Mining farm detailed instructions. Mining farm - what is it in simple words? What are Bitcoins, mining and blockchain

You can’t mine cryptocurrency at home best idea. Overloaded networks, disrupted traffic jams and constant noise lead to miners being kicked out of apartments and offices. Who offered them an alternative and how much did they earn from it?

Daniyar Latypov (Photo: Regina Urazaeva for RBC)

The sharp rise in cryptocurrency prices in 2017 gave impetus to the development of home mining. First, video cards, motherboards and power supplies—components for mining farms—disappeared from store shelves. Then rapid growth created a new problem: farms consume huge amounts of electricity, wiring in high-rise buildings cannot cope with the load, and computers in rooms without ventilation overheat and stop working. Crypto farmers began to look for alternatives, and demand gave rise to supply - mining hotels, guarded areas with a fee for renting a “bed” for the farm.

RBC discovered three hotels - in Tatarstan, Moscow and the Moscow region. How is their business structured?

How it works

Mining (from the English mining, extraction) is the generation of cryptocurrency by solving mathematical problems. The miner rents out the computing power of his computer, which connects to the blockchain network (a decentralized database containing information about all transactions) and maintains its operation.

A mining farm (or rig) is a powerful computer assembled from several video cards (usually four to eight), a motherboard and a power supply. The cheapest crypto farms on Avito are sold at prices starting from 75 thousand rubles. A regular computer most often has one video card, so it makes no sense to use home and office PCs for mining.

To solve mathematical problems, miners unite into pools - teams that connect to the blockchain network. Solo mining is unpopular as it dramatically reduces the chances of success. When a solution is found, a cryptocurrency is created and all pool participants are given a reward proportional to their performance. To receive this reward, you need to create a crypto wallet. You can transfer virtual currency into traditional fiat money using cryptocurrency exchangers (HotExchange, Payforia, etc.).

The most profitable, but at the same time the most expensive cryptocurrency today is bitcoin. It has been mined since 2009: originally it was done by one person under the nickname Satoshi Nakamoto. Then $1 was equal to 1.3 thousand bitcoins, on October 9, 2017, one bitcoin was already worth $4.66 thousand. Satoshi initially set a limit that only 21 million bitcoins can be created, and as the popularity of this currency grows, more and more are required to mine it computing power. Today it is unprofitable to mine bitcoin on ordinary farms, it is mined on the so-called ASICs - ready-made equipment created specifically for mining. Its cost starts from 170 thousand rubles.

Typically, home mining farms are involved in the creation of altcoins - all other cryptocurrencies except for bitcoin (the most popular are Ethereum and ZCash). “I thought that it would be enough to sweat a little over the assembly, press the “loot” button and the money would flow like a river, but that was not the case. Farms need constant control, and income directly depends on the rate of cryptocurrencies. At the moment, I have invested 1.4 million rubles in mining, which, given the average monthly rate, should pay off in about two years after the start. My ten farms bring in 110-120 thousand rubles per month. revenue,” a miner who wished to remain incognito told RBC.

Tatar mining

Kazan resident Daniyar Latypov began mining when it was not yet mainstream: he assembled his first farm in 2011. Radio engineering education and a passion for computers helped me figure it out, but at that time cryptocurrency was cheap and did not bring significant income: Latypov earned only about 6 thousand rubles. per month, half of which went to pay for electricity.

Mining on a grand scale

Mining in Russia is not legalized, but it is not prohibited either. “There is no regulation of the cryptocurrency market yet. The only document that affects this industry is a letter from the Federal Tax Service dated October 3, 2016, in which transactions with cryptocurrencies are equated to foreign exchange,” says Maximilian Grishin, a lawyer in the Moscow office of the international law firm Ilyashev and Partners. According to Olga Sorokina, managing partner of O2 Consulting, hotels will face risks if the owner of the premises begins to pay tenants in cryptocurrency. If payments are made in rubles, then there is nothing to complain about - in fact, the activities of miners-hoteliers are not much different from the business of hosting providers.

Small mining hotels with an area of up to 300 square meters. m will not withstand competition with large companies that are already beginning to fill the market, says Anatoly Knyazev, founder of the Bitcoin Fund hedge fund. One of the pioneers in this area was Internet ombudsman Dmitry Marinichev, whose company Radius Group equipped equipment for cryptocurrency mining on the territory of the former Moskvich plant.

Igor Shuvalov, appointed by Vladimir Putin to be responsible for the development of cryptocurrency technologies, plans to bring mining to the level of state corporations. “We talked about the future of this sector in Russia, given that it is developing so quickly in the world. Among other things, we talked about electrical energy generators, near which such [mining] centers could be installed. But there are no specific projects yet,” Shuvalov.

There is already an alternative to mining hotels - this is cloud mining, collective use of computing power. Companies providing such services purchase equipment and offer part of this capacity to clients for rent. In return, they receive income minus expenses for the Internet, electricity and the organizer’s commission. However, many market participants do not understand the economics of such projects. “Think for yourself: why rent out a machine for printing money, which can bring high income to the cloud owners themselves?” - asks Alexey Ivanov from SberBit. According to the owner of the mining hotel, Adam Guchigov, this scheme provides less income than independent mining, and does not allow control over whether the owners honestly share profits with tenants.

Dear capital

Muscovite Alexey Ivanov started thinking about mining as a source of income in April 2017, when he and a friend were choosing components for a computer. “I was surprised to note that video cards had disappeared from store shelves,” recalls Alexey. — We realized that people are buying hardware to mine. A logical question arose: is it possible to make money from this? Ivanov, an IT specialist by training, a former employee of the Russian Venture Company and co-owner of office equipment maintenance firms, decided to understand the technology.

Aleksey Ivanov (Photo: Oleg Yakovlev / RBC)

Together with partners, he assembled several farms that he installed in the office of his company. It turned out that this is much more convenient than home options. “Keeping a farm at home is risky: you simply cannot turn on washing machine or a kettle - will knock out corks. People did their best: they tried to strengthen the wiring and rented separate apartments to put farms there,” says Ivanov. He decided to take up hosting mining farms professionally.

The first thing he did was assess the demand: he created a website on which he posted an advertisement about the services of a mining hotel (Ivanov claims that he was the first to come up with this phrase). There were about ten calls in a few days, and he decided to act. As a test site, together with five partners (friends and colleagues), I rented an office next to my own with an area of 40 square meters. m, installed a separate power supply line, installed ventilation, purchased iron racks, temperature and humidity sensors. All this cost 300 thousand rubles.

The premises were filled in a week, and Ivanov rented another 200 sq. m. m of office space in the same business center (at a rate of 1-1.2 thousand rubles per 1 sq. m). Now the SberBit mining hotel occupies 300 sq. m. Ivanov offers clients an all-inclusive package - a guarded site, payment for Internet, electricity and administrator work. Placement of each device for mining will cost the client 5 thousand rubles. when consuming up to 1 kWh of energy, 6 thousand rubles. at a flow rate of 1-1.5 kWh, and 8 thousand rubles. at a consumption of 1.5-2 kWh. Another 2.5 thousand rubles. you will have to pay for the installation of the farm.

In the first month, Ivanov managed to attract about 20 clients (mainly through an ad on Avito and contextual advertising on Google). Now the hotel has 300 mining farms. For four months, the company's revenue from this activity amounted to 2 million rubles, net profit - 200 thousand rubles. These are not high figures, Ivanov admits, office premises do not have sufficient electrical capacity and rent is expensive; production premises with large supplied capacities are needed.

From garage to workshop

Adam Guchigov first heard about cryptocurrency in 2013, when a potential client came to him, a stockbroker for an investment company. “A man invested in the purchase of bitcoin and asked what he should do with this wealth,” recalls Guchigov. “Bitcoin cost $20 back then, we didn’t work with it and advised the client to exchange it for dollars.” He became interested in cryptocurrency only in 2017, when they started talking about it on federal television channels. Together with his colleague Daniil Munaev, Guchigov purchased 12 video cards (it cost 480 thousand rubles) and found a specialist who, for 20 thousand rubles. helped put together two farms.

The test was unsuccessful: the farms that worked in Munaev’s garage overheated and constantly turned off. Entrepreneurs sold them for 540 thousand rubles, and with the proceeds they ordered others from China, with an additional cooling system. The new system worked without interruption and brought in about 1.5 thousand rubles. arrived on the day.

By June, the number of miners and the complexity of calculations increased, and the payback of farms fell from four to 10-12 months. “We understood that mining was difficult to scale, and we were looking for a more reliable business model,” the entrepreneur recalls. The idea was suggested by a truss assembly specialist who helped Guchigov at the start. “Orders came to him almost every day, the count went to millions of farms in Moscow alone. Where are they all stored? - Guchigov was perplexed. It turned out that most of the collector's clients keep farms on their balconies.

Photo: Regina Urazaeva for RBC

Guchigov relied on newcomers who bought two or three farms and placed them at home. “Farms make a lot of noise and generate a lot of heat; if you live in the same room with them, you can go crazy,” says Adam. He decided to create a commercial mining site with 24-hour security and monitoring. Unlike Ivanov, he did not get involved with expensive Moscow real estate, but rented some production workshop in Podolsk (70 sq. m. for 28 thousand rubles per month), installed the Internet, installed ventilation, purchased metal racks for storing farms, three robotic vacuum cleaners for cleaning and hired one administrator. The workshop is located in a closed area with access control - this is how we managed to save on security. About 130 thousand rubles were spent on the start. Guchigov found his first clients even before the opening: he was helped by the connections of a farm customizer he knew, who offered accommodation in a mining hotel to his clients.

The hotelier charges 3 thousand rubles for his services. from every farm. Electricity is paid separately depending on the power of the computers: on average, an additional 2-3 thousand rubles are paid per month. Now in the Podolsk mining hotel there are 72 computers and this is not the limit - on each of the 70 square meters. m of space, four trusses can be installed, says Guchigov. The place will soon come in handy, he is sure: “Rain, snow, hurricane winds - all these delights of Moscow autumn are to our advantage. As soon as the weather turns bad, all those who still have farms on their balconies will run to us.”

View from the outside

“Sooner or later the market will be captured by large players”

Alexey Noskov, head of the “Mining” project at the Xelent data center

“The market is going through a gradual transition from apartment mining to a more civilized scheme: lone miners move equipment to hotels in search of safer conditions. But this period will not last forever: sooner or later, the market will be captured by large players who will build professional data centers under the guise of mining hotels. I believe that small private hotels will be relevant for no more than two to three years.”

“A solution for those who were kicked out of their apartment”

Pavel Sukhachev, co-founder of SAVL (wallet for storing and exchanging cryptocurrencies)

“Mining hotels are an extremely dubious and temporary solution for inconspicuous market players, some private miners from the category of those who were kicked out of their homes by their families for noise, heat and a huge amount of electricity bills. The future belongs to powerful data centers with cheap electricity, which work on direct contracts with thermal power plants, in which residual electricity is bought.

“Mining hotels can be compared to selling shovels during the gold rush”

Alexander Borodich, founder of the Universa blockchain

“Accommodation in mining hotels is best suited for beginners who do not want to endure the headaches of constant problems with farms: looking for an opportunity to bypass electricity meters, tolerate noise, regulate temperature and humidity. Those who have already spent the winter with farms managed to find a solution to the listed problems without hoteliers. But the market is replenished with new people, and at this stage“It’s an easily quantifiable and profitable business: it can be compared to selling shovels during the gold rush.”

Save
Save

Alexey Russkikh

Even those people who do not have the slightest idea about the process itself and all its nuances know what a mining farm is for extracting cryptocurrencies. The reason for this was the incredible excitement that developed around the release of cryptocurrencies, in particular Bitcoin, on international level. Simply put, some countries have already recognized Bitcoin as a monetary unit and included it in current financial relationships, thereby paving the way for the future evolution of the entire global economy.

The article will focus not so much on the cryptocurrency itself, but on the method of its extraction. This will be of interest to those who are going to make money from this, and to those who simply want to have an idea of the relevance of mining and be aware of the ongoing changes in the economy in the coming years and decades.

Cryptocurrency mining process

There are many cryptocurrencies. Among them are both established mastodons and new, albeit promising, but not so successful solutions. Moreover, each cryptocurrency has its own characteristics both in mining and in calculations. However, they are all united by a technology called blockchain, or a chain of blocks that is made up of completed transactions. Thanks to them, electronic cash is mined on cryptocurrency mining farms. Blockchain is the basis for the functioning of cryptocurrencies. Here it is worth highlighting the following main characteristics:

Miners create new blocks in the chain, for which they receive a financial reward in the form of new units of cryptocurrency.
Each block contains information about all wallets, transactions, technical data, as well as a special number (hash).
A block is considered completed when it is “recognized” by all participants in the network, that is, millions of other users and miners. This “recognition” comes as Bitcoin mining farms open a new block.
Each new block contains the id of the previous block, that is, all the information that was in it.
This serves as a guarantee to exclude the possibility of multiple use of the same electronic cash (in cryptology, the solution to the “two generals problem”).

Cryptographic problem and algorithms in mining

To find out how a mining farm “creates” new blocks, let’s delve into the principle of its operation. Let's talk about cryptographic problems and computing power. This is important for understanding which farm is needed for different currencies, as well as for learning about current analogues of farms for cryptocurrencies. The process of mining electronic cash itself occurs by calculating a cryptographic problem.

It is important to note that as computing power increases, the difficulty of creating new blocks also increases. This means that it is very difficult to potentially monopolize this area.

Although there is another negative side for “home miners”: with increasing complexity, the payback period for equipment (video cards or ASICs) constantly increases, and income, in turn, decreases.

All this led to the fact that the profitability of mining in 2017 remained only for specialized farms, while, taking into account operating costs (electricity, wear and tear of hardware, etc.), at best it will be 0, but rather It will even be unprofitable.

A cryptographic problem is solved using a specific algorithm. Consider the SHA-256 algorithm, on which not only bitcoin mining, but also most other cryptocurrencies are based and built. This algorithm is a solution developed by the US NSA (agency national security USA). On the SHA-256 algorithm, the cryptographic problem is solved on the CPU, which is also a processor, or on the GPU, which is also a graphics processor - a video card or several video cards that include a mining farm.

It's fair to say that SHA-256 is used for more than just mining. This algorithm is used in many security protocols, for example, SSL, PGP, which are used on most secure sites on the Internet. In specialized ASICs, which were originally created for mining, this algorithm is also implemented.

There are other, more complex and advanced algorithms (Scrypt, Scrypt-Jane, etc.). Basically, later algorithms are designed to make hardware computing more efficient, since they make the original SHA-256 look simpler. It is worth considering that Scrypt requires more RAM, so to work with this algorithm on a cryptocurrency mining farm, this feature must be taken into account.

What cryptocurrencies are popular?

Let's briefly look at the most basic currencies that are mined today. It is important to understand that as the hype grows, more and more new cryptocurrencies will appear, but most of them are unlikely to reach the level of Bitcoin or Ether. This is necessary in order to correctly set priorities, calculate the profitability and payback period of a mining farm.

Let's start with the basics. It is quite obvious that the most widespread and popular currency is bitcoin. It was this that was recognized as the official virtual currency, which can be used to pay at the level of ordinary money or exchanged for any existing “physical” currency.

The following types of currencies are also quoted and in demand:

Ethereum or ether;
Litecoin;
Peercoin;
Namecoin;
Monero;
Zcash;
Dash.

Most currencies use the SHA-256 algorithm, although Peercoin uses Scrypt, Monero uses CryptoNote, and Zcash uses Equihash.

Mathematics of mining farms in simple words

Let's move on to the technical part and take a closer look at what a mining farm is. Initially, it is important to note that farms are often called everything that allows you to mine cryptocurrency, although in fact this is incorrect. The concept of “farm” refers only to computer mining, that is, mining organized within the same farm with video cards. Often such farms may be called by other terms, although this just depends on the scale. For example, photos of the notorious Bitcoin farms in China, which have been circulating on the Internet for a long time, are called hangars. As a rule, these are the largest farms in terms of scale, occupying huge areas.

However, for a home user, a mining rig can consist of 4, 6, 8 or more working video cards. Often inexperienced miners think that it is enough to simply install the hardware and get ready to fish cash flow. In 90% of cases, it all ends with attempts to sell used components at local flea markets after the idea does not live up to expectations or the cards simply fail.

Due to the widespread “mining epidemic,” many service centers have excluded from warranty service cases damage due to card overheating, chip failure, and everything that becomes the result of thoughtless mining. Thus, they insure themselves against huge expenses when, having squeezed the maximum out of video adapters, smart users want to return them under warranty, receiving both the mined money and new video cards (or their current value).

If you want to get down to business seriously, regardless of the scale, that is, so that your mining farm becomes a way to earn money, and not temporary fun, it is important to take into account the following, most important features:

engineering calculations (cooling, general organization and everything that is required for stable operation of the hardware and to prevent its failure;
accounting and calculation of electricity;
sound insulation.

The last point is what distinguishes novice miners from experienced ones. If you have heard the noise a Bitcoin farm or ASIC makes, then the issue of silence and noise insulation will become one of the priorities if the farm is installed at home or where people live.

The issue of cooling, as a rule, is decided at the level of choosing video cards, so it is important to worry about the ventilation of the room and the general temperature in it in advance. The exception is hangars or farms with high computing power. Such mining farms must be carefully cooled. Industrial fans are almost always installed in such farms. Air flows are organized so that cold air is blown in and hot air is blown out.

What types of farms are there?

Suitable for mining different currencies different types farms In simple words, this is the correct distribution of the overall efficiency, as a result of which your mining farm will be as profitable as possible. What are the options? There are 4 of them in total, so it’s worth distributing them in order of priority:

Asic (expensive investment, high mining efficiency).
Farm (less investment, but higher risk of equipment failure).
Mining pools ( a good option for singles).
(in last place due to the ratio of pros and cons, as well as the controversial reputation of the services themselves).

Now let's talk about everything in order. If we talk about mining on a GPU (that is, a classic farm, which seems to most to be a set of combined video cards), then the following currencies are best suited for mining:

Ethereum;
Zcash;
Monero.

In the case of Asic, it is best to focus on:

Bitcoin;
Litecoin.

There are more expensive ASICs for Dash, but this option is more likely for those who are well versed in mining and allow large initial investments in the prospect of mining this cryptocurrency.

You can often come across such a concept as a “bitcoin farm,” which is not entirely correct. Any farm can mine any currency, but we are talking about the most profitable option for working with specific algorithms.

Advantages and disadvantages of farms and ASICs

What are the advantages of farms and ASICs, besides their computing power? Let's start with the farms:

You can always sell the hardware, returning part of the money spent and minimizing losses.
You receive net profit and control the process yourself (how much you mined, how much you received minus electricity costs, etc.).
You can always choose what to mine, even if one currency disappears from the market, the equipment will allow you to switch to another currency. You can also switch to what is more profitable and relevant for you at the moment.
Cryptocurrency can be sold at any time (a very important advantage), so you can analyze the rate and mine it when it will bring maximum income.
You can take used hardware, which will reduce the initial costs.

The disadvantages of the farm include:

You need to understand yourself how a mining farm works or look for someone who can install the equipment and configure it. Simply put, it requires some technical knowledge (or time to learn on your own).
Risks of breakdown (as a rule, increase with incorrect technical equipment).
A separate room or room is required.
Increased energy consumption and large electricity bills (depending on how much electricity your crypto farm consumes).

The advantages and disadvantages of Asic are about the same as the truss. ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) is a special-purpose integrated circuit, a more advanced version of the farm, which was originally created for mining. This removes some of the difficulties associated with installation, but the problems of ventilation and sound insulation remain.

ASICS are more preferable in some cases, because... allow you to get more income compared to other mining methods. However, if tomorrow mining ceases to be relevant, it will not be possible to sell it and return part of the money, as is the case with video cards. Additionally, high-performance ASICs tend to have a high price tag, which means this method requires a large initial investment.

Alternative methods

You need to understand that the process of crypto mining does not come down to buying ASICs and video cards. There are quite a few alternative ways extraction of electronic cash. It is unlikely that they will be comparable in terms of profitability, and in a number of other advantages, but nevertheless, they are worthy of being discussed in the article. Let's highlight the two most popular methods:

association in mining pools;
cloud mining.

Let's start with the first one. This is a method for those who want to mine, but do not want to invest in buying a farm. This method is also suitable for farm owners who would like to increase the computing potential and overall performance of their equipment, which in turn will help increase profits.

Remember the parable of the broom? One twig is easy to break, but a bundled bundle is difficult. Pools are a kind of “bundle” where, by combining efforts, miners increase their total potential. This allows you to be more competitive in comparison with such giants as Chinese crypto farms (video). The synergy of joint mining is a controversial issue, but, nevertheless, people invest money in it.

Renting cloud capacity

With cloud mining, everything is more complicated, because “growing bitcoins” or any other currency will take into account many factors that cannot be controlled.

Such mining implies that you rent power from large companies in the quantity you need and mine cryptocurrency with them. Your income must be above the rental rate.

We may face another big problem. It is in cloud mining that the largest number of scammers. They “promote” their projects, create a stir, attract miners, and then close the projects, leaving people with nothing. Therefore, it is very important to choose the right project.

In addition, the following disadvantages of this method should be taken into account:

The equipment is not your property, that is, in the event of any technical problems, you will not be able to influence it in any way.
Lack of profitability control (the tenant always receives only the final bill and profit, while the entire calculation is carried out by the landlord).
Inability to manage resources. Simply put, you cannot sell a currency at its peak and make more profit.
Increased electricity tariffs (in the country where the power plants are located, the price for electricity may be much higher than in the country where you are located).
As a rule, the payback period for investments is longer.
Other risks associated with the remoteness of the lessor and the local legislation of the lessor.

Among the advantages of such mining it is worth noting:

Public: anyone can start. To do this, you don’t need to install a farm, worry about noise, temperature, or carry out efficiency calculations yourself.
In case of any breakdowns, all expenses fall on the owner of the equipment. You, as a tenant, do not bear any responsibility.
24/7 mining.

This is a truly passive type of mining, which, although it does not bring much income, will allow you to get a certain profit even without any in-depth technical knowledge. This option is good for beginners; it allows a novice miner to master a new area and gain experience.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is good to learn mining now, even if you don't plan to do it in the near future. This area is the most rapid in terms of growth rates and potential return on investment. Today, even large companies are considering investing tens and hundreds of millions of dollars in mining.

Is it worth it? This will not bring much profit, part of which will be spent on paying for electricity. But if you want to understand how everything works, this is a completely worthy option. If mining on an ordinary home PC was profitable 6-7 years ago and brought good profits, then today, given the general increase in the complexity of calculations and the arrival of multicorporations, we can remember the old saying: “one man in the field is no warrior.”

Mining pools can provide a ghostly chance of increasing income, but it’s worth talking about real income only if you have farms with at least 4 video cards.

Purchasing video cards or buying an ASIC for mining is considered unprofitable today. The cost of hardware has increased significantly, and the level of income has dropped significantly. In some cases, even cloud mining can bring almost the same income as an ASIC or a small farm. Now only those who invest a lot of money in it make money from mining.

Cool

The price of cryptocurrency is growing rapidly. As a result, the number of people interested in purchasing it increases. And due to the fact that great and even increasing competition today does not make it possible to mine digital monetary units on an ordinary home computer, many are starting to think about creating special mining farms, that is, powerful equipment assembled with their own hands and designed specifically for cryptocurrency mining. And although the situation is different for different cryptocoins, assembling the farm itself is a simple process. Even those who are poorly versed in computer technology will be able to special problems create a good station and start using it to mine cryptocurrency. Today, all boards and other components are supplied with manuals that simplify the assembly process and easy-to-connect drivers.

A ready-made mining rig is an electronic computing device to which equipment is connected that provides performance benefits to the system. In most cases, graphic editors act as components - a tool traditionally used for computer games and rendering.

However, the mining farm is not limited to collecting components. It is also necessary to take care of high-quality ventilation of the assembled installation. After all, its total power is quite large, which means that it will heat up quickly. And if you do not take some measures to cool the components, the equipment may burn out and fail.
If you install additional coolers, then the air circulation will increase. In this case, the farm will work not only longer, but also more efficiently.

What nuances should be taken into account when assembling a farm for mining?
Typically, during assembly, the video card is installed on a remote rack, and coolers are attached to the structure from different sides. Considering the capabilities of motherboards of modern personal computers, no more than six graphic editors can be connected to one of them simultaneously.

An important issue that a miner must take care of is energy consumption. The fact is that the graphics processor uses a huge amount of electric current. Therefore, when assembling a farm from scratch, you must take into account energy costs. After all, they will be considerable. The minimum power consumption of medium-priced devices is 50 watts per hour. At the same time, such a computer does not have the best performance. If you create a full-fledged farm, then you should purchase video cards that consume a hundred watts per hour during operation. And provided that there are 6 of these video cards in one assembled device, the total will be more than half a kilowatt per hour.

However, six graphic editors are not all the components of a full-fledged mining farm. Its other components will also consume some energy, which can be measured in hundreds of watts per hour. And therefore, in total, such equipment will consume about 1 kilowatt per hour. And since this system is designed for round-the-clock operation, it will use about 25 kilowatts of electricity per day. For many residents of our country, this figure is the monthly norm. Therefore, a house with a mining farm can be compared in terms of energy consumption to a small office. It is also worth remembering that the farm will occupy a considerable amount of space. Its dimensions will not be much smaller than the dimensions of some diesel generator. And the mass of such an installation can be measured in tens of kilograms.

In this material:

Mining - what kind of myths and stories have not been put forward on this topic. A soap bubble, fun for schoolchildren, waste of money - all this was heard from the Internet and television about earning cryptocurrency. In 2018, the Bitcoin rate stabilized at the average level, which allowed opponents of virtual money to forget about its existence, and miners to calmly go about their business. But before you buy video cards and set up the system, you should draw up a business plan for a mining farm, otherwise you can easily go bankrupt. Mining is the same business as opening a store or service company. Serious investments require competent calculations, equipment setup and basic knowledge in the field of cryptocurrency.

What is a mining farm and how does it work?

Mining is the extraction of cryptocurrency. A farm is a network of several devices connected into one for faster work and receiving rewards. The main component that is involved in the process is the video card, so when assembling your own farm, up to 8-16 cards are connected to one motherboard.

The operating principle is as follows:

installation of special software;
registration in a special system (the so-called mining pool);
equipment setup;
start of mining.

Even such a simple explanation is not clear to everyone how to mine and where the money comes from. After setting up the system and starting the process, the computer directs all its power to the servers to solve complex mathematical calculations. A huge amount of information is processed every second by several users at once. As soon as the task is solved, miners are awarded a reward in the form of cryptocurrency to their internal account.

Computing speed and receipt of funds depend on the power of the computer and the number of users on the network. It is worth noting that the complexity of the calculation increases every year due to the growing number of users. In addition, technology does not stand still, so if a couple of years ago some video cards were considered the top ones, today no one uses them anymore due to obsolescence.

The mining process is completely automatic – you just need to set up the system once and periodically check its performance. Ideally, a computer operates 24/7, so mandatory monitoring is required. An elementary reboot of the software will require the system to start. If the person is not nearby, time and money will be lost.

The final stage is withdrawal of funds. As soon as the necessary amount for withdrawal accumulates on the internal account, it can be received on your cryptocurrency wallet and withdrawn to the card.

Reference: Bitcoin is not mined on video cards, because special equipment is required - ASIC. In Russia, it can only be purchased on the Internet (not quite legally), otherwise you need to order it in China. Video cards are suitable for mining Ethereum, Zcash and other virtual coins.

The relevance of investments in cryptocurrency mining

The peak of mining occurred at the end of 2017, when in just a few months bitcoin, and then the rest of the cryptocurrency, rose in price tenfold. For example, if BTC cost $1,000 per coin in 2016, then since 2017, the rate has been increasing almost every day, and by the end of the year it reached its highest level of $19,000. It was at this time that everyone started talking about mining and ways to make money.

Today, the most important cryptocurrency is worth about $7,000 per coin and is confidently holding its position. Even such indicators are enough to talk about the profitable side of starting a business based on a mining farm. At today's rates, the return on investment is approximately 3% per month.

If the media and bloggers stopped talking about cryptocurrency, this does not mean that mining is dead. Users who have been in this business for a long time only expand the premises and change equipment. Beginners also have every chance to start earning if they approach the organization of the process competently and with a clear business plan for future investments and events.

How to make money from mining?

If you need a short answer, then it will sound like this - you need to buy equipment, configure and mine cryptocurrency. It is natural that figurative expressions they don't give any useful information without clear instructions.

Search for premises and requirements for it

An important stage of organizational measures, since the activity does not imply the registration of an individual entrepreneur and the deduction of taxes, therefore it is not entirely appropriate to talk about renting a room. This is fraught with the fact that the property owner or strangers can report the miner to the police for illegal business.

Reference: a separate room for a mining farm is still required, because the design of 6-8 video cards is noisy and emits a huge amount of heat. Be in a room with an area of 18-20 square meters. m. for a long time where a computer is installed for mining cryptocurrency is problematic.

Basic requirements for the premises:

electricity - without it it is impossible to turn on the computer, which is understandable, but you should pay attention to the condition of the wiring. It must be free of defects and bare areas, and also withstand the power of the entire system;
Internet is also a prerequisite, because without a connection it is impossible to connect to the server. Mining does not require high speeds, so if there is no optical fiber, then even a 3G modem will cope with the task;
ventilation - given that the farm generates a huge amount of heat, the room must be well and regularly ventilated. This is especially true in the summer.

The type of premises depends on the scale of the future business. If you are planning one farm for 6-8 cards, then home conditions are quite suitable:

An empty room in an apartment.
Glazed balcony.
Shed or utility room.
Country house.
Empty private house.

If none of the options are suitable, then it is best to rent a room in an industrial zone, or rent a garage.

Equipment purchase

For a mining farm you will need:

video cards - the model is chosen at the discretion of the user, but the difference in price immediately points in the only right direction. Most miners advise purchasing a GeForce GTX 1080 Ti. There is no deception or guile in this, but if these video cards a couple of months ago cost 30-35 rubles apiece, today the price has risen to 56-60 thousand. If it is possible to purchase inexpensively, then this should be done, otherwise there is an alternative - Radeon RX 570-580. The cost of one card is 23-24 thousand rubles in free sale. In terms of functional qualities and information processing speed, the cards are somewhat inferior to the 1080 Ti, but at the same time they pay for themselves much faster;
motherboard - the reference point is made to the presence of PCI connectors, with the help of which several video cards are connected to the motherboard at the same time. Since demand creates supply, manufacturers began to produce special boards for miners. For example, the ASRock line is marked “BTC”, which means it has all the necessary ports and is compatible with latest models video cards;
processor – no matter how strange it may sound, the “heart” of any computer plays a minor role in a mining farm. The processor is required only to run the system and provide the minimum requirements for the functioning of the computer. For these purposes, an inexpensive "stone" based on Intel Celeron is suitable;
hard drive for data storage - the simplest size of 80-160 GB will do;
RAM - one bar for 2-4 GB;
power supply – given the high power of video cards, an appropriate power supply will be required. Regular units for gaming computers will not withstand such a load, so you should purchase devices with a power of 750-1000 W.

In addition, you need to take care of the cooling system for video cards and the processor (standard coolers are suitable), as well as racks for mounting the farm. The structure is not installed in a regular system unit case.

Monitor and software for setting up and starting the system - here you can use a pirated version of Windows and an old screen (used).

Assembling a mining rig

Assembling a farm will not be difficult if a person has at least once performed this operation with a regular computer. Alternatively, you can use a video instruction from the public domain or invite a specially trained person.

The main difficulty in assembling the system is the connection of video cards in one motherboard. As a rule, special risers (adapters) are used for this.

Installing software is no different from downloading and activating computer programs. Sequencing:

Visit a specialized portal for mining.
Selecting the desired pool.
Downloading and installing software.
Indication of the cryptocurrency wallet, farm name and e-mail for notifications.

Farm maintenance

Like any automatic process, a mining farm needs periodic maintenance. The procedure can be divided into 2 stages.

Creating working conditions:

ventilation in the room - there is enough ventilation in the apartment open window. If the farm is located in an industrial building without windows, then the hood is required;
temperature regime - in summer it is recommended to install additional cooling (fan, air conditioner);
control of electrical wiring - before starting the farm, you need to check the condition of the electrical network for compliance with safety requirements and the expected load.

Equipment maintenance requires no less serious measures:

daily inspection of components - the wires must be securely fastened in the sockets, excluding short circuits and fire;
Carrying out periodic tests for the performance of programs;
tracking of funds receipts.

If errors or unforeseen situations occur, you must turn off the system, eliminate an external source of threat, or simply let the computer rest, and then boot the system again.

Financial part of the business plan

The size of the investment directly depends on the scale of the mining farm and the cost of components. Below are calculations based on 6 video cards located in an apartment.

Investments in a business project

Investments at the start (in rubles):

video cards – Radeon RX 580 6 pcs. 24,000 each (144,000);
motherboard – 5,000;
processor – 1,700;
RAM – 1,500;
hard drive – 500;
power supply – 2 pcs. 750 W each (7,000);
cooling system – 1,700;
processor - 1,500;
monitor – 1,000;
risers – 2,000;
racks for mounting the truss – 500.

Result: 166,400 rubles.

Current expenses

After the mining farm is launched, expenses end, except for electricity. The calculation is based on the energy consumption of all equipment. And if the video cards indicate how much light each one consumes at maximum load, then the costs of the remaining components will not be known.

Considering that 2 power supplies of 750 W each were purchased, it makes sense to calculate the maximum value of energy costs, which is 1.5 kW/h:

the cost of electricity is 3.5 rubles. for 1 kW/h;
36 kW is consumed per day (1.5 times 24);
converting daily consumption into money – 126 rubles (36 times 3.5);
monthly electricity costs – 3,780 rubles.

It should be understood that the calculation was made using maximum values, so it may be lower.

Income

Profit from mining depends on many parameters, ranging from the type of video cards, their number and power, and ending with the mined coin. Considering that each cryptocurrency has its own rate in relation to Bitcoin, the frequency of receiving payments in each individual case is different. Simply put, the cheaper the coin, the more often and more the miner will receive, but in terms of rubles this does not mean high earnings.

If an expensive cryptocurrency is mined, the miner receives hundredths and thousandths of the coin. This also does not affect earnings in ruble terms.

Now there are many services on the Internet that allow you to calculate future income from mining based on the exact parameters of the system. For example https://whattomine.com/ . At the peak of the rate, the daily income from one farm on 6 cards was approximately 800 rubles per day. However, now the exchange rate has dropped almost 10 times and the income from such a farm is around 80 rubles a day.

Profit calculation

If your total earnings are 24,000 rubles per month, then calculating your net income is easy. Electricity costs are deducted from this amount.

24,000 – 3,780 = 20,220 rubles per month.

Considering that the amount of invested funds is 166,400, the farm will pay for itself in 6-8 months of continuous operation. Above you see only an example; to calculate real numbers, you first need to find out the cost of equipment on Yandex Market, and then enter this equipment into a special calculator on the website https://whattomine.com/.

Help: video cards that work 24/7 become unusable after 12-18 months, so the net profit will not last long, after which you will have to invest in the business again.

How to cash out virtual currency?

Initially, earnings are credited to a cryptocurrency account, which can be used to pay on the Internet, and even then not in all stores. To receive cash income, you need to make an exchange.

There are a huge number of cryptocurrency exchangers in the network. For a certain percentage of the transaction, virtual money can be transferred either to an electronic wallet or to a Sberbank card.

There are many offers from individuals who often use fraudulent schemes. A common option is for a person to offer to transfer him cryptocurrency to his wallet, and he will pay in cash. However, after the transfer, the user is left with nothing.

Despite the fact that the majority of the population views mining negatively or with distrust, the activity can be called a full-fledged business. Here are the investments, the equipment, the premises, the launch of the process, and making a profit. In any case, there are risks, so the last money spent on equipment is not worth risking. And if possible, it is worth organizing a mining farm. By following the clear instructions of your business plan, within six months you can completely switch to passive income.

	Investments: Investments 1 490 000 - 3 490 000 ₽ The BestWay Car Service Network is a network of body and mechanic repair stations, which was founded in November 2014. Facts: Over 4 years, we opened 14 stations in 8 regions of Russia - in Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Rostov-on-Don, Krasnodar, Ivanovo, Yaroslavl, Vladimir, Dzerzhinsk. In 2017 money turnover group amounted to 211 million rubles. In 2018...

	Investments: Investments 150,000 - 198,000 ₽ The construction market in Russia continues to grow steadily; by selling construction services and materials with us, you can be calm and confident in the future. Let's figure out what we make money from: Sale of non-metallic materials from the quarry (sand, crushed stone, ash, gravel, slag, peat, etc.) Services of special equipment (we successfully cooperate with more than 150 owners of special equipment, whom we attract based on our...
	Investment: Investment 200,000 ₽ The Global Wedding is a wedding agency that has been providing wedding planning services in St. Petersburg since 2009 and abroad since 2014. In 2017, a representative office was opened in Moscow. The agency's clients are couples who want to organize a bright, memorable wedding. They value their time, often cannot be physically present in the city where the wedding is taking place, and they...
	Investments: Investments 3,000,000 - 3,500,000 ₽ International Language School is a language school for English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Chinese languages with deep, systematic training, where each age and level has its own program. ILS is also a network of children's clubs for early childhood education foreign languages(from 2 years old). ILS is an opportunity for franchisees to become a center for training and...
	Investments: Investments 150,000 - 750,000 ₽ SOFTIUM schools have created a special environment for developing interest and programming skills in children from 6 to 14 years old. In a short period of time, we have won the trust and love of hundreds of children in different cities of Russia, as well as in Kazakhstan. When creating our school, we took into account and eliminated all the shortcomings of conventional computer courses and programming courses for children. IN…
	Investments: Investments 200,000 - 300,000 ₽ The Metal Master company produces and sells reliable, high-quality metal products for the improvement of country houses, gardens, and park areas according to the most low prices. The Metal-master company has been operating since 2010. Since the founding of the company, the priority areas of activity have been the development and implementation of new modern technologies. The main development objectives of our company: Using global experience in production…
	Investments: Investments 100,000 - 400,000 ₽ The Stars Leadership School is an international educational center focused on practical activities, where children and adolescents can develop comprehensively. The school works with children based on innovative methods and covers a whole range of areas. The methodology is based on advanced domestic and foreign techniques for working with children and was created with the support of employees of Tomsk State Pedagogical University, which today is…
	Investments: Investments 260,000 - 580,000 ₽ Lidiya Lvovna Vasilyeva is the founder, director, strategist and practicing trainer of the International School of Speed Reading and Information Management. In 1983, she received a diploma from the Nizhny Tagil State Institute and worked in a secondary school as both a head teacher and a teacher of Russian language and literature. Year after year I asked myself the question: “...why do children learn new knowledge with such difficulty, why do they “dump” information after a short...
	Investments: Investments 250,000 - 1,000,000 ₽ Algorithmika is the largest programming school in Russia for children aged 5 to 12 (in terms of the number of students and branches). Now there are a total of 10,000 children studying at the school. The school is represented in 40 cities of Russia and 6 countries: Australia, Poland, Cyprus, Israel, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan. In Azerbaijan, Algoritmika launched a huge project with the Ministry of Education of Azerbaijan to introduce a new…
	Investment: Investment 36,000 ₽ PixLine is a strong team of design specialists who develop designs for almost all areas: from printing (business cards, booklets, leaflets, and so on) to large projects (websites, logos, applications, and much more). ! To control the issuance of finished works and interaction with clients, we are looking for representatives in different cities! 108 franchisees in Russia and the CIS countries - business...

Bitcoin mining is one of the first earning options that appeared along with the first cryptocurrency entering the market. He didn’t disdain her either, who, even before the surge in popularity of his brainchild, was able to form about a million new military-technical cooperation. At the current exchange rate, such capital will be enough for the rest of his life - he owned the first mining farm.

Even those far from the topic of technology could hear about people who bought video cards in huge quantities and invested tens of thousands of dollars in the extraction of some kind of virtual money. Hence the questions were born about what is a farm for mining cryptocurrencies and the like. Now, although mining has partly come to naught, it will still fit perfectly as a way to provide yourself with passive income. But first you need to sort out the details?

Mining farm: how does it work?

It is worth taking a short excursion into the functioning algorithm. Even the uninitiated probably know that this cryptocurrency (like any other) operates without any single center. Data and transactions are processed by a special algorithm. And the entire database of transfers and information about wallets is located and duplicated many times on every device on the network.

But everyone's passive participation personal computer and a portable device is not enough to provide the cryptocurrency infrastructure and the normal speed of transactions. And this is where mining farm monitoring comes to the rescue. In fact, this procedure is a voluntary rental of one’s computing power, which has prompted many to create Bitcoin farms to make money. The reward for this is the generated virtual coin. In a sense, mining means “growing bitcoins.”

How does a mining farm work? Data is stored in a database of unique chains - blocks. Each computer assembles its own chain separately from the others. And if he managed to get ahead of all the others, he receives a reward in the form of a fixed amount. Less powerful computers or a Bitcoin farm will lose out to faster ones. But the probability of receiving bitcoin in this case is proportionally reduced. In fact, miners ensure the functionality of the cryptocurrency in the form in which it exists.

Bitcoin farm: how it works

The total amount of mining rewards is limited by the system algorithms and amounts to 1800 BTC per day. The distribution of funds in this case occurs in direct proportion to the power that you give for the benefit of the cryptocurrency. Almost from the very first months of Bitcoin becoming widely available, enterprising and far-sighted people began assembling mining rigs. For some, the cryptocurrency farm became a source of enrichment, while others picked up the idea too late.

What is a mining farm? IN traditional performance These are cascades of video cards connected to one or more computers. A central processor could also be used for mining, but its performance in calculating this type of data (SHA-256 hash) was extremely low.

What is needed for a mining farm? With the increase in the number of video cards, they began to purchase more powerful power supplies and take care of cooling. Over time, entire premises with huge areas and server racks were allocated for mining. Electricity costs also increased, but this did not reduce the return on investment. Even after the exchange rate fell in 2011, the number of miners did not decrease.

Changing layouts

There are quite a number of people who have become millionaires (and in the case of the creator, billionaires) thanks to mining. The BTC mining industry shook when they announced SHA-256 for computing. In fact, these are special-purpose microcircuits that have only one function - hash calculation, that is, a kind of turnkey mining farm. The performance of 2012 microcircuits in this field has become significantly higher than traditional for those times when a Bitcoin mine farm of 6 was the standard, and consumed a hundred times less electricity. The second generation has become even more powerful - using a more advanced technical process and numerous improvements, productivity has increased by another order of magnitude.

At the moment, it is ASICs that provide the highest possible return on investment for a mining farm and are easily ahead of flagship video cards like the Radeon R9 380 by three to four orders of magnitude in performance. Equipment costs are significantly lower. After all, the energy consumption of the microcircuit and power supply is ten times less. In fact, the production and development of ASICs buried the hopes of miners for serious earnings using video cards, because their share in the system fell sharply. From that moment on, the payback on such installations decreased greatly and began to tend to zero.

Mining: bitcoin farms in China - a look from the inside (video).

Mining farm: what is it? How is a Bitcoin mining farm assembled?

If you still have no idea how a bitcoin farm is created - step-by-step instruction especially for you:

Buy several video cards with good cooling and the best hashrate (performance)/cost ratio.
A separate powerful power supply is purchased for this installation - each of the boards consumes more than 300 watts.
A structure similar to a server rack is constructed on which this solution is mounted and assembled.
Provides maximum air circulation and cooling.
The assembly is connected to the computer, and it, in turn, is connected to.
Mining starts.