attack, talked about cryptocurrency mining difficulty and difficulties of launching your own node.
May 2020 Work Progress Report: Ravencoin Hardfork, GRIN Minimum Payout Increased
June 1, 2020
Ravencoin Hardfork, GRIN minimum payout increased, new mining software.
Ravencoin KAWPOW Hardfork
One of the most important events in the cryptocurrency mining World this month was RVN hardfork. The mining algorithm has changed from X16Rv2 to KawPoW to eliminate the ASIC/FPGA devices from the network. The goal has been reached. The network hashrate has dropped 10 times as only GPU’s could mine RVN at the moment.
Even the weakest graphics cards with 3 GB of RAM that stopped mining Ethereum long ago are able to mine RVN after the switch to KawPoW. If you are interested in mining Ravencoin check our post “KawPoW: New Ravencoin Mining Algorithm“. We’ve also updated our definitive guide “How to Mine Ravencoin RVN“.
There are many miners for RVN’s new algorithm. For NVIDIA we recommend Gminer and T-Rex. For AMD we recommend TeamRedMiner if you use Linux OS and NBMiner for Windows. Basic mining software settings could be found on the Help page. You could also download a Quick Start Archive there with ready-to-go miners.
According to MiningPoolStats 2Miners is now the most popular Ravencoin mining pool.
GRIN Mininmum Payout
GRIN transactions take a lot of time to be executed. To make the payouts system work fast and smooth we’ve increased the minimum GRIN payout to 10 GRIN coins.
If you mine the Grin C32 algorithm with bminer and your hashrate has dropped this month we recommend you to try starting the miner with -nofee option. It has helped many of our miners in 2Miners Telegram Chat.
New Mining Software
PhoenixMiner for Ethash coins such as Ethereum and Ethereum Classic has released the new 5.0b version.
Gminer, T-Rex have been updated to support the new RVN KAWPOW algorithm.
Teamredminer has shown great results for RVN mining with AMD GPUs. Unfortunately, it works well with Linux OS only. For example, if you use HiveOS it should work great. 2Miners Flight Sheet is available for many miners including Teamredminer.
The latest version of the mining software could be always found in Quick Start Archive. The archive password is 2miners
We are performing the 2Miners Knowledge Base (Frequently Asked Questions) part to multiple languages. The work is still in progress but you could already notice that we have added many new languages. We hope these basic mining articles help many miners around the World to understand better the mining process and make their mining more profitable.
Miner since 2017, the 2Miners pool co-founder. Became interested in cryptocurrencies at the dawn of the latest bull run and bought his first graphics cards. After having built and set up a few mining rigs, he realized that existing mining pools didn’t satisfy him – that’s how the idea of creating the 2Miners pool was born.
John published a series of articles about the basics of cryptocurrency mining. He gave valuable tips on how to buy ASICs and GPUs from abroad and then shared their mining performance. On the website, you can find early articles about cryptocurrency mining, blockchain in general and mining pool operation principles. The readers gave positive feedback on John’s practical guides, such as building an Ethereum mining rig and Nvidia 1080ti overclocking.
According to CoinMarketCap, there are no less than 5 429 cryptocurrencies in the world. Choosing which cryptocurrency to buy is hard, let alone choosing one for mining. You must consider mining algorithms, your hardware specs, and profitability. Let’s see how to deal with this task and which software can help you mine the most profitable coin.
First of all, we should find the most profitable cryptocurrency. The 2CryptoCalc calculator stores up-to-date information about profitability. It also stores GPU hashrates. You can choose the right coin just by indicating the name and the number of GPU models. It has a user-friendly interface and can calculate profitability for solo mining.
The calculator is easy to use. You should go to the 2CryptoCalc website, indicate the number of your GPUs, and click the Calculate button.
Now let’s talk about miners – that is, software that allows you to mine a certain cryptocurrency. Each section corresponds to one miner. Inside you will find supported algorithms and the names of GPU manufacturers that work best for respective miners. If you like one of the miners, the full review is linked inside each section. There you will find more details about hashrates, the latest miner version and the official GitHub page.
Gminer
Gminer is one of the most popular miners. It’s easy to see why. The program supports both Nvidia and AMD graphics cards. The miner fee for Ethereum and Ethereum Classic is just 0.65%. Gminer is multifunctional and supports a large number of algorithms.
Ethash (Nvidia only)
ProgPoW (Nvidia only)
KAWPOW (Ravencoin and Nvidia only)
Ethash+Eaglesong (Nvidia only)
Ethash+Blake2s (Nvidia only)
Eaglesong (Nvidia and AMD)
Blake2b+Sha3 (Nvidia only)
Cuckarood29/Cuckaroom29 (Grin and Nvidia only)
Cuckatoo31 (Grin and Nvidia only)
Cuckatoo32 (Grin and Nvidia only)
Cuckoo29 (Aeternity for Nvidia and AMD)
CryptoNightBBC (Nvidia only)
BFC (Nvidia and AMD)
Cortex (Nvidia only)
Cuckaroo29s (Nvidia and AMD)
Cuckarood29v (MoneroV for Nvidia)
Blake2s(Nvidia and AMD)
Eaglesong (Nervos CKB for Nvidia and AMD)
Equihash 96.5 (Nvidia only)
Equihash+Scrypt (Nvidia)
Equihash 125.4 (ZelCash and Nvidia only)
Equihash 144.5 (Bitcoin Gold, BitcoinZ and ZelCash for Nvidia and AMD)
Beam Hash (BEAM for Nvidia and AMD)
Equihash 192.7 (Nvidia and AMD)
Equihash 210,9 (Nvidia)
Here are GPU mining requirements, depending on the algorithm.
Cuckaroo29 — 3.8 GB
Cuckatoo31 — 7.68 GB
Cuckoo29 — 3.8 GB
Equihash 96.5 — 0.75 GB
Equihash 144.5 — 1.75 GB
Beam Hash — 2.9 GB
Equihash 192.7 — 2.75 GB
Equihash 210.9 — 1 GB
We recommend using Gminer to mine Grin, Beam, and Equihash 144.5. After the Ravencoin hardfork on May 6, 2020, Gminer also mines RVN on the KawPoW algorithm. Relevant hashrates, links, and other important details are here.
The 2Miners pool team recommends Gminer, as it offers the fast operation, excellent hashrates, regular updates, and quality support.
lolMiner
lolMiner is a miner for multiple algorithms. It can mine such popular coins as Beam and Grin. The program is aimed at “red” graphics cards – that is, AMD. It works with Nvidia too, but there may be issues with speed and stability. Here are algorithms supported by lolMiner.
Equihash 96.5 — MinexCoin
Equihash 144.5 — Bitcoin Gold, BitcoinZ, SnowGem
Equihash 125.4 — ZelCash
Equihash 192.7 — Zero, Genesis Network
Equihash 210.9 — Aion
BeamHash II — Beam
Cuckarood 29 — Grin
Cuckatoo 31 — Grin
Here is a video tutorial on how to setup Grin mining. Make sure to turn on the subtitles.
You can read the full miner review by clicking on this link.
PhoenixMiner
PhoenixMiner mines Ethash coins on AMD and Nvidia graphics cards. It is one of the most popular miners for Ethereum. According to the developers, it’s “the fastest Ethereum/Ethash miner with the lowest devfee.” The fee is 0.65%. Here are algorithms supported by the miner.
Ethash — Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Pirl, etc.
Ethash/Ubqhash + Blake2s Dual Mining (other algorithms are not supported)
ProgPoW — Bitcoin Interest (BCI)
Ubqhash — Ubiq
The 2Miners pool team recommends Phoenix Miner. The developers regularly work on their product, which leads to excellent mining results.
Here is a video tutorial on how to setup Ethereum mining.
T-Rex is another popular miner that supports multiple algorithms, but it works only on Nvidia graphics cards. We recommend using it to mine Zcoin and Ravencoin. According to the developers, they want their product to be as user-friendly and fast as possible. The fee is 1%.
Here are algorithms supported by T-Rex.
MTP (Zcoin)
KawPoW (Ravencoin)
x16rv2
x16rt
x16r
x16s
x17
x22i
x25x
x21s
x11r
geek
bcd
hmq1725
honeycomb
tensority
dedal
sha256t
sha256q
timetravel
lyra2z
bitcore
sonoa
renesis
balloon
polytimos
skunk
c11
phi
tribus
astralhash
jeonghash
padihash
pawelhash
Here is a video tutorial on how to setup and launch ZCoin XZC mining.
Claymore’s Dual Ethereum Miner supports both Nvidia and AMD graphics cards. The latest version is 15.0. The developers urge to upgrade to 15.0, because it supports Epoch 384. It means that miners will be able to mine Ethereum using GPUs with 4 GB of RAM. It is impossible if you use older versions. If you want to know why it is so and how to resolve the problem, read this article.
miniZ is for Equihash algorithms and Nvidia graphics cards. The developer fee is 2% – much higher than that of other miners mentioned above. Here are algorithms supported by the miner.
Equihash 125.4
Equihash 144.5
Equihash 150.5
Equihash 150.5.3
Equihash 192.7
Equihash 210.9
Equihash 96.5
miniZ can mine the following cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin Gold (BTG)
BitcoinZ (BTCZ)
ZelCash (ZEL)
Anonymous (ANON)
SnowGem (XSG)
Bithereum (BTH)
BZEdge (BZE)
LitecoinZ (LTZ)
Bitcoin RM (BCRM)
SafeCoin (SAFE)
Zero (ZER)
Genesis (GENX)
Vidulum (VDL)
ZeroClassic (ZERC)
Arrow (ARW)
Ycash (YEC)
Zclassic (ZCL)
Beam (BEAM)
Grimm (GRIMM)
Litecash (CASH)
Aion (AION)
Minexcoin (MNX)
The full miner review with all the relevant hashrates and links is here.
bminer
Bminer can mine several algorithms, including Ethash for Ethereum. It provides the best performance for Grin C32 algorithm. The miner works on Nvidia and AMD graphics cards. The fee varies between 0.65% and 2%. Here are compatible algorithms with their coins.
EWBF’s Cuda mines coins on Equihash/144.5/Zhash algorithms. The miner works on Nvidia graphics cards, aka green cards. EWBF’s Cuda Equihash supports the following algorithms and coins.
Equihash 144.5 — Bitcoin Gold, BitcoinZ
Equihash 210.9 — Aion
Equihash 192.7 — Zero
Equihash 96.5 — MinexCoin
However, nobody uses EWBF’s Cuda Equihash anymore, because ASIC miners mine coins on this algorithm. As a result, cryptocurrency mining on Equihash has become ineffective, and users have switched to other algorithms.
Funakoshi 144.5 is a miner for Nvidia graphics cards. The numbers in the name indicate the only algorithm supported by the miner.
Equihash 144.5 — Bitcoin Gold, BitcoinZ и Safecoin
Sadly, the miner is history now. Nobody uses it anymore.
The full Funakoshi miner review is here. There are also hashrates of popular Nvidia graphics cards in the article.
CryptoDredge
CryptoDredge is for Nvidia graphics cards. According to the project website, the software is “simple in use and highly optimized.” Sadly, the developers stopped working on the project, so there is no point in using CryptoDredge now.
In the past the miner supported the following algorithms.
Conclusion: There are many miners, but choosing the right one is possible. As a rule, the best mining option for a certain cryptocurrency is indicated in the Quick Start section of the 2Miners pool. This is the best place where to begin your mining adventure.
Miner since 2017, the 2Miners pool co-founder. Became interested in cryptocurrencies at the dawn of the latest bull run and bought his first graphics cards. After having built and set up a few mining rigs, he realized that existing mining pools didn’t satisfy him – that’s how the idea of creating the 2Miners pool was born.
John published a series of articles about the basics of cryptocurrency mining. He gave valuable tips on how to buy ASICs and GPUs from abroad and then shared their mining performance. On the website, you can find early articles about cryptocurrency mining, blockchain in general and mining pool operation principles. The readers gave positive feedback on John’s practical guides, such as building an Ethereum mining rig and Nvidia 1080ti overclocking.
May is a crucial month for the crypto industry. The highlight of the month is the long-awaited Bitcoin halving that is held once every 210 thousand blocks, or roughly every four years. Then there will be Consensus Distributed, a world-famous conference. This time it’s going to be held online. But first, on May 6, Ravencoin RVN will switch to the new KawPoW mining algorithm. Let’s see what is featured in the update and how to set up the miner correctly.
Ravencoin Hardfork
We’ll start with the main features of the update.
When is the RVN fork due? On May 6, at 18:00 UTC.
What is the main feature of the update? Ravencoin will switch to the new KawPoW mining algorithm.
What is the reason for the update? It will protect the network against ASICs.
What should wallet users do? They should upgrade to the latest Ravencoin 4.1.0 version by clicking on this link.
What should miners do? They should download this archive for the new configured miner version. The archive password is 2miners.
Users must upgrade software in order to remain in the right chain after the hard fork. If they don’t do that, they may have problems with coin transfer and general issues when dealing with the cryptocurrency. It is mandatory to update the mining software for all the miners!
KawPoW is a new mining algorithm in the RVN network. It is like ProgPoW that was supposed to be implemented by Ethereum, but with special parameters for Ravencoin.
KawPoW is the third Ravencoin algorithm preceded by X16R and X16Rv2. Don’t get it wrong, the developers aren’t obsessed with constant updates. They perform forks and change algorithms to protect the network against ASICs. They don’t want ASIC owners to control it.
According to the official Ravencoin 4.1.0 release page, a new hashing algorithm is added to give power back to GPU miners. And it is truly so. The hard fork will make it possible to mine RVN using older GPU models with 2 GB of RAM. The network hashrate will not be distributed among ten ASICs and one GPU. Instead, the cryptocurrency operation will be ensured by a hundred different GPUs and zero ASICs.
Ravencoin Mining Settings on KawPoW
After the hard fork the following mining software will be available for Nvidia GPU’s:
We recommend Gminer. You can find the review here. The miner supports multiple algorithms and shows great results.
NBMiner is the only miner that supports AMD. If you ever need to find cryptocurrencies to mine with “red” graphics cards, you can use the 2CryptoCalc mining profitability calculator.
The latest mining software version is in this archive. The password is 2miners. Below you will find Ravencoin RVN mining settings on Gminer after the hard fork.
Here are PPLNS settings to mine RVN together with other GPU owners. miner.exe --algo kawpow --server rvn.2miners.com:6060 --user YOUR_ADDRESS.RIG_ID
Here are SOLO settings to find blocks individually. miner.exe --algo kawpow --server solo-rvn.2miners.com:7070 --user YOUR_ADDRESS.RIG_ID
Please remember to change YOUR_ADDRESS with your RVN wallet address. There are multiple wallets available for RVN that will support KawPoW network right after the fork. The most recommended is of course the official full node wallet. Light wallets that support RVN KAWPOW are:Trustwallet, Edge, Guarda, Flare. There are also paper wallets available.
Don’t forget that the mining settings provided will be operative only after the Ravencoin hardfork and the switch to KawPoW. It will be performed on Wednesday, May 6, at 18:00 UTC.
KawPoW Autoswitch
T-Rex miner supports autoswitch. You could set it up and go to sleep 🙂
Here are the settings for T-Rex:
@echo off
:start
t-rex -a x16r -o stratum+tcp://rvn.2miners.com:6060 -u YOUR_ADDRESS.RIG_ID -p x --fork-at kawpow=2020-05-06T18:00:00
goto start
pause
After the hardfork we expect a drastic decrease in hash rate – the overall computing power of the Ravencoin network. If the developers can really keep ASICs away from the network, RVN mining will be quite profitable for GPU owners. Even the weakest graphics cards with 2 GB of RAM that stopped mining Ethereum long ago will be able to mine RVN after the switch to KawPoW. It is a real chance to make money. We are waiting for you in the 2Miners mining pool.
The 2Miners pool co-founder, businessman, miner. In 2017 started mining cryptocurrencies and built many rigs on his own. As a result, he gained lots of practical knowledge and became interested in sharing it with others.
In his articles on 2Miners, he shares useful tips that he tried and tested himself. For example, Darek gives advice on how to buy hardware components for the basic mining rig and how to connect them to each other correctly. He also explained lots of complicated terms in simple words, such as shares, mining luck, block types, and cryptocurrency wallets. After the pool was launched, he published a series of articles ‘Crypto Mythbusters’ where he explained how to protect the network against 51% attack, talked about cryptocurrency mining difficulty and difficulties of launching your own node.
April 2020 Work Progress Report: 18 Languages Supported, Zclassic Delisting
May 1, 2020
2Miners Mining Pool Website Translated to 18 Languages, Bitcoin Gold halving, Zclassic delisting, DAG issue workarounds.
2Miners Pool Translation
We’ve successfully performed the new 2Miners translation from scratch. We’ve also added 2 new languages: Polish and Korean. The previous translation has been done almost 2 years ago and it was outdated.
2Miners is now available in 18 languages:
English 🇬🇧🇺🇸🇦🇺
Bulgarian 🇧🇬
Chinese 🇨🇳
French 🇫🇷
Hungarian 🇭🇺
Indonesian 🇮🇩
Italian 🇮🇹
Japanese 🇯🇵
Korean 🇰🇷
Polish 🇵🇱
Portuguese 🇵🇹
Russian 🇷🇺
Serbian 🇷🇸
Spanish 🇪🇸
Thai 🇹🇭
Turkish 🇹🇷
Ukrainian 🇺🇦
Vietnamese 🇻🇳
We want to thank all the translators! Some of them were the miners from our Telegram chat @chat2miners.
If you find any mistake in translation – please don’t hesitate to contact us. We would be glad to fix it immediately.
Bitcoin Gold Halving
Bitcoin Gold (BTG) halving has been performed on block 630 000 (April 18). The Bitcoin Gold block reward has been reduced 2 times from 12.5 BTG to 6.25 BTG. Read more on Bitcoin Gold official website.
Nothing has changed in terms of mining. Bitcoin Gold miners should not update their mining software or mining software settings.
BTG price has not been affected much by the halving procedure. In relation to that Bitcoin Gold Network Hashrate has been reduced 2 times.
This means half of the miners have left the BTG mining pools and spread their hashing power all over other cryptocurrencies. Thanks to 2CryptoCalc.com it is really easy to check the most profitable coins for your hardware.
Zclassic Delisting
On April 5th 19:00 CET we’ve stopped ZCL PPLNS and ZCL SOLO operation. The next day we have paid out all the miners’ balances and closed the pool. Unfortunately, nothing has changed in ZCL development community plans so we do not plan to start the pool again. ZCL was completely delisted from 2Miners in April. Why? Read more.
4GB GPU Mining Problems
The owners of the graphics cards with 4GB memory have started to report the problems with Ethereum Classic and Ethereum mining. This is caused by the continuously growing DAG file on Ethash algorithm. At the moment 4GB GPU’s could still mine ETH and ETC, just some adjustments are required. We’ve written a special post which helps to solve this issue My GPU Stopped Mining Ethereum. DAG Issue Workaround – 2Miners Tested Solutions.
Miner since 2017, the 2Miners pool co-founder. Became interested in cryptocurrencies at the dawn of the latest bull run and bought his first graphics cards. After having built and set up a few mining rigs, he realized that existing mining pools didn’t satisfy him – that’s how the idea of creating the 2Miners pool was born.
John published a series of articles about the basics of cryptocurrency mining. He gave valuable tips on how to buy ASICs and GPUs from abroad and then shared their mining performance. On the website, you can find early articles about cryptocurrency mining, blockchain in general and mining pool operation principles. The readers gave positive feedback on John’s practical guides, such as building an Ethereum mining rig and Nvidia 1080ti overclocking.
Gminer is a popular miner widely used by the mining community. Its key feature is the support of multiple algorithms and cryptocurrencies. It supports Ravencoin, Aeternity, Ethereum, Beam, Grin, ZelCash, BitcoinZ, and even Nervos CKB, which hashrate has recently flown up. Let’s see how to setup the miner correctly and start using it.
What Is Gminer?
Gminer is a miner that supports multiple mining algorithms. The latest version is 2.06. The program works with both Nvidia and AMD, but it gives preference to Nvidia. As a result, most algorithms are compatible only with green GPUs – this is how Nvidia graphics cards are called.
It is a standard practice among developers to charge a fee for their product. Gminer is not an exception. Fees differ depending on an algorithm. For Ethash, used by Ethereum and Ethereum Classic, the fee is 0.65%. It is 3% for Cuckaroom29, 5% for Cortex, etc.
0.65% is a reasonable fee. For example, PhoenixMiner charges the same fee, while lolMiner charges 1%. So every 24 hours of mining graphics cards operate a little over 9 minutes in favor of Gminer developers. It is not much at all.
What to Mine on Gminer? Available Algorithms
Gminer works with many algorithms. The full list is as follows.
Ethash (Nvidia only)
ProgPoW (Nvidia only)
KAWPOW (Ravencoin and Nvidia only)
Ethash+Eaglesong (Nvidia only)
Ethash+Blake2s (Nvidia only)
Eaglesong (Nvidia and AMD)
Blake2b+Sha3 (Nvidia only)
Cuckarood29/Cuckaroom29 (Grin and Nvidia only)
Cuckatoo31 (Grin and Nvidia only)
Cuckatoo32 (Grin and Nvidia only)
Cuckoo29 (Aeternity for Nvidia and AMD)
CryptoNightBBC (Nvidia only)
BFC (Nvidia and AMD)
Cortex (Nvidia only)
Cuckaroo29s (Nvidia and AMD)
Cuckarood29v (MoneroV for Nvidia)
Blake2s (Nvidia and AMD)
Eaglesong (Nervos CKB for Nvidia and AMD)
Equihash 96.5 (Nvidia only)
Equihash+Scrypt (for Nvidia)
Equihash 125.4 (ZelCash and for Nvidia only)
Equihash 144.5 (Bitcoin Gold, BitcoinZ and ZelCash for Nvidia and AMD)
Beam Hash (BEAM for Nvidia and AMD)
Equihash 192.7 (Nvidia and AMD)
Equihash 210,9 (Nvidia)
Here is the recommended GPU memory for different algorithms to work with Gminer.
Cuckaroo29 — 3.8 GB
Cuckatoo31 — 7.68 GB
Cuckoo29 — 3.8 GB
Equihash 96.5 — 0.75 GB
Equihash 144.5 — 1.75 GB
Beam Hash — 2.9 GB
Equihash 192.7 — 2.75 GB
Equihash 210.9 — 1 GB
GPU Hashrates on Gminer
You can find current GPU hashrates for different algorithms in this table. All the information is up to date. It is provided by real miners in the 2Miners pool.
Here are GPU hashrates with standard settings according to Gminer.
Gminer offers a lot of algorithms and cryptocurrencies for different graphics cards. How to choose the most profitable coin? 2CryptoCalc, a mining profitability calculator, can help. 2CryptoCalc stores GPU hashrates, and knows when a miner can mine solo.
For example, today’s recommendation is ZelCash. Currently, it is the most profitable coin, and it can be mined with Gminer.
Where to Download Gminer?
You can download the miner on the official page on Github. There is also an easier way. You can download this archive with all the files and settings for mining. The archive password is 2miners
How to Setup Gminer for Mining?
Here is an example of how to setup Gminer to mine Bitcoin Gold in the 2Miners pool. The text below shows the correct bat-file content.
You should replace YOUR_ADDRESS with your own wallet address to receive coins. For example, GJjz2Du9BoJQ3CPcoyVTHUJZSj62i1693U. You should also replace RIG_ID with your rig name. You can use no more than 32 Latin letters, numbers, and symbols “-” and “_”. For example, rig-1.
Here is a video tutorial on how to setup the miner.
When you setup and launch Gminer, you will see the following window.
After a while you will see yourself in the Miners Online tab.
Or you can find yourself by the wallet address. You should enter the address in the upper part of the BTG pool page.
Miner since 2017, the 2Miners pool co-founder. Became interested in cryptocurrencies at the dawn of the latest bull run and bought his first graphics cards. After having built and set up a few mining rigs, he realized that existing mining pools didn’t satisfy him – that’s how the idea of creating the 2Miners pool was born.
John published a series of articles about the basics of cryptocurrency mining. He gave valuable tips on how to buy ASICs and GPUs from abroad and then shared their mining performance. On the website, you can find early articles about cryptocurrency mining, blockchain in general and mining pool operation principles. The readers gave positive feedback on John’s practical guides, such as building an Ethereum mining rig and Nvidia 1080ti overclocking.
My GPU Stopped Mining Ethereum. DAG Issue Workaround – 2Miners Tested Solutions.
April 14, 2020
In February we wrote about Ethereum ASIC miners that faced the problem of the constantly increasing DAG file. This time the 4GB GPU’s are in danger. In the past few days, we’ve received a lot of requests from our miners both in Helpdesk and in 2Miners Telegram Chat. All of them noted that their GPU’s are no longer mining Ethereum Classic or Ethereum due to the increased size of the DAG file. We’ve prepared for you the list of the possible workarounds depending on your mining software and mining rig setup.
In simple words, Ethereum mining requires a big file called DAG to be loaded to your mining GPU every time you mine. If you have multiple-GPU setup all of your GPU’s need to load this file. Without DAG loading Ethash mining doesn’t work. This is a basic principle.
DAG file constantly increases. 2GB GPU’s have stopped mining Ethereum at the end of the 2016 year. 3GB GPU’s have stopped mining Ethereum at the end of the 2018 year. This year (2020) 4GB GPU’s have begun to refuse ETH/ETC mining. However, don’t be scared. We got a solution for you.
Setting Up The Phoenix Miner
Phoenix Miner being the most robust and simple Ethash mining software is included in our Quick Start archive. Archive password: 2miners
Quick start archive could be found on the How to Start page of every coin which is presented on 2Miners pool.
Phoenix Miner has a special parameter -rvram. It sets the amount of reserved GPU memory which could not be used for mining purposes. The default value of this reserved RAM is 384 MB on Windows OS and just 128 MB on Linux OS. In order to make your GPU mine Ethereum longer, we need to disable this memory allocation. To do so set the -rvram option to 1.
Add -rvram 1 to your Phoenix Miner bat file.
Miners from our Telegram chat also recommend for Windows OS installing 20.4.2 AMD driver and AMD-Compute-Switcher tool.
Setting Up The Claymore’s Miner
One of the most popular and famous Ethash mining software for both AMD and NVIDIA GPU’s is Claymore’s.
Claymore’s miner has a so-called -eres parameter. This option allocates GPU memory in advance for a number of epochs. For example if eres is set to 2 the mining software will allocate the memory enough for mining this epoch, and the next two epochs. After that, the miner will need to re-allocate the memory again. Each memory allocation procedure requires some time so powerful GPU’s with high amount of memory could use high eres values. For GPU’s with a low amount of memory you should do the exact opposite action – set the eres parameter to zero and don’t let your GPU’s to allocate more memory than required at the moment.
Add -eres 0 to your Claymore’s Miner bat file.
Unfortunately, Claymore’s miner is not operating on Windows with 4GB GPU’s anymore. Try PhoenixMiner or Linux OS.
Reconfigure Your Mining Rig
If your mining rig is built of different GPU’s, most likely some of them have more memory than others. Place the more advanced graphics card (with more memory) at the first x16 PCIe slot which is also called zero slot. For example, if you have 6 GPU’s with 4GB memory and 2 GPU’s with 8GB memory let one of the 8GB GPU’s be GPU0, place it to the zero slot. You could find the picture of the ASUS Z270-P motherboard below as an example.
Place 8GB/16GB GPU to GPU0 slot.
Switch From Windows To Linux
It is a known fact that Windows OS allocates more GPU memory than Linux OS. If you want to mine using 4GB graphics card the OS selection could play a critical role. Both Phoenix and Claymore’s miners are available for Linux. We do highly recommend you using one of the specially-built Linux distros such as HiveOS or SimpleMining OS. They provide the easy-to-use interface for mining. HiveOS has preconfigured setup files called “Flight Sheets” for all the 2Miners pools. Use Linux OS.
When Will 4GB GPU Stop Mining Ethereum?
Even if you do everything as we told 4GB GPU’s will stop mining Ethereum and Ethereum Classic someday. When exactly should this happen?
We expect 4GB GPU’s to stop mining Ethash coins on 375 epoch approximately (depending on your rig configuration and mining software).
It takes 30 000 blocks to change each epoch so 375 epoch starts on block 11 250 000.
The current network block height could be found on the main pool page for both Ethereum and Ethereum Classic.
Ethereum is now on block 9 871 779
11 250 000 – 9 871 779 = 1 378 221 (blocks left)
1 378 221 x 13s = 17 916 873s (average block time is 13s)
17 916 873 / 60 / 60 / 24 = 207 days to go
If we do the same calculation for Ethereum Classic which is now on block 10 187 286, we’ll find that 4GB card should stop mining ETC even earlier – in just 160 days.
4GB GPU’s will stop mining Ethereum in January 2021, Ethereum Classic in September 2020.
My GPU’s No Longer Mine ETH, What Should I Do?
If your GPU’s have already stopped mining Ethereum we still have a solution for you. Other Ethash coins such as CLO, ETP, PIRL, EXP have much lower mining epochs so their DAG file is much smaller. You could still mine these coins.
If you have NVIDIA GPU’s you are luckier than AMD owners. NVIDIA mining rigs are usually more flexible and they could mine different mining algorithms. However even AMD rigs with latest lolMiner mining software are powerful enough.
The 2Miners pool co-founder, businessman, miner. In 2017 started mining cryptocurrencies and built many rigs on his own. As a result, he gained lots of practical knowledge and became interested in sharing it with others.
In his articles on 2Miners, he shares useful tips that he tried and tested himself. For example, Darek gives advice on how to buy hardware components for the basic mining rig and how to connect them to each other correctly. He also explained lots of complicated terms in simple words, such as shares, mining luck, block types, and cryptocurrency wallets. After the pool was launched, he published a series of articles ‘Crypto Mythbusters’ where he explained how to protect the network against 51% attack, talked about cryptocurrency mining difficulty and difficulties of launching your own node.
March 2020 Work Progress Report: Nervos CKB ASIC Miners, Lucky Days on Ethereum
April 2, 2020
Nervos CKB ASIC miners, New firmware for Antminer E3, Lucky days on Ethereum, Important information on Zclassic mining.
Attention, Zclassic Pool Will Stop Working
Zclassic developers are planning to execute a huge update on block number 707000 (approx. April 7th). It is called TRIPLE HALVING. Countdown could be found on their website.
ZCL wants to update the code and make the Network protected from 51% attacks, keep it ASIC-resistant and many more.
What is very important for miners – Zclassic developers are decreasing block reward from 12.5 to 0.78 coins. Despite reducing the block time twice, the overall daily amount of mined coins would be decreased 8 times. Currently, 2Miners mining pool is making about 1000 ZLC monthly (the equivalent of $150). If this amount is reduced eight times it would become less than $20. Economically there is no sense to keep supporting Zclassic anymore.
On April 5th 19:00 CET we will stop ZCL PPLNS and ZCL SOLO operation. The next day we will pay out all the miners’ balances and close the pool. We could consider the ZCL cryptocurrency mining support in the future but at the moment is not reasonable to do so.
We recommend all the ZCL miners to use 2CryptoCalc and find the most profitable coins to mine in the nearest days.
Nervos CKB Hashrate Growth
Multiple ASIC manufacturers have prepared the ASIC devices to mine CKB coins. The first ASIC-miner released was Toddminer C1. It was followed by Toddminer C1 Pro and Antminer K5. ASIC appearance has caused the Network Hashrate and Network Difficulty growth.
Thanks to our Telegram community chat members we have successfully tested the new ASIC’s and set up our mining pools properly. From now on you could mine CKB using ASIC miners at 2Miners in both PPLNS and SOLO modes.
In February we’ve stated that Antminer Ethereum ASIC – E3 has stopped mining Ethereum Classic due to the limited amount of this mining device memory. Our article was re-posted many times by different media resources. Thanks to that Bitmain has heard it’s miners and released the new firmware which allows Antminer E3 to mine ETH till the end of the year.
In March Ethereum network load was huge. Some days were very profitable for our miners. 2Miners always pays to its miners all the transaction fees included in the block.
On the screenshot above the block reward was 8.26 ETH (instead of normal 2 ETH). 4 times more than usually. Not bad, right?
Join our Ethereum pool. The setup is simple, we also do have the video guide if you prefer.
Miner since 2017, the 2Miners pool co-founder. Became interested in cryptocurrencies at the dawn of the latest bull run and bought his first graphics cards. After having built and set up a few mining rigs, he realized that existing mining pools didn’t satisfy him – that’s how the idea of creating the 2Miners pool was born.
John published a series of articles about the basics of cryptocurrency mining. He gave valuable tips on how to buy ASICs and GPUs from abroad and then shared their mining performance. On the website, you can find early articles about cryptocurrency mining, blockchain in general and mining pool operation principles. The readers gave positive feedback on John’s practical guides, such as building an Ethereum mining rig and Nvidia 1080ti overclocking.
