Yeahp, I succumbed to the forces of Cryptocurrency... kinda.
That’s right, I am now mining Cryptocurrency. To make matters even worse, I literally just posted a blog about how Cryptocurrency was dead in the water, yet here I am. The worst part of all of this is that I’m Cryptomining with a CPU, so there’s that. I guess at this point I should give a back story as to how and why I started.
I'm moving south.
So, I’ve been talking about moving from Maryland to South Carolina for years. It’s been a dream of mine for some time now and it’s finally happening. Late last year I received a job offer for a position located just outside of Charleston, SC; I couldn’t turn it down. Starting in April of this year, I started traveling back and forth between states and working remote when not onsite. When I’m in South Carolina, I’m staying with family, and this is where all of this really starts.
Humble beginnings?
As I stated in the other post, I have been interested in Cryptocurrency for a while, well at least the theory of it all. I had long since given up on attempting to mine since the cost of a mining rig, and the return of investment(ROI) in general, was sub-par to say the least. Well, skip ahead to one of the weeks I was staying with family and the talks began with my cousin about his mining rig and the success he’s had. After just a few minutes my interest was peaked and that night I downloaded XMRig-UPX on my laptop. In all of the talks and ramblings, we discussed a coin that I would be able to mine, even with a bit of profitability, on machines I had laying around using CPU alone.
Why did I wait so long.
The first time I attempted to mine, the issue I ran into was that I just didn’t have a machine powerful enough. At the time ASICS and crazy GPU rigs were all the rage, and to this day I still don’t have either of these. What I do have is LOTS of CPU cores, so if I were to start mining it would have to be cryptomining with a cpu (or CPU’s). Back to current day and the Crypto scene has changed a bit. We now have a plethora of different coins, including those that are ASIC and GPU resistant…. meaning they’re only CPU mine-able…. PERFECT
What am I mining?
Now, I know I’m not going to get rich off of this, but It’s just a fun exercise using equipment I have laying around in an idle state 99% of the time. After the discussions with my cousin, I settled on three coins; Monero, Uplexa and Aeon. I’ve tried my luck with Monero, but sadly at this point It’s not profitable using CPU as the GPU crowd has taken over. On the flip side, I’ve had great luck with Uplexa, having a steady hashrate upwards of 30Kh/s and getting around 1500 coins per day. Not only that, but Uplexa also has an Android miner that I’ve had great luck with, averaging 7Kh/s and a couple hundred coins per day.
A new coin I’ve only recently started to mine is AEON. At this point I am still new to mining this, so I can’t talk on it yet, but I should be able to get about $10-15 per month based on my hash-rate. I know that doesn’t sound like much, but this is on systems that are on 24/7 already, two laptops that sip power, and/or in a location that I do not pay for the power, so Win win win? Or maybe I’m just stupid.. I can’t decide.
What's the actual profit Cryptomining with a CPU?
So I’ve been doing this for a few months now and the ever-looming question comes down to is it profitable. I’ll be frank; No. It’s not profitable right now. With that said, Cryptocurrency, if played like stocks can change that drastically. While I am only making about $20 per month in UPX, If I hold off, the expected increase could prove to be rather fruitful. The problem is that I’m impatient and want the money now. I’m also cheap and don’t like paying for my power bill so once I get frustrated of that, I’m sure i’ll call it quits.
In conclusion....
Well, I still question my sanity and have yet to decide If I want to continue mining, but for now it’s a fun hobby. I’m not making a lot of money, but money is still money so I won’t complain. I don’t know if I would recommend doing this if I were you, but I had about 100 logical cores at my disposal, so why not take advantage of them all.
Coin donations are greatly appreciated!
Uplexa: UPX1RzT7ZpyieEtwQGr1VLKD7YB2PHiBuWhrc8cPnV3jP3YDKFymL9VVJAStvgk3wNY8RYZKKP7yiPdWYsnSo1Na3eF75cXPsi
Monero: 4AmrX6tJGw7SaHwPMWKmPR41162C2K4DdaeCmufaad2udthqHCLumqbKHPNXFzdWQrVF6YhE5tDeMMyfCfoQThcnM4hHegZ
AEON: Wms945MzBpb7ArPKYduH4X7Lt4CK6CbyoTFWEgh4jjJn8mSeSmd4wfDfdLMkRPbQSn3xCiNBpJRPqWe96Dw7QV183AU7iWTiB