What is Bitcoin mining?

Bitcoin mining uses computing processing power to run SHA256 double round hash verification processes to validate Bitcoin transactions and provide the requisite security for the public ledger of the Bitcoin network. Computing power or the speed you mine Bitcoins at is measured in hashes per second.
To earn Bitcoins, the network awards your miners with Bitcoins based on your computing power. The more miners you have and the more computing power you have, the more Bitcoin you can earn.

How to start Bitcoin Mining

To begin Bitcoin mining you will need to purchase Bitcoin mining hardware.  One of our most popular models is the Avalon 841.  You will also need a power supply (PSU) and a controller.  The Avalon 841 controller can control up to 20 units.  Some other more expensive units like the Antminer S9 do not require a controller and are controlled individually.

When choosing a power supply make sure to look at the specs of your miner to make sure that you select the correct power supply with enough wattage to support your miner.  For example, if your miner uses 1300 watts and your power supply is rated at 1200 watts, you will need a power supply with more wattage.  Another thing to consider would be whether you are going to run 110v which is standard in most households, or 220v which would require a different outlet which is not commonly found in households.  Many power supplies will offer a higher wattage output at 220v, so these are things to consider when setting up your mining station.

Sign up for a mining pool and join a mining pool

A mining pool is a group of Bitcoin miners that work together to solve a block and share its rewards.  If you do not join a mining pool and mine by yourself, you may mine for over a year and not earn any bitcoins.  It is far more beneficial to share the work with other miners and split the reward with a larger group.  The way to make money mining is to have a large amount of processing power so a group of a thousand miners will solve problems much faster than a single miner you run yourself.

A couple popular mining pools are Slushpool and Viabtc.  Viabtc is generally easy to find blocks more frequently and they do Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash so switching is easy.  There are many mining pools out there, so do your research and choose a pool that works best for you and your equipment.  As far as how much money you can earn with different pools it’s generally about the same for the most part.

Once your miner is powered up you are ready to join a mining pool.  Once you’ve joined a pool, you will want to set the pool to pay out your earnings to your Bitcoin wallet.  If you want to mine a different type of coin other than Bitcoin (called Alt coins, short for alternative coins), you would locate a pool for that coin, log into your miner software and point your miner to the new pool and you will be mining a different coin.

Set up a Bitcoin wallet

A Bitcoin wallet is where you digitally store your Bitcoins.  There are many ways to store your Bitcoin: you can use software-based, website based or hardware wallets such as the Ledger Nano S.  For a software based wallet, we recommend Electrum because it is open source and not based off a person or company’s software that can potentially crash or be hacked.

Configure your miner

Once you have your mining hardware ready, you will need to configure your miner.  You will need an internet connection to begin setting up your miner.  Some miners such as the Avalon 841 will need a controller that allows you to access the miner software.  Other miners, such as the Antminer S9 do not require a controller and the software is built in.  To set up an Avalon 841, please refer to the controller instructions.