Start Mining Crypto in Minutes: Just an Average Guy Trying to Make a Buck
The idea of putting my computer on auto-pilot to earn a passive income sounded like the best idea I have ever heard. I felt like I had missed out on the big gains already in the crypto markets and cringed at the thought of risking hard earned capital by buying a high flying crypto coin. I remember during the last crypto frenzy I did try to “mine” crypto, but I didn’t get very far.. Now in 2021 have things changed?
Short Answer — It seems like it, and using the below guide I was able to get up and mining within a couple hours. I found NiceHash made the process simple and easy to follow. If the current bitcoin price stands, I could generate a whopping ~$75 in projected yearly profit.
In the below I summarize my experience getting set up on NiceHash the largest hash power broker marketplace.
Step One: Checking Profitability
The first thing you should do before you think about mining on your computer is to check to see if the endeavor will be profitable. Luckily today that is more easier than ever with NiceHash. Nicehash has a profitability calculator that is easy to use. It will auto detect your equipment (windows only) or you can manual input the required information.
- You can find out your graphics card by searching for “Device Manager”(if you are on a windows operating system). You will then want to look under “Display Adapters” your graphics card should be listed there.
- You can find our your CPU by searching for “System Information” (if you are on a windows operating system). You will then want to look under the “Processor” item.
- You can find your electricity rates by looking at your last electricity bill. My rate average was around .08-.09 USD.
Turns out I could make a $13.88 monthly profit. 1 BTC = 35024.44 USD.
Things to keep in mind interpreting these results. The fiat USD price could heavily fluctuate given the price relationship to bitcoin.
Step Two: Set up account and Software with NiceHash
At this point it also make be a good time to start thinking about where you are going to put this new found crypto currency. Again luckily NiceHash has us covered. NiceHash essentially sells your computers hash power to other miners, and as payment for your participation you collect BTC (bitcoin).
First you will want to make an account with Nicehash. Your BTC payments will be automatically deposited to your NiceHash BTC Wallet. NiceHash payouts every 4 hours, and will allow withdraw of BTC at a .00001 minimum.
The easiest way I found to was to follow the NiceHash set up guide:
Important: Make sure you install all plug-ins and run all benchmarks to avoid errors prior to starting mining.
Step Three: Lets Start Mining!
After downloading and updating NiceHash Miner with the BTC wallet from my NiceHash account, and ensuring the benchmarks were ran. I checked the devices tab of NiceHash Miner and I could see my GPU. I went ahead and enabled it, and NiceHashMiner automatically started renting out my computing power to their hash power market place. NiceHash is taking a small fee somewhere down the line, but I found the way NiceHash optimizes profitability worth it for me.
My Devices on NiceHash Miner: My GPU is actively mining
If all goes well a command line terminal should pop up will the relevant miner and algorithm.
After letting the miner go for a time you will start to see your dashboard populate. NiceHash also comes with an online dashboard to monitor payouts and mining activity.
Step Four: Moving BTC to an external wallet
When it comes to moving your money to an external wallet, such as CoinBase. NiceHash also makes it easy to move your BTC out.
As long as you meet the minimum of .00001 BTC (the minimum required mined bitcoin to be paid to your wallet) you are allowed to withdraw. Currently there was no charge to move to CoinBase, and just a 24hour processing window.
