December 2022 Work Progress Report: Year-end Results
December 31, 2022
ZEC, ERGO, CORTEX node updates, work in progress, the year 2022 results.
Cryptocurrency Node Updates
The new node software was installed to keep all the mining pools up-to-date.
Ergo Protocol Reference Client 5.0.4 has multiple code optimizations. The release details are available on GitHub.
Zcash v5.3.2 and previously v5.3.1 solved some minor issues and improved memory usage. The release details are available on GitHub.
Cortex 1.10.36 release called by the name of Lionel Messi. The release details are available on GitHub.
Mining in 2022. Year-end Results
This was a tough year for the cryptocurrency industry and particularly crypto miners.
First, TerraUSD/LUNA, Three Arrows Capital, Celsius, and FTX collapses in 2022 led to a tremendous crypto market drop.
Second, but no less important, the Ethereum coin switched to POS from POW. The end of the ETH mining era was the most painful event ever for the graphics card mining community. Approximately 95% of all GPU miners were mining ETH. The end of Ethereum mining resulted in a huge hashing power release. All other GPU-mined coins and algorithms immediately gained many miners and as a result, the profitability fell respectively. The newly emerged coins such as EthereumPoW didn’t help that much.
Hopefully, the mining community is strong enough and we still have more than 50K miners online. This year we removed not only ETH, which is not mined anymore, but also Expanse (EXP), Metaverse (ETP), and MimbleWimbleCoin (MWC). We have 17 coins available in 2Miners now and our developers work hard to bring you the new ones. Currently, we are working on Kaspa (KAS).
Bitcoin payout was a great success last year as BTC payments are very convenient for the major part of the miners. This year we spread the BTC payments feature to other coins. You can now get paid in Bitcoin if you mine Ravencoin, Ergo, Ethereum Classic, and Zcash. The BTC payments for Horizen are almost ready as well. We would love to make this feature available for all the coins we have but sometimes it is just impossible to find a trustworthy crypto-exchange with the required trading pairs and trading volumes, and reliable API as well.
No matter if you trust in the upcoming crypto bull run or not, cryptocurrency mining stays and we always do our best to provide you with the best mining experience possible.
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.
November 2022 Work Progress Report: ZEC and ERGO Node Updates
December 1, 2022
ZEC and ERGO node updates, mining rewards fluctuation due to the market instability, BTG delisting from Binance.
Cryptocurrency Node Updates
We updated some of the cryptocurrency nodes in November. It is always very important to have the latest node firmware to provide our miners with the best mining experience.
Zcash (ZEC) 5.3.0 includes performance improvements and reduces concurrent memory utilization during scanning among other memory and performance-related optimizations in the Zcash node.
Ergo Protocol Reference Client 5.0.3 contains different node upgrades including slicing in /scan/unspent boxes by inclusion height and more. The full list of features could be found on GitHub.
Mining Rewards Fluctuations
One of the biggest crypto exchange platforms FTX crashed in November. The problems tumbled into the open on November 2nd when CoinDesk published a report questioning the financial health of both FTX and Alameda Research, controlled by FTX. It was indicated that much of Alameda’s balance sheet was made of FTX native tokens FTT.
The FTX collapse led to a drop in the cryptocurrency market including the GPU/ASIC-mined coins. This resulted in the rewards decrease for the miners. Some of the miners switched off their equipment as mining is not more profitable for them anymore. Even Bitcoin hashrate dropped in November by more than 10%.
At the end of the month the market a little bit stabilized. The prices of many coins went up. So did the mining rewards. We recommend using 2CryptoCalc.com to find the most profitable coins for your hardware. It is very easy to use as you could just enter the number and the models of the graphics cards you have. Of course, you could also enter the hashrate values straight away if you know them.
BTG Delisting from Binance
Attention Bitcoin Gold (BTG) miners! Binance cryptocurrency exchange delisted BTG on 2022-10-24. Our support team is still receiving messages from the miners who missed this news. If you mine Bitcoin Gold and you use the wallet generated on the Binance crypto exchange, please change your wallet address immediately. Our pool is anonymous and we are not able to transfer the mined coins from one wallet address to another wallet address.
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.
October 2022 Work Progress Report: Extra ETHW Rewards, Server Infrastructure Updates, ERGO Reward Reduction
November 1, 2022
Big blocks on EthereumPoW blockchain; planned ERGO block reward reduction; multiple node updates, new servers deployed.
Ethereum PoW (ETHW) Big Blocks
From time to time Ethereum network in past provided extra rewards for miners when it was overloaded. The mechanism was always quite simple. A high network load caused the ETH gas price growth which led to more expensive transactions for ETH users and higher rewards for ETH miners.
We noted the same situation happening in the EthereumPoW network this October.
A standard ETHW reward is usually 2 ETHW per block. However, on October 16th we saw x50 and even x75 rewards for a single block. Block #15 743 034 was the most successful one, bringing more than 152 ETHW to the miners.
ERGO Block Reward Reduction
Please pay attention that the block reward dropped from 48 ERG to 45 ERG at block 849 600 on October 10th. 2CryptoCalc calculator was updated.
ERGO block rewards are reduced every three months by 3 ERG/block.
That means we expect the next block reduction in January 2023.
New Servers and Cryptocurrency Node Updates
We always keep our servers in the best possible shape to provide our users with the best mining experience. We always update the servers to the most modern hardware when possible. This October we did a lot of work upgrading both our servers’ hardware and software. Some of the pools seamlessly moved from old servers to new ones.
We also updated some cryptocurrency nodes. This is the list of the most important node updates of October.
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.
September 2022 Work Progress Report: Ethereum Switch to POS, New Coins NEOX and ETHW
October 3, 2022
Ethereum switch to POS; new pools: Neoxa and EthereumPoW; Expanse, Metaverse, and MimbleWimbleCoin delisting; BTC payouts for Ergo and Ravencoin; node updates.
Ethereum (ETH) Switch to POS
The main event of the cryptocurrency mining industry happened on September 15th. After many years of talks and preparation, Ethereum mining stopped. Nearly all the cryptocurrency miners began to panic as GPU mining profitability dropped several times. This happened because the hashing power engaged with the ETH mining was set free and many hardware switched to mine other cryptocurrencies.
Ethereum is #2 cryptocurrency in the World. It was the main coin mined by the graphics cards. Read more in our post “End of the Ethereum Mining” available in English, Spanish, Russian, and Farsi.
One day after the ETH switch to POS we processed the last payout to all the Ethereum pool users. We paid out all the unpaid balances that are over the minimum Ethereum pool payout threshold.
Such coins like Cortex (CTXC), Grin (GRIN), and Bitcoin Gold (BTG) surprisingly are almost always presented at the top of the mining calculator results. Last year Grin, for example, was mined only with ASIC devices such as iPollo G1. Now GPU mining is back for this coin.
New Coin: Neoxa
Neoxa (NEOX) mining pools are Online from September 6th.
A year ago we released a unique feature of Bitcoin payouts for the Ethereum mining pool. Now we are spreading this option to the mining pools of other coins. Currently, three coins support Bitcoin payouts: Ethereum Classic (ETC), Ergo (ERG), and Ravencoin (RVN).
No complicated settings are required to be applied to receive the payouts in Bitcoin. All you need to do is to use the BTC wallet address in your mining software settings (bat file).
We delisted Expanse (EXP), Metaverse (ETP), MimbleWimbleCoin (MWC) mining pools from 2Miners on September 30th.
These cryptocurrencies are not developing anymore. Unfortunately, the EXP, ETP, and MWC mining is not profitable anymore for both miners and the mining pool.
We always keep our cryptocurrency nodes up to date to provide our users with the best mining experience. This is the list of the most important node updates of September.
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.
How to Mine Neoxa: Specs, Mining Settings, NEOX Mining Profitability
September 26, 2022
The major event in the mining industry in 2022 is Ethereum’s shift to the PoS consensus algorithm that has put an end to ETH mining on GPUs. Computing equipment owners have to figure out what coins would be the most profitable for mining as an alternative to ETH. One such alternative is Neoxa, targeted at the gaming industry. Let’s get to know this cryptocurrency better and learn how to mine it.
By the way, NEOX is not the only recent addition to the 2Miners pool. After Ethereum's upgrade, third-party developers launched the blockchain fork on the Proof-of-Work consensus algorithm, and you can already mine this network's coin called ETHW in the pool.
As of today, over 18,000 people are mining ETHW. Meanwhile, Neoxa is also growing in popularity, so let's get into it.
What Is Neoxa NEOX? Cryptocurrency Specs
According to the main page of the project’s website, Neoxa is a secure decentralized blockchain for gamers, developers, and miners. Neoxa launched in the second quarter of 2022.
The focus on gamers is intentional. Neoxa claims to be revolutionizing the gaming industry using decentralized blockchain technology. The goal of the project is to ensure that users get rewarded for playing and developing games.
Let’s look at the vision of the developing team. They say that the Neoxa Ecosystem depends on various aspects. To keep the blockchain functioning Neoxa relies on miners. 5% of the block reward structure goes to marketing and developer funding for current and future gaming developers listed in the NEOX Marketplace.
The main thing that makes Neoxa different is that you can earn the cryptocurrency not only by mining, but also by playing games. It is possible thanks to the combination of the popular Proof-of-Work consensus algorithm with the newly implemented Proof-of-Game (PoG). Simply put, a part of the block reward will be redirected to gamers.
The developers say that miners and gamers used to be separate communities, which among other things resulted in a graphics card shortage. Now, these worlds can unite and get their share.
How much of a share? The official website says that during the first year, 85% of the block fee will go to miners and 10% – to gamers. During the second year, it will be 75% and 20%, and during the third year – 55% and 40%, respectively.
During the fourth year, gamers will get 60% of the block fee, while miners will get 35%. Developers and marketing will get 5% of the block fee during the whole four-year period.
Neoxa’s developers say that this is the first project to use such a reward distribution mechanism.
Today you can earn NEOX by playing two games: Rust and Minecraft, and you will get coins only if you are active on specific servers.
Also, to become part of the so-called NeoxaCraft (Neoxa’s Minecraft server), you need to create an account and indicate your wallet address. You can find more details about getting paid for playing games here.
If you want to learn more about the project, follow this link to read Neoxa's white paper.
Neoxa NEOX Exchange Rate
NEOX coin is the cornerstone of the Neoxa ecosystem that allows miners and gamers to earn money. The cryptocurrency was also launched in the second quarter, and you can use it just like any other coin.
Miners and gamers can sell it to fix the profit, while traders can speculate on NEOX exchange rate.
Today NEOX is traded at $0.00378640 and ranks #1267 in the CoinGecko chart. The max supply is 21 billion NEOX, and the circulating supply is 926 million NEOX.
The circulating supply is just 4.4% of the max cryptocurrency supply. So the circulating supply will be gradually growing, which in theory could result in sellers putting the asset price under pressure. However, this should mostly concern long-term investors.
The cryptocurrency chart is available starting from August 24 – see below.
And some more stats. Today NEOX is 84% behind its all-time high price and 190% ahead of its all-time low price.
Where to Buy Neoxa NEOX
There are three exchanges that trade NEOX: Txbit, XT-com, and TradeOgre. Txbit accounts for 88% of all transactions, even though its trust score on CoinGecko is lower than that of the other platforms.
NEOX is usually traded in pair with USDT. TradeOgre also allows you to trade it in pair with Litecoin LTC.
The 24-hour trading volume is $686 thousand, which is rather low. Liquidity on the above-mentioned exchanges is also low, as you can see in the two rightmost columns.
It means that for the NEOX exchange rate to grow on XT-com, it would be sufficient to buy $133 worth of the cryptocurrency. So the coin holders must be ready for sharp spikes in the price.
Cryptocurrency Wallet for Neoxa NEOX
Today NEOX official wallet is available on Windows, as well as on Linux in two versions – you can find them by following this link. ARM Wallet is going to be released later.
You can also hold the coin on the above-mentioned exchanges.
How to Mine Neoxa NEOX
Neoxa network uses the KawPoW mining algorithm, just like the more popular Ravencoin. The average block find time is 60 seconds, and the block reward is 4,250 NEOX, or $16.
For mining, you will need specific programs. If you use Nvidia GPUs, we recommend Gminer or T-Rex, and if you use AMD – NBMiner or TeamRedMiner. All these programs are available in our universal archive with the password ‘2miners’ – without any capital letters, dots or other symbols.
In the 2Miners pool, you don't pay anything for NEOX reward payouts – the fees are covered by the pool. It will make you save money and maximize profits.
In the archive, you will also find bat files needed to start mining. Remember to replace YOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS in the bat file with your wallet address so that the reward ends up in the right wallet.
Overall, here is what bat files for NEOX mining look like. This one is for Gminer.
t-rex.exe -a kawpow -o stratum+tcp://neox.2miners.com:4040 -u YOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS.RIG_ID -p x
pause
This one is for Team Red Miner.
teamredminer.exe -a kawpow -o stratum+tcp://neox.2miners.com:4040 -u YOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS.RIG_ID -p x
pause
There is also a bat file for Xmrig.
xmrig.exe -a kawpow -o neox.2miners.com:4040 -u YOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS.RIG_ID -p x
pause
And the last one is for NBMiner.
nbminer.exe -a kawpow -o stratum+tcp://neox.2miners.com:4040 -u YOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS.RIG_ID
pause
If you want, you can also replace the rig name RIG_ID with another name. You can only use up to 32 symbols, Latin letters, numbers from 0 to 9, and symbols ‘_’ and “-“.
Neoxa NEOX Mining with Miningrigrentals and NiceHash
Name: 2Miners NEOX Type: KawPOW (RVN) Pool Host: neox.2miners.com:4040 Workername (-u): YOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS Password (-p): x
These are the settings for NiceHash.
Custom pool name: 2Miners NEOX Algorithm: KAWPOW Stratum hostname or IP: neox.2miners.com Port: 4141 Username: YOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS Password: x
Neoxa NEOX Mining Profitability
After Ethereum’s recent switch to PoS, there is a surplus of computing power in the cryptocurrency mining industry. In part, it has switched to mining other coins, which has a significant impact on mining profitability.
It's worth noting that the cryptocurrency industry is in a bear market now – most coins fall behind their all-time high values by 70–90%. When the situation in the industry gets better, there will be more opportunities for mining and for making a profit from it.
Let’s estimate NEOX mining profitability using 2CryptoCalc. Below you can see the result of mining with eight Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti graphics cards – the equivalent of $1.88/day.
Keep in mind that the results are not adjusted for electricity costs.
Mining on eight high-end Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti graphics cards would bring $4.44/day.
Conclusion. Should You Mine NEOX?
The concept of blockchain games used to be one of the most popular before a bear market began at the end of 2021. So in the future, Neoxa might attract a lot of investors, especially if it manages to make gamers interested in the crypto world.
For now, we can only follow the activity of Neoxa’s developers. By the end of the year, they are planning to launch the Neoxa App trading platform for independent developers, which could be a good publicity opportunity.
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.
The Most Profitable Coins to Mine on Different Equihash ASICs: Detailed Comparison
September 23, 2022
At the beginning of September, Bitmain’s Antminer E9 learned to mine Ethereum Classic (ETC), which became quite popular due to Ethereum’s switch to PoS. Bitmain managed to do that by upgrading the firmware, which was possible thanks to Ethash’s similarity to Etchash. As a rule, ASIC miners can’t change their operating algorithm. For example, ASICs built for Equihash can mine only Equihash – primarily we talk about Zcash ZEC and Horizen ZEN. In this article, we are going to cover the current situation with Equihash devices.
We will analyze six major Equihash mining devices. They are Bitmain’s Antminer Z9, Z11, and Z15, as well as Innosilicon’s A9 ZMaster, A9+ ZMaster, and A9++ ZMaster. Let’s take a look at their specs, power consumption, and current profitability.
Antminer Z9 Specs
Antminer Z9 is a beginner-level ASIC device by Bitmain released in September 2018. Here are Antminer Z9’s main specs.
Algorithm — Equihash
Power consumption — 1150 W ± 10%
Hashrate — 40.8 kh/s ± 5%
Dimensions — 132 x 226 x 279 mm
Weight — 5.5 kg
Noise level — 76 dB
Fans — 2 pcs, 12 V and 2.4 A each
Voltage — 11.6-13 V
Interface — Ethernet
Operating temperature — 5-45°C (41–113°F)
What to Mine on Antminer Z9
Like with other ASICs that support Equihash, the choice is between Zcash ZEC and Horizen ZEN. There is also Komodo KMD, but its trading volume in the last 24 hours is equivalent to $1.5 million, which is rather low. So KMD owners might run into liquidity shortages if they want to sell a big sum of coins.
Let’s go to 2CryptoCalc and indicate a hashrate for the desired algorithm. The calculator shows that Horizon ZEC is the most profitable coin – mining would bring $0.65 per day (unadjusted for electricity costs).
Miners should calculate their net profit depending on their electricity costs. For example, Antminer Z9’s power is 1150 W, so it consumes 27600 Wh or 27.6 kWh. If you pay $0.08 per kWh, Antminer Z9’s operation will cost you $2.21/day.
So currently, mining on Antminer Z9 makes sense only if your electricity rate is around $0.02/kWh. If you are a fan of this cryptocurrency and ASIC, but your electricity costs are higher than that, it's easier to buy the coin on an exchange.
Antminer Z9 Mining Settings
If you can afford to mine Zcash ZEC, you should use the following settings for Antminer Z9:
URL: stratum+tcp://zec.2miners.com:1010
Worker: YOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS.ASIC_ID
Password: x
Firmware is an essential part of ASICs used not only to add support for more coins but also to optimize their operation and fix bugs. As of the beginning of September, the latest Antminer Z9 firmware is ANTMINER-Z9-fixed-500M-201905171645.tar.gz from May 21, 2019. It is available on Bitmain’s official website.
You can also find alternative firmware options for Antminer online. For example, this firmware released in August 2018 helps to overclock the device. Keep in mind that you should use such unofficial releases at your own risk.
Antminer Z11 Specs
Antminer Z11 is a more advanced device by Bitmain. The hashrate is higher – 135 kh/s, and so is the power consumption. Here are Antminer Z11’s main specs.
Algorithm — Equihash
Power consumption — 1418 W ± 10%
Hashrate — 135 kh/s ± 5%
Dimensions — 134 x 228 x 279 mm
Weight — 5.08 kg
Noise level — 70 dB
Fans — 2 pcs
Voltage — 11.6-13.0 V
Interface — Ethernet
Operating temperature — 5-45°C (41–113°F)
What to Mine on Antminer Z11
Z11 hashrate is 3x higher than that of Z9, which also makes Z11 much more profitable. According to 2CryptoCalc, the most profitable coin for Z11 is Zcash ZEC. It can bring $2.16 (unadjusted for electricity costs).
At the consumption of 1418 W and the cost per kWh of $0.08, one day of operation would cost $2.72. So it makes sense to mine ZEN with Antminer Z11 only if your electricity rate is below $0.063.
Antminer Z11 Mining Settings
Below you can see Zcash ZEC mining settings.
URL: stratum+tcp://zec.2miners.com:1010
Worker: YOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS.ASIC_ID
Password: x
Zcash ZEC page on 2Miners pool website is available here.
Antminer Z11 Firmware
Antminer Z11 released the latest firmware ANTMINER-Z11-fixed-718M-201910241109_4392.tar.gz in November 2019. It is available on Bitmain’s official website.
Antminer Z15 Specs
Antminer Z15 has a higher hashrate than the devices mentioned above – 420 kh/s.
Antminer Z15 is also available in two versions: Z15j and Z15e. Both work with Equihash, but their hashrate is 320 kh/s and 200 kh/s respectively.
Here are Antminer Z15 specs.
Algorithm — Equihash
Power consumption — 1510 W ± 10%
Hashrate — 420 kh/s ± 5%
Dimensions — 133 x 245 x 290 mm
Weight — 6.6 kg
Noise level — 72 dB
Fans — 2 pcs
Voltage — 12 V
Interface — Ethernet
Operating temperature — 5-45°C (41–113°F)
What to Mine on Antminer Z15
As always, let’s go to 2CryptoCalc and indicate the hashrate – 420 kh/s. Zcash ZEC mining would bring $6.72 (unadjusted for electricity costs).
At the same time, Z15 power consumption is only a little higher than that of Z11. It seems like you can make a profit from mining on Z15 today.
Here’s the proof. At the consumption of 1510 W and the cost per kWh of $0.08, the electricity cost is $2.90/day. So you can use Antminer Z15 to mine not only ZEC but also ZEN.
Where to Mine Cryptocurrency on Antminer Z15
ZEN mining settings for Antminer Z15 are identical to those of the devices mentioned above.
URL: stratum+tcp://zen.2miners.com:3030
Worker: YOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS.ASIC_ID
Password: x
Where to Download Firmware for Antminer Z15
The firmware is available on Bitmain’s official website. It was released on July 15, 2020, under the name of ANTMINER-Z15-user-800M-202007031139_6134.tar.gz – the most recent of all devices mentioned above.
Innosilicon A9 ZMaster Specs
A9 ZMaster is part of Innosilicon’s basic lineup of Equihash mining devices. Here are the main specs.
Algorithm — Equihash
Power consumption — 620 W ± 5%
Hashrate — 50 kh/s ± 6%
Dimensions — 125 x 155 x 360 mm
Weight — 5.92 kg
Noise level — 70 dB
Fans — 2 pcs
Voltage — 12 V
Interface — Ethernet
Operating temperature — 5-45°C (41–113°F)
What to Mine on Innosilicon A9 ZMaster
By indicating the hashrate of 50 kh/s in 2CryptoCalc, we can see that the miner brings $0.80 (unadjusted for electricity costs).
It costs $1.23/day to keep A9 ZMaster running. So if you pay $0.08 per kWh, there’s no point in mining ZEN and ZEC. To run the miner at a cost, the price per kWh should be $0.053.
Where to Mine Zcash ZEC on Innosilicon A9 ZMaster
If your price per kWh is low enough, connect to the 2Miners pool with the following settings.
URL: stratum+tcp://zec.2miners.com:1010
Worker: YOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS.ASIC_ID
Password: x
Use the following settings to mine ZEN.
URL: stratum+tcp://zen.2miners.com:3030
Worker: YOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS.ASIC_ID
Password: x
Where to Download Firmware for Innosilicon A9 ZMaster
You can find the latest A9 ZMaster firmware on Innosilicon’s support page. Indicate the desired model in the table before downloading.
Innosilicon A9+ ZMaster Specs
A9 ZMaster ASIC is also available in pro versions, as you can tell by the “+” sign in their name. Here are Innosilicon A9+ ZMaster specs.
Algorithm — Equihash
Power consumption — 1550 W ± 10%
Hashrate — 120 kh/s ± 5%
Dimensions — 155 x 250 x 360 mm
Weight — 11 kg
Noise level — 75 dB
Fans — 4 pcs
Voltage — 12 V
Interface — Ethernet
Operating temperature — 5-40°C (41–104°F)
What to Mine on Innosilicon A9+ ZMaster
A9+ ZMaster hashrate is 120 kh/s, and it brings $1.92 for ZEC mining (unadjusted for electricity costs).
Under the current market conditions, ZEN mining is not profitable, if we consider the power consumption of 1.55 kW, the price per kWh of $0.08, and a resulting electricity cost of $2.98.
Innosilicon A9+ ZMaster Mining Settings
If your situation with electricity expenses is better, start mining Horizen with the following settings.
URL: stratum+tcp://zen.2miners.com:3030
Worker: YOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS.ASIC_ID
Password: x
Where to Download Firmware for Innosilicon A9+ ZMaster
You can find the firmware on Innosilicon’s website under the name of a9+_20200611_105955.swu.
Innosilicon A9++ ZMaster Specs
As you may guess by the name, A9++ ZMaster is an upgraded version of the two previous models. It has a slightly higher hashrate and power consumption at the level of A9+. A9++ was released four months after A9+.
Here are the main specs.
Algorithm — Equihash
Power consumption — 1550 W ± 10%
Hashrate — 140 kh/s ± 5%
Dimensions — 155 x 250 x 360 mm
Weight — 11 kg
Noise level — 75 dB
Fans — 4 pcs
Voltage — 12 V
Interface — Ethernet
Operating temperature — 5-45°C (41–113°F)
Which Cryptocurrencies to Mine on A9++ ZMaster
A9++ ZMaster hashrate on Equihash is 140 kh/s, and it brings $2.24 for Zcash ZEC mining. ZEN’s profitability is almost the same.
Electricity expenses are identical to those of A9+ ZMaster, given that their power consumption is the same. So at the price per kWh of $0.08, cryptocurrency mining is not profitable.
Where to Mine Cryptocurrency on A9++ ZMaster
If your situation with electricity expenses is better, you can mine ZEC with the following settings.
URL: stratum+tcp://zec.2miners.com:1010
Worker: YOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS.ASIC_ID
Password: x
Where to Download Firmware for A9++ ZMaster
The firmware under the name of a9++_20200611_110012.swu is available on the official website. You need to indicate the desired model in the table to find the firmware.
Conclusion. Which ASIC to Choose?
Check the fast answer using the 2CryptoCalc ASICs page. Remember that it doesn’t take into account the electricity prices.
First of all, Bitmain devices on Equihash are more energy efficient than those of Innosilicon – considering the power consumption, their hashrate is much more compelling. Second, today most models don’t show a profit at the price per kWh of $0.08.
And third, it’s true that high-end ASICs are more expensive to maintain, but thanks to their advanced performance they show a profit even under bear market conditions. It gives you a strong competitive advantage and allows you to get a better ROI on your device.
Plus, one thing is clear: if you have a good electricity rate, you will always be able to make a profit from cryptocurrency mining. Say, if you pay $0.02 per kWh, you wouldn't care so much about the device specs or cryptocurrency exchange rates.
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.
How to Add Ethereum PoW (ETHW) Cryptocurrency Network to MetaMask Wallet
September 16, 2022
On September 15, Ethereum successfully switched to the PoS consensus algorithm. A few hours later, anonymous developers forked Eth blockchain and launched the Ethereum PoW coin. It operates like Ethereum was operating before, using the Proof-of-Work mechanism (mining). Since we’re dealing with the fork, ETH wallet holders could get access to ETHW through the alternative chain. Let’s try getting it through MetaMask wallet.
Before we start, here's a bit of context. There's no airdrop for new coins, and you don't have to request them either. The new blockchain is identical to that of the Ethereum network before switching to PoS.
The address and private keys format are also the same. So ETH holders should just launch their wallets, add a new network, and log in using the existing account.
Let’s see how to add a new network.
How to Add a Custom Network and User Token to MetaMask
We will show you how to add a new network to the popular wallet MetaMask. We need to add a user token, to be precise.
Open your wallet and enter the password to unlock it.
If you're still not familiar with MetaMask, go to the official Metamask website, download the extension, and create your wallet. In this case we're dealing with the fork, so we need to import the address using the seed phrase. Alternatively, you can connect a hardware wallet, which is actually safer.
The wallet interface is pretty standard, as you can see below.
Click on the multicolor circle in the upper right corner and go to Settings – the last menu item.
Go to Networks and click on the “Add a Network” button in the upper right corner.
At this stage we need to copy the settings tweeted by Ethereum PoW.
You can also copy them below. The following settings will allow you to add Ethereum PoW network in MetaMask:
Network name — ETHW-mainnet
New RPC URL — https://mainnet.ethereumpow.org
Chain ID — 10001
Currency symbol — ETHW
Block Explorer URL — https://mainnet.ethwscan.com
Add these settings to MetaMask and save the newly added network. Then the wallet will try to connect to this network.
Success! We added a new network to MetaMask, and its native token ETHW replaced ETH in the wallet field.
Ideally, you should be able to connect to Ethereum PoW at the first attempt. In case you have any problems with it, make sure to visit our 2Miners chat for help.
How to Add a New Network to MetaMask in One Click
ChainList allows you to add a user token to MetaMask in one click. Unfortunately, ETHW is currently not listed there. However, ChainList could help you to add other Networks.
To do so, you should find the desired network and add it by connecting the wallet. The platform will then add blockchain settings, after which you will be able to work with it.
Keep in mind that you can already mine ETHW in the 2Miners pool. All the details are available on the Help page.
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.
Get Paid in Bitcoin for Altcoin Mining. BTC Payouts for ETC, ERGO, RVN, KAS, NEXA, ZEC.
September 13, 2022
A year ago 2Miners mining pool released a unique feature of Bitcoin payouts for the Ethereum mining pool. Now we are spreading this option to the mining pools of other coins. In this post, we explain how the BTC payouts work and how could miners benefit from this feature.
The Benefits of Bitcoin Payments
Bitcoin is the first cryptocurrency in the World. It was the first crypto coin that existed and it is still crypto #1. Each cryptocurrency investor has a part of his/her wealth in BTC. Bitcoin is always considered one of the best ways to store owned crypto as well by the miners. Some of them prefer cash or stablecoins like USDT, but stablecoins depend on the issuer and in the long term could be much less reliable. We all remember the recent crash of UST.
If you mine ERGO and if you want to store and hodl ERGO there is no reason for you to use the BTC payout mechanism 🙂 However, in most cases, BTC payments are quite convenient and cost-effective. The BTC payouts were initially available for the ETH mining pool only. ETH switches to POS and it is not mined anymore since September 15th.
We already have the BTC payouts feature implemented for Ethereum Classic (ETC), ERGO (ERG), Ravencoin (RVN), Kaspa (KAS), Zcash (ZEC) and Nexa mining pools.
You could get the payout if you mine in the pool or in SOLO mode, our system works for both situations.
Bitcoin Payout Mechanism
The system algorithm is pretty straightforward. BTC payouts are processed once a day at approximately 12:00 UTC. It is all written on the Payouts tab of the coin you mine. Here is an example for ETC.
Let’s say you mine ETC and choose the BTC payouts. Every day at 12:00 UTC the pool checks if you have reached the payout threshold you set. If the response is positive and your unpaid balance exceeds your payout threshold then your coins are sent to a cryptocurrency exchange together with the coins of other miners.
Currently, we work with three different exchanges: Kraken, KuCoin, and Binance.
The coins are exchanged to BTC on the crypto exchange and then sent to the 2Miners Bitcoin Gateway. Then BTC is sent to each miner.
Bitcoin Payout Fees
Each BTC payout usually costs you some amount of BTC. We state in the pool that it is less than $0.2. To be honest, usually, it is less than $0.1, sometimes even around a couple of cents. This is not the fee taken by 2Miners, it is a fee taken by the Bitcoin network. But why it is so low then? It is because we unite all the BTC payouts together in one transaction. That reduces significantly the transaction costs for a single miner.
We do not charge the miners any fees for deposit/withdrawal to the exchange transactions. We do not charge any extra fees. All you pay is a small part of the Bitcoin network transaction fee.
Why should you pay this BTC fee if you could receive Ethereum Classic payouts in ETC, ERGO payouts in ERG, and Ravencoin payouts in RVN, Kaspa payouts in KAS without any fees?
Many miners want to accumulate Bitcoin. If you use our system you save a lot of fees on deposits and withdrawals from the crypto exchange. You save much time on a constant exchanging of coins too. In the end, you get the BTC on the wallet you like. It could be a cold/hot/hardware wallet, and yes, a crypto exchange wallet if you’d like to.
It is not recommended to store your cryptocurrency on a cryptocurrency exchange.
If you say that you don’t need BTC and you want to hold ETC or RVN or KAS, then obviously BTC payouts are not for you. You could get the standard payouts in the coin you mine without any fees. These payouts are processed in 2Miners every two hours.
Get Paid in Bitcoin for Ethereum Classic (ETC) Mining
Ethereum Classic was the second most popular GPU-mined coin. Without Ethereum, it becomes the biggest network in terms of the mining hashrate involved. In order to start receiving the payouts in BTC, you don’t need to apply any complicated settings. Basically, the only thing you need is a BTC wallet address. The payout system is robust and time-tested. We’ve launched the BTC payouts for the ETC pool in April 2022. All the details could be found in the post Getting Paid in Bitcoin for Ethereum Classic (ETC) Mining: Step-by-Step Guide.
To start mining ETC and get paid in BTC just substitute the ETC wallet address with the BTC one. Our pool automatically detects the wallet address you use and then processes the payments in the corresponding blockchain. ETC pool details could be always found on the Help page.
Consider the following example of the ETC mining with Gminer software.
If you use Gminer for ETC mining and you want to get the payouts in ETC you could use this sample bat file. miner.exe --algo etchash --server etc.2miners.com:1010 --user 0x22A9a06615492BdA25bD518F1973cd23B548DB13.RIG_ID
If you want to mine ETC with Gminer and if you want to get the payouts in BTC all you need to do is to substitute your ETC wallet address 0x22A9a06615492BdA25bD518F1973cd23B548DB13 with your BTC wallet address bc1qnkyhslv83yyp0q0suxw0uj3lg9drgqq9c0auzc. The bat file will look like this. miner.exe --algo etchash --server etc.2miners.com:1010 --user bc1qnkyhslv83yyp0q0suxw0uj3lg9drgqq9c0auzc.RIG_ID
That’s it. There is no rocket science at all. Just use your BTC wallet address and start mining. The same settings could be applied to any other miner: T-Rex, lolMiner, NBMiner, TeamRedMiner etc. etc.
An important thing is that you could use any type of Bitcoin wallet address you like. We support these types of addresses.
It’s extremely easy to apply the settings for RaveOS. If you want to mine ETC and get paid in BTC copy your BTC wallet address and paste it into the Wallet field. Please find below the screenshot with the example of the settings.
HiveOS Settings for ETC Mining and BTC Payouts
HiveOS is another popular mining OS distro. If you want to mine Ethereum Classic in HiveOS and get paid in Bitcoin paste your BTC address to the Address field. You could find the example below.
With no Ethereum mining available, a lot of ASIC miners switch to Ethereum Classic mining. Depending on your ASIC manufacturer your settings page could be different but it always has such important fields as pool URL (host:port) and your wallet address which could be also called your worker name. To get BTC payouts you need to use your BTC wallet address on the ASIC settings page. Here is an example.
URL: stratum+tcp://etc.2miners.com:1010 Worker: bc1qnkyhslv83yyp0q0suxw0uj3lg9drgqq9c0auzc Password: x
Get Paid in Bitcoin for ERGO (ERG) Mining
BTC payouts for ERGO were released in September 2022. ERGO is not presented on Kraken or Binance so we were forced to implement a new cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin to our system. ERGO BTC payouts like all other BTC payouts are processed once a day at 12:00 UTC. Please remember that the exchange process could take some hours to be completed.
The settings are always easy. Use your Bitcoin address instead of your ERGO address to get the payouts in BTC. Here is an example of T-rex mining software. Remember to change the BTC wallet address to your personal BTC address and specify the RIG_ID if required.
t-rex.exe -a autolykos2 -o stratum+tcp://erg.2miners.com:8888 -u bc1qnkyhslv83yyp0q0suxw0uj3lg9drgqq9c0auzc -w RIG_ID -p x
The settings for other mining software could be always found on the ERGO mining pool Help page.
This screenshot from RaveOS shows how could you set the ERGO payouts to your BTC wallet address.
HiveOS Settings for ERGO Mining and BTC Payouts
HiveOS settings for ERGO do not differ much from ETC ones. Create a new Wallet for ERGO mining and specify the BTC address in the Wallet field. Here is an example.
Get Paid in Bitcoin for Ravencoin (RVN) Mining
The last but not least, the Ravencoin mining pool received the BTC payout feature. With Ethereum going to POS Ravencoin received a lot of investors’ attention. RVN price surged almost 150%.
The Help page of the Ravencoin mining pool has all the settings required to start RVN mining with BTC payouts. Here is an example of one of the best software for AMD graphics cards TeamRedMiner.
teamredminer.exe -a kawpow -o stratum+tcp://rvn.2miners.com:6060 -u YOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS.RIG_ID -p x
RaveOS Settings for RVN Mining and BTC Payouts
You could receive BTC payouts for RVN mining either if you use RaveOS or any other operating system. Specify your Bitcoin wallet address in the Wallet field and choose the closest 2Miners Ravencoin server. If in doubt use the EU location. This is an example.
HiveOS Settings for RVN Mining and BTC Payouts
Create a new Wallet in HiveOS settings. Choose RVN coin and enter your Bitcoin address in the Address field. You are all set!
Get Paid in Bitcoin for Zcash (ZEC) Mining
Zcash (ZEC) is known for giving users more privacy in their transactions. Nowadays, if you want to mine ZEC efficiently, you should use ASIC devices. GPU mining doesn’t earn much profit for ZEC anymore.
On 2Miners, you can mine ZEC and get paid in Bitcoin. Just use your Bitcoin wallet address when setting up your mining software. This lets you earn Bitcoin without mining it directly. It doesn’t matter if your Bitcoin wallet is your own or from a crypto exchange; 2Miners can send your ZEC mining rewards there.
Please find below the basic setup for a ZEC ASIC mining device. Remember to substitute the wallet address with your own. URL: stratum+tcp://zec.2miners.com:1010 Worker: bc1qnkyhslv83yyp0q0suxw0uj3lg9drgqq9c0auzc Password: x
Zcash mining settings could be always found on the ZEC mining pool Help page.
Get Paid in Bitcoin for Kaspa (KAS) Mining
Kaspa (KAS) is renowned for its unique DAG (Directed Acyclic Graph) structure, which offers speedy transactions. If you’re mining KAS on 2Miners, there’s an added advantage: you can opt to get your rewards in Bitcoin. Set up your mining software using your Bitcoin wallet address, and you’ll receive Bitcoin as your payout. This way, you benefit from KAS mining while earning in Bitcoin.
Please find below the basic setup for a Ice River KS0 mining device. URL: stratum+tcp://kas.2miners.com:2121 Worker: bc1qnkyhslv83yyp0q0suxw0uj3lg9drgqq9c0auzc Password: x
Remember that another difficulty port is required if you have a more powerful ASIC such as KS1, KS2, KS3 or KS3L.
Kaspa mining settings could be always found on the KAS mining pool Help page.
Get Paid in Bitcoin for Nexa Mining
Nexa (NEXA) has garnered attention among miners for its profitability and growth. As you delve into NEXA mining on 2Miners, remember you have the choice to receive your mining rewards in Bitcoin. Simply use your Bitcoin wallet address when configuring your mining software, and your rewards will be in BTC. Mine NEXA, earn in Bitcoin – it’s that easy on 2Miners.
lolMiner example lolMiner.exe --algo NEXA --pool nexa.2miners.com:5050 --user bc1qnkyhslv83yyp0q0suxw0uj3lg9drgqq9c0auzc
Nexa mining settings could be always found on the Nexa mining pool Help page.
SOLO mining is much riskier compared to pool mining. It usually requires huge hashing power or a lot of luck. You could always estimate your chances to go SOLO with our mining profitability calculator 2CryptoCalc. Enter your hardware or hashrates and choose the coin you’d like to mine SOLO. Here is an example for Ravencoin calculation with 4 500 MH/s hashrate on KAWPOW algorithm.
Well. Risky, but still possible. Usually, we do not recommend SOLO mining if you get less than 2-3 blocks/day. If you got 0 blocks daily it becomes a lottery and your rewards would fluctuate a lot day by day.
If you decide to mine SOLO you could get the BTC payouts for ETC, RVN, ERGO, ZEC, KAS and Nexa mining. Enter your BTC wallet address in your settings and you are ready to go. The settings could be always found on the Help pages of each pool.
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.
Confessions of a Miner 2: Is This The End of GPU Mining?
September 12, 2022
In 2020 we posted one of the most read articles on our website. It is called Confessions of a Miner: How Much I Made in a Few Years of Mining. In the past two years over a thousand people were reading it daily. The author, an anonymous member of the 2Miners chat, has reached out to us asking to post his new article. It’s about the upcoming end of Ethereum mining and the future of cryptocurrency miners.
Mining Is More Popular Than Ever. Cryptocurrencies Conquer the World
I started mining in 2017. I stopped mining in 2020 when exchange rates fell. If you read my first article, you’d know that I was going to use GPUs that I wasn’t able to sell to build a few rigs and heat my country house with them. Those GPUs were completely worn out: 4GB and 8GB RX 580, a few 1050 Ti, and a couple of 1070 Ti cards. I’ve built two rigs that are still heating my small country house in winter. They do the job, but their aspect is extremely embarrassing (see below).
Had I been more inventive, they could have looked like this.
I kept following the 2Miners chat because it is the best channel for mining in Telegram. Crypto prices were going up and down. With each period of growth came a new wave of miners. Sadly, I noticed that many beginning miners are unwilling to dive deep into the subject anymore. People used to hang out on pages like this one to monitor the network, and now they barely understand what a bat file is. Luckily the community still has active expert miners. 2Miners contributors always say that one of the biggest advantages of cryptocurrencies is their transparency. I will try to write in simple terms so that it all makes sense to as many readers as possible.
Let’s open Ethereum’s network hashrate chart and click on ‘All-time’. The chart shows a hashrate – all the equipment involved in Ether mining in the present or past. I started mining in 2017 when the hash rate was a little over 30 Th/s. In 2020, when I sold almost all of my equipment, the hash rate reached 150 Th/s, which was 5x higher. At the beginning of summer 2022, the hash rate exceeded 1 Ph/s, which was 30x higher than in 2017. Back in 2017, only geeks were interested in mining. Today there are 30x more miners. Everybody is mining: housewives, car wash owners, you name it.
I sold my equipment in 2020. I struggled to sell Antminer S9 and L3+ ASICs even for $100–$200. Now imagine my frustration when the exchange rate went up in 2021, and people were selling those ASICs for $1,500 and more!
Ethereum (ETH) Shifts to PoS
You’ve probably heard that Ethereum is shifting to Proof-of-Stake. In simple terms, it will put an end to Ethereum mining.
There are many other coins to mine of course, but it’s the end of an era. Ether mining is supposed to stop on September 14. You can follow the countdown on this page. Look at the countdown called Mainnet. When the timer stops, it will be the end.
This article already explains all you need to know about this, but it’s a long read and not everyone will make it to the end. Here, I would like to share my thoughts on what’s coming and what to do after the Merge. But first, let’s make sure we understand what’s happening right now.
GPU Mining Profitability
Ethereum Mining Profitability
Today Ethereum miners earn more than Bitcoin miners. Can you imagine? 95% of GPUs mine Ethereum, which means that most GPU miners are Ethereum miners.
Some ASICs also mine Ethereum, but their amount is insignificant.
Block find time in the ETH network is 14 seconds. So every day 6,200 new blocks are found in the network. Miners get at least 2 ETH for each block. If we add an additional reward (e.g., for transactions), we’ll get 2.1 ETH. You can verify these values on the Ether page on 2CryptoCalc or through any other source.
Let’s multiply 6,200 by 2.1 and by Ether’s exchange rate of $1,750. We get 6,200 x 2.1 x $1,750 = $22,785,000.
Ether miners get $22,785,000 daily. Without making the same calculations for Bitcoin, let me just say that the resulting number is much lower.
Ethereum Classic, Ravencoin & Ergo Mining Profitability
Let’s see how much GPU miners make on other coins and algorithms. Let’s go to 2CryptoCalc, click on the desired coins and take note of their block reward and block to find the time. Coinmarketcap will help with exchange rates. Now we just have to multiply these values. Ignore ZEC, ZEN, CKB, GRIN, and MWC, because they are mined on ASICs, as well as Monero because it’s mined on CPU.
I stopped here because other coins bring even less.
Overall GPU Mining Profitability
Let’s add up all the values. Ethereum + other coins = $24,010,000 per day, out of which Ethereum accounts for 94% and all other coins – for 6% (see the diagram below).
Imagine GPU mining profit as a big pie. The size of the pie mostly depends on the value of cryptocurrencies. It also depends on the block find time and block reward. The block finds time stays the same most of the time, while the block reward of a certain cryptocurrency decreases once in a few years, which is called ‘halving’. Imagine what will happen to the pie when Ethereum mining stops and miners are left without the huge blue part.
Mining Profitability after Ethereum Shifts to PoS
On September 14, Vitalik Buterin is going to take away 94% of the pie. GPU miners will be left with only $1,225,000 a day, instead of more than $24,000,000.
What to Mine after Ethereum ETH Merge?
It’s easy to guess that most miners will switch to ETC, ERGO, and RVN. In total, they bring over $1,000,000 daily: Ethereum Classic — $750,000, Ergo — $200,000, Ravencoin — $135,000.
If your goal is to hold Bitcoin, you can get paid in BTC for mining certain coins on 2Miners. It’s a very useful feature that saves a lot of time and money. Now you can get paid in BTC for mining ETH, ETC, ERGO, RVN.
It’s impossible to predict which coin will be the most profitable after the Merge. As soon as Ethereum shifts to PoS, you will have to choose one of the coins and mine it for a few days until the situation clears up. Then you can go to 2CryptoCalc.com, indicate your equipment, and decide which coin you should mine and whether mining still makes sense for you at all.
For the first few days, it may be better to mine one of the less known coins, like Neoxa, Aeternity, or Cortex. Industrial miners will consider such coins last. So you can go to 2Miners.com and think of which coin would cause you the least trouble.
Myth 1. Other coins are as profitable as Ethereum, so I can mine other coins
Sadly, it doesn’t work this way. When you are looking at the mining profitability of your GPU, you might think that RVN profitability is the same, and that of AE is even higher. With that in mind, you might decide to mine RVN when ETH is out. You can mine RVN of course, but its profitability won’t be the same.
Now RVN’s overall mining profitability is $135,000 per day, spread among a small group of miners. When Ether mining stops, millions of GPUs that are used to mine ETH will become vacant. What would happen then? Those GPUs will start mining other coins, including Ravencoin. RVN’s overall profitability will stay the same, but it will be spread among a much bigger group of miners. As a result, the RVN mining profitability of a single miner will decrease drastically.
Myth 2. Mining calculators lie
Mining calculators don’t lie, but they can’t predict the future. A calculator is a tool supposed to be used here and now. It can’t tell what will happen tomorrow, in an hour, or what profit to expect from Ergo when Ethereum shifts to PoS. Use calculators to estimate what to mine right now rather than after the Merge, which is useless.
Myth 3. Other coins will gain in value. Mining profitability of other coins will grow
I’ve seen so many people in the chat write something like: “When Ether shifts to PoS, everybody will start mining Neoxa (or another coin), and its price will go up.” The problem is, its price won’t go up. Be it 100 users or 10,000 users mining Neoxa, its overall profitability won’t change. Now there are 100 people selling Neoxa every day, whereas after the Merge there will be 10,000 sellers. Why would its price grow? The price grows only if the demand grows, whereas miners are sellers, so they’re increasing the supply, not the demand.
There are a few scenarios that miners could benefit from. Investors might believe in this coin and start buying it on a large scale. Or Neoxa might win a contract with Epic Games and become world-famous. Although it’s possible, it has nothing to do with what’s happening with Ether today.
Myth 4. Mining profitability will be 20x lower
Today 94% of miners mine ETH, and 6% mine other coins. Many people think that all ETH miners will switch to other coins, and so the profitability will be 15–20x lower. It’s impossible. Many, if not most, Ethereum miners will disconnect their equipment forever. I think that GPU mining profitability will be 8–10x lower, but definitely not 20x lower.
Mining is the process of getting rewards for using the computing powers of your equipment.
When mining makes you lose the money you stop mining. Apart from profits, you should think about expenses – miners have to pay for electricity.
When you make more money from mining than you’re spending on electricity, that’s great.
What will happen when profitability drops so much that you make just enough to cover electricity costs? And what if it drops even more and you don’t even make enough money to cover the expenses? You stop mining.
Everything will depend on how much you pay for electricity. Those miners that pay a lot won’t have any choice but to stop mining. Let’s remember that nowadays electricity is expensive in many countries. It’s not going to be the first time that miners are disconnected from the network. But it’s definitely going to be on a much larger scale than ever before.
Look at Ethereum in 2021. Computing powers engaged in mining fell by almost 50%.
Now let’s take a look at Bitcoin. In 2018 and 2021, the hash rate fell by a third.
Can we predict the profitability after the Merge in September? Unlikely.
The Future of GPU Mining
I am not a fortune teller, but this September is definitely going to be remembered by GPU miners all over the world.
People with very low electricity rates will continue mining. Many miners across the world will disconnect. 2Miners will become the biggest GPU mining pool. It supports all the coins that you could think of. There are 20 coins available (19 without Ethereum).
Is there a chance that the situation will get better? Definitely. The cryptocurrency market today is 3x lower compared to its all-time high. If mining profitability first falls tenfold and then increases threefold, it means that overall it would fall just threefold. Not bad. And what if Bitcoin reaches $100,000 in value thus leading to the growth of all other cryptocurrencies? You might be skeptical because Bitcoin is having a hard time withholding even a $20,000 value. But who knows, it used to be valued at $1, then $100, and then $1,000. And every time people were saying that it was the limit, and it couldn’t grow even more.
Go ahead and read my first article – I’m sure some of you could relate to the wins and failures of my past. I’d like to thank the editors for publishing my second article. Even if I stop mining, I will remain an active part of the fantastic community that you’ve built for many years to come.
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.
