Introduction

Gridcoin is an open-source cryptocurrency. Its purpose is to reward researchers who provide computing power to the BOINC network. It is one of few cryptocurrencies that can run on ARM CPUs.

It is immune from ASIC mining and has a community that isn’t driven entirely by the greed associated with crypto. It is, in short, an excellent project for the maker community.

What is GridCoin?

Gridcoin, an open-source cryptocurrency, rewards you for donating your idle computing hours to the BOINC volunteer computing grid. I have written about Gridcoin before.

It’s a platform that connects individuals’ computers to create a supercomputing grid. It is used for scientific research. BOINC access is free for scientists who have data to process. Those who donate processor power can be rewarded with Gridcoin cryptocurrency.

The Key Features

Innovative use of blockchain technology

Gridcoin is one of the most innovative and practical applications of blockchain technology.

GRC generates cryptocurrency using its blockchains like most altcoins. However, GRC makes full use of the enormous computational power of a Blockchain network by contributing to important scientific research projects via the BOINC.

Unique consensus mechanism

GRC uses a unique Proof-of Research mechanism. A node is paid for its computational power and scientific output in one of the whitelisted BOINC projects.

Each node of the GRC blockchain network does not perform mindless calculations like Bitcoin. They are contributing to humanity by validating scientific data and being rewarded with a portion of GRC coins.

Decentralized voting system

GridCoin has an innovative, decentralized voting mechanism. It allows users to vote on any poll within the GRC network. These may include informal polls or deciding which projects should go on the whitelist.

It allows for a true peer-to-peer, a distributed, and fair economy. The users are in charge of which projects they donate their computing power to.

GRC makes efficient use of energy, resources and uses the PoS mechanism for its blockchain security. With minimal resource wastage, all computational power is used to support BOINC.

PoS is the most eco-friendly way to secure a blockchain. It requires no continuous mining or waste of energy resources.

GridCoin: How do I buy it?

Gridcoin can also be traded on exchanges like Bittrex and C-Cex.

Gridcoin can also be earned through staking and by participating in a whitelisted BOINC project. A 1.5% annual reward is earned for stakes.

The amount of computational work done by the node and the reward for PoR mining are correlated.

Gridcoin Mining

GridCoin (GRC), a peer-to-peer, internet-based cryptocurrency, is designed to bring tangible benefits to the world by paying the coin miners to participate in BOINC projects, leading to medicine, biology, and mathematics advancements.

Instead of creating unnecessary heat or wasted power, concentrate a large portion of your computation power on BOINC research.

According to estimates, bitcoin uses approximately 23,312 megawatts per day of electricity for its block-solving algorithms. Gridcoin’s goal is to shift computational power to Boinc projects first, while mining operations are second. As the network scales up, Boinc utilization will also scale up.

If they do not mine Boinc shares, the token subsidy will be paid to the coin miners. However, a more significant contribution will be given for mining with Boinc.

This digital currency allows for instant peer-to-peer transactions, worldwide payments, and low processing fees. Open source allows anyone to contribute to the currency’s success.

Gridcoin is a Bitcoin protocol-based cryptocurrency. However, Gridcoin can be mined efficiently with consumer-grade hardware. It makes it less likely that ASIC mining chips will replace Gridcoin.

Gridcoin offers faster transaction confirmations (2.5 min on average) and uses memory-intensive script-based proof of work algorithms to verify transactions.

Mining Gridcoin

Hardware requirements

• An Android Phone
• Internet access (It looks like you have because you are reading this)

Step 1: Create grcpool accounts – grcpool.com

Step 2: Install modified BOINC (distributed computing). You can find it here.

Step 3: Link your grcpool account to add it as a project manager. It will work if it isn’t compatible with your grcpool email.

Step 4: Assign projects for your phone (for this, go to grcpool> account > hosts> your phone).

Step 5: Synchronize your boinc client and grcpool

Step 7:  Add your gridcoin location. On grcpool, enter your address in the “grc address” field.

How to mine GridCoin using BOINC

Gridcoin, a cryptocurrency, rewards miners through two different systems:

Gridcoin holders are eligible for Proof of Stake (POS), which rewards them with an annual interest rate of 1.5%. It is just like a savings account at the bank.

Proof of Research (POR), which rewards miners with Gridcoin, recognizes their contributions to science via the BOINC platform. It is our current focus!

BOINC Installation on Your Computer

BOINC, a software platform that allows you to contribute to various research endeavors using the idle clock cycles of a computer’s computer.

It means that your computer is not being used. However, it is still putting its processing power into use to help researchers worldwide. Research topics range from mapping the Milky Way to finding cancer markers, curing Zika, and searching for prime numbers.

Navigate to the Download button and choose the option to “Download BOINC + Virtualbox.” Virtual box is software that BOINC research projects require to work. Not installing it will restrict your options.

Navigate to the Download button and choose the option to “Download BOINC + Virtualbox.” Virtual box is software that BOINC research projects require to work. Not installing it will restrict your options.

After the installer finishes downloading, run it. As you won’t edit the paths later, I recommend that everything is installed into the default directories. You can also choose the default settings if you don’t feel comfortable doing so.

A long list of projects will be displayed to you. We are not going to optimize our setup (there are many articles about that).

So, pick the project you like. Let’s sign up for SRBase to get started. It is a great CPU project.

• Select “Your account,”
• Click on “Create an Account.”

Complete all required fields and log in to your account. Click the team hyperlink to join Gridoin.

Gridcoin team members will receive Gridcoin (GRC) for all research you perform. It’s time to close your browser and return to the BOINC manager. Select Tools –> Add Project, then check for SRBase from the dropdown box.

Next, click to enter the details that you used to sign-up for SRBase. BOINC can be reduced now – it will start running SRBase in the background while we set up your wallet!