Are you curious about how to mine Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies?
In this article we’ll explain the best way to mine cryptocurrency on your home computer so you get the most earnings possible.
The bitcoin mining process can be confusing, but it’s not too hard to understand how bitcoin gets mined.
Bitcoin miners use software applications which solve math problems. In exchange they are issued bitcoin in return for solving these complex equations.
You can mine bitcoin using either your own computer, or using a custom hardware setup specifically designed for mining bitcoin. In this article we’ll keep things simple and focus on using your existing computer and a software application to mine bitcoin.
Let’s dive in to see what the easiest way to mine bitcoin using your home computer is!
In order to mine Bitcoin from your laptop or desktop computer, you need a few things to get started:
- Bitcoin mining software
- A Bitcoin wallet or an account to store your Bitcoin – this is also how you receive the bitcoin that’s mined. The best place for a beginner to purchase bitcoin or to withdraw Bitcoin from mining is Coinbase. They have good customer service and a very simple account set up process.
We tested many different mining tools and we found that the best way to mine bitcoin at home on your regular laptop or desktop computer is to use a software tool called NiceHash miner.
Table of Contents
Getting Started – Download Bitcoin Mining Software
Head over to the NiceHash website and download the NiceHash miner.
Once you download the software click on the installer file you downloaded to install NiceHash miner. Once installed you simply need to create an account and set up two factor authentication. Then log in with your new account to the application and click the “Play” button to start mining.
How Much Can You Earn?
This depends on your computer’s CPU and GPU capabilities. For example, I have a laptop computer purchased in 2020 that would earn $716 USD or $900 CAD yearly.
The minimum amount you need to have in your Nicehash account to withdraw bitcoin is 0.0005 BTC which at the time of writing is $28.61 CAD. Just log in to your Nicehash account through the web interface and click on the amount of Bitcoin you have in the top horizontal section of the page.
Once you do that, on the left side of the page you’ll see a button that says “Withdraw”.
If you haven’t already, you can connect your Coinbase account under the “Withdraw to” section.
Mining Bitcoin During The Night
We recommend that you leave your computer on overnight while you sleep each night so that NiceHash can continue to mine Bitcoin while you sleep.
However, it’s important to make sure your power settings are set such that your computer doesn’t automatically go to sleep! If this happens NiceHash will stop mining and you won’t earn any Bitcoin during the night.
To change your power settings on Windows 10 simply input “power” into the search bar and you’ll see Power & sleep settings.
Click on it and you’ll see options for the # of minutes you want:
1. Your computer’s screen to go to sleep after
2. Your computer to go to sleep after
You can set your screen to turn off after 5 minutes, but you need to make sure that “PC Goes To Sleep After” is set to “Never”.
We also recommend keeping your computer in a different room since your computer’s fans will be on and make some noise.
If you need to keep your computer in the same room that you sleep in for some reason, you can turn off the computer screen so the light doesn’t bother you.
As long as the computer doesn’t go to sleep, it’s OK if the screen is off.
Bitcoin Mining Software: Honorable Mentions
Kryptex
Kryptex is a fast mining tool similar to NiceHash, but its withdrawal fees are a major problem.
On August 24, on Kryptex we were able to get the following estimated earnings:
- $2.07 USD Daily
- $62.09 USD Monthly (slightly higher than NiceHash)
- $78.59 CAD Monthly (converted Aug 24 exchange rate)
Kryptex says “Bitcoin network takes a fixed 0.0002 BTC (≈ $9.61) fee for each transaction. We don’t recommend withdrawing small amounts frequently because of the fees.”
However, if you’re only earning $62 USD per month, and you want to withdraw money monthly, this amounts to a huge percentage of your monthly earnings! $9.61/$62 USD = 15.5% of your earnings lost!
Honeyminer (DEAD)
Honeyminer was a tool for MAC that allowed you to mine Bitcoin. It had about the same yield as NiceHash does today. Unfortunately Honeyminer shut down in May, 2021.
Is Bitcoin Mining Worth It?
That really depends on your goals and how powerful your computer is!
If your computer has enough memory and processing power you can actually keep you in whatever normal work or task and have mining run in the background.
However if your computer is not that powerful mining guys take a lot of resources and you’ll find that your overall performance will slow down. This might be a problem if you need to use the same computer for work during the day or other tasks.
Also, remember that you also need to factor in electricity if you pay for your own utilities. Check your electricity bill to get a sense of how much bitcoin mining is costing you.
Imagine that you mine Bitcoin for a year and earn the equivalent of $716.76 USD or almost $900 CAD. That’s not much, but now imagine that Bitcoin goes on a run from $40K to $100K. You’d make a great return! Of course it’s still low principal, so the real way to make money on Crypto is ultimately to invest more principal.
This is how people became very wealthy who were early investors in crypto.
You won’t get rich from mining unless you buy your own hardware and that is well beyond the scope of this article. However, if you want to earn some side money and have fun while doing it, you can try out mining with NiceHash.
Seriously, if you want to mine bitcoin, just get started! Using a software tool isn’t difficult – all you have to do is download it. Bitcoin mining is a fun and profitable hobby for anyone looking to make some extra cash. If the amount of money you can make mining bitcoin is too little to be interesting to you, considering investing in Bitcoin instead.