As Bitcoin starts to gain more adoption, and with it, publicity, you might be wondering how you can start mining it for yourself. Bitcoin Mining is a great way to support the blockchain while making a bit of profit for yourself. Getting started only takes a few steps, but it’s important to get them right to start your experience right.
Before everything else, if you want to start your own operation, it’s important to educate yourself about how Bitcoin mining works, assess the current market, and figure out if it’s cost effective with your current set-up. Mining operations rely heavily on cheap electricity to turn a profit, so if you calculate that power will cost you less than the profits you’ll make from mining, that’s a great sign for you to begin.
Next, you’ll need to buy your hardware. It’s often best to buy the latest and most advanced mining rigs available, as they’ll keep your energy costs lowest, and provide the most hashrate, meaning you’re more likely to mine the next block in the chain and get the block reward.
Once you have your hardware picked out, you’ll want to decide on your wallet set-up. If you’re planning on mining a bunch of Bitcoin, you’ll want a safe and secure cold storage wallet, as well as a solid everynday wallet to use for transactions. Don’t forget to keep your private key safe, and have your backup plan should anything happen to either of your wallets.
Next, you’ll probably want to consider joining a mining pool. While winning a block reward for yourself will mean a great big return on your investment, going alone could mean waiting a long time before that happens, if ever. By joining your mining operation to that of a pool of others, you’re all more likely to mine blocks much more often, sharing the rewards so you can start profiting sooner.
Assuming you joined a pool, enter your pool and wallet information into your mining software, fire it up, and you’re mining Bitcoin! But that’s not where it ends. You’ll need to keep up to date on the latest developments of the Bitcoin world, including the latest trends, protocol news, and most important for your bottom line, price.