Getting through the learning curve of crypto mining

#cryptocurrency #crypto #mining #product

So, lately, I got into the mining hype train, even though I didn't even had a pc tower before(being a Mac user). I had some experience around crypto trading before, but I had no knowledge around the actual mining process, the various terminologies behind it, or the over/under clocking methods and settings.
Although I came rather late to the party, there is a big advantage to that since there are numerous sources for all the information that you need to be up and ready in relative short time. Moreover, the whole process has streamlined a lot and there are options as simple as a few clicks, for those who do not want to invest a lot of time on it or do not care about the tech- engineering behind it.
Having said that, the list below can be seen as a noob-friendly summation of the important stuff you should keep a note, if you want to start such a journey yourself.

Mining Pool

This is a group of individual crypto miners that combine their resources in order to increase their chances of finding a block and, eventually, mine the crypto coin. Although you can do without a mining pool and try mining solo, this is outside of the simple-scope we have here. Every pool chooses to mine specific coins, so, one of the important factors to pick one over the other, is the coin you want to mine.

Mining Algorithm

This is the algorithm which runs on the corresponding blockchain. There are various algorithms and every blockchain chooses the one to use, while every miner chooses the one to mine based on his hardware, since different hardware works best on certain algorithms.

HashRate

This refers to the computational power your machine provides during the mining process. You want this number to be as high as possible, so you might need to tweak some things in order to get the most out of your hardware. Different hardware will need different settings, based also on the mine algorithm of your choice, so be ready for quite a lot of trial and error.

Miner Software

This is the actual software you need to run on your hardware in order for it to become part of the mining process. There are various different ones, and each one can be used to mine specific coins. Furthermore, some of them favor specific hardware vendors, so you should keep this in mind as well.

Coin Wallet

This is the equivalent of your physical wallet, but in the crypto world. Any profit you gain from your mining effort, will be transferred in your wallet periodically and then you will be able to use them as you wish, be it make them fiat money, exchange them for different coins or, transfer them to other wallets.

After you have set up your hardware and installed all the required software, and your wallet starts to receive your so much welcomed fruits of your effort, the next thing you will want to do is keep an eye on the status of it. Depending on the size of your investment, real time data can be critical for maximising your efforts and reaching that initial ROI faster. But even for smaller rigs, monitoring data and charts are an essential part of the whole process.
Almost all mining pools provide a clean and simple web ui to check your account, but if you mine on more than one pool, then you need to keep track of different websites or even install multiple apps on your phone. For that, MinerWatch was created, so that you can monitor from a single app your miner-rigs no matter what pool you are in, or which coin you mine at the moment. Initially, the 2Miners pool is the first one integrated with more than 15 coins available, with many more to come in the following releases, along with new clients and much awaited features.

MinerWatch - The one answer to monitoring one or multiple mining accounts

If you have a specific request, be it your favorite pool or a different kind of chart that will provide you the insight that you need, please don't hesitate to contact me.