It is fantastic to make passive income. It is not uncommon for us to work hard to earn the money we earn. There are very few opportunities to make passive income. It is now more profitable to mine Ethereum than it was last year. The Ethereum value has risen over 1,300% since its peak value. You could make a few hundred dollars per month if you have a computer that can run a game or workstation with a modern GPU (Graphics Card), and you are mining Ethereum side-by-side when your computer is idle.
This post will explain what mining is and the different options available for mining Ethereum. I will also show you how to set it up using my preferred method. You can try mining Ethereum in ten minutes and see if it works for you.
Background
Global Chip Shortage
Many are aware of the current shortage of graphics cards. You might not have been able to find an Nvidia 3080 current-generation graphics card if you tried to build a video editing, gaming, or deep learning computer in the past few months. Even cards like the Nvidia 1070 have been selling for $500 recently, well above their original retail price of $380. What is the secret to a midrange graphic card of two generations selling for more than its actual retail price? While many factors influence global commerce, such as COVID-19, the primary driver of GPU shortages is Ethereum mining.
Nvidia has stated publicly that they see unprecedented demand for their products and that supplies aren’t as limited as people may believe. This article shows that Nvidia’s GPU shipment increased slightly in Q4 2020, compared to 2019. However, the demand was far greater than the supply. This is due to a mix of gamers, people who work from home, and those who want to mine cryptocurrencies. If you mine with it, the return on investment is almost certain for a 3080. The card will pay off as long as Ethereum’s value remains constant. If you have more cards, it will take less time. However, if Ethereum falls, there is still a lot of demand for used cards from professionals and gamers.
Mining basics
One way to understand Ether mining is to say that people lend their computing power and time to process transactions on Ethereum.
Blockchain is the underlying technology behind cryptocurrency. It stores transaction data in blocks that are linked together in a timeline. Transactions are added to a block as they come in. Once the block is full, miners can race for the opportunity to add it to the blockchain. Bitcoin and Ethereum use a proof of work consensus protocol. To prove to the majority of network members that all transactions are valid, miners must show that work has been done. They must guess the solution to a complex mathematical puzzle (cryptographic) to prove that transactions are valid. This is why modern graphics cards are so useful.
The blockchain will add a block when it is ready. The first miner who can correctly guess the solution wins the block. Mining blocks is a race among all the miners on a network. This is why you see people who have many graphics cards in their garages. The more graphics cards you have, the easier it will be to guess the cryptographic code. You don’t have to worry if you only own one GPU. A pool can still make you money mining Ethereum, which we’ll discuss next.
Why Ethereum and Not Bitcoin
Ethereum was created to be mined using consumer graphics cards. ASICs (application-specific integrated circuits) are used to mine Bitcoin. The advantages of mining Bitcoin using massive ASIC operations make it less decentralized than many people believe. Ethereum is designed to resist ASICs. This means that smaller players who have access to consumer hardware will have a greater chance of mining. This can have serious negative effects on the gaming community, but it makes Ethereum mining possible today.
The Way to mine Ethereum
Prerequisites
A few things to remember before you attempt to mine Ethereum.
- You can expect an increase in your energy bills — but be ready for it.
- A modern graphics card is required, as well as a fan and cooling setup.
- Do not expect too much. An excellent gaming PC can still take a few weeks before it meets minimum payout requirements.
Step 1: Download PhoenixMiner
You can mine Ethereum using various programs, but I found PhoenixMiner to be the most effective. Extract the ZIP file to a directory that you can find easily.
Step 2: Create an Ethereum wallet
You will need an address to store the ETH rewards that you earn. MetaMask is my favorite. Your centralized exchange wallet can be used as well. Any Ethereum wallet address is sufficient.
Step 3: Let’s Make It Mine!
Start Windows Command Prompt, navigate to the directory that PhoenixMiner.exe is located via Cd, then run the following command.
PhoenixMiner may not be able to run due to Windows security settings. To allow the file.exe to run, you may need to access the Windows security settings. Today replace this example Ethereum wallet address with yours. You will see the DAG being created message and messages similar to it.
Congratulations! Congratulations! Your computer is now hot, and your energy bill is high. You are also generating rewards from the Ethereum mining pool.
I am not and will never claim to be a mining expert. You can tweak your mining settings and computer settings to get maximum performance from your graphics card. You can dramatically reduce your emissions and increase profitability by controlling your energy source. Although the time is now over to mine Ethereum, there is still plenty of time to do so if you want to try it!
