Mining

<p>There are a lot of different cryptocurrencies out there that you can mine. Some are easier to mine, and some are more profitable, but all of them get you started in the world of blockchain and cryptocurrencies.</p>



<p>The coin and mining pools I want to look at today is <a href="https://{MIGRATED_DOMAIN}/review/electroneum-overview-mobile-cryptocurrency/">Electroneum (ETN)</a>.</p>



<p>Electroneum is extremely interesting from a mining perspective because it was designed to be mineable using little more than a mobile phone. With over 2 billion mobile phones in use, and that number growing rapidly, it’s a very powerful proposition for the advancement of cryptocurrency adoption by the average person.</p>



<p>It’s a privacy based coin similar to <a href="https://{MIGRATED_DOMAIN}/education/what-is-monero/">Monero (XMR)</a>, and it runs on the CryptoNight algorithm for solid security and initially to keep it ASIC resistant. I mean it really isn’t beneficial to those mining with a mobile phone if ASIC rigs are also allowed to mine.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><a class="no-underline" href="https://{MIGRATED_DOMAIN}/out/nicehashhome" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"><img src="https://img.coinbureau.dev/strapi/2018/12/bannerNiceHash.png" alt="Buy Nicehash Now"/></a></figure>



<div class="blockImg"></div>



<p>So, when the blockchain forked back in May 2018 to keep itself ASIC resistant following the release of CryptoNight ASIC miners it seemed like a good thing. It turned out not to be however, as the network saw too few GPU miners to remain secure. That led to the reintroduction of ASIC miners in July 2018.</p>



<h2>Solo Mining or Pool Mining Electroneum</h2>



<p>Obviously with the reintroduction of ASIC miners solo mining for individual users becomes somewhat out of the question. I mean, you could do it if you’re feeling lucky, or if you don’t mind not finding a block for months and months. It’s really just better to take the pool mining route and ensure you’ll get some coins for your troubles.</p>



<p>Pool mining combines your resources with that of other miners, in some cases it could even be thousands of miners, to make it easier to find blocks and collect mining rewards. The downside of the mining pool is that you have to split the block reward with all the others mining in the pool. This means much smaller rewards for you, but at far more regular intervals, perhaps as often as every day.</p>



<p>And surprisingly given the reintroduction of ASIC mining to Electroneum, when I checked at Whattomine.com it looks as if you can be profitable <a href="https://{MIGRATED_DOMAIN}/services/gpu-mining-basics-making-cryptocurrency-mining-available-everyone/">mining with GPUs</a>, if you’ve got a pretty powerful rig, preferably with multiple GPUs.</p>



<div class="blockImg"><img src="https://img.coinbureau.dev/strapi/2018/10/whatToMineETN.jpg" alt="ETN Mining Profitability"><br>
<i>Estimated returns from Electroneum Mining. Source: <a href="https://whattomine.com/coins/213-etn-cryptonight?utf8=%E2%9C%93&amp;hr=55.0&amp;p=140.0&amp;fee=1.0&amp;cost=0.1&amp;hcost=0.0&amp;commit=Calculate" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">What to Mine</a></i></div>



<p>So, there’s no need to avoid this coin because of ASIC mining. You can be profitable already, and with the price of Electroneum on the rise you could find yourself sitting on even more valuable coins than you thought.</p>



<p>Below I’ll go through several Electroneum pools to see what they offer and how they stand out from their peers. But first, I want to have a brief explanation of what you should be looking for when choosing an Electroneum mining pool, and in fact any mining pool for any coin.</p>



<h2>Finding an Electroneum Mining Pool</h2>



<p>If you’ve read any of our previous articles about mining other coins you know that the features to look for in mining pools are very similar from coin to coin. With that in mind I’ll give you the shortened version, but if you need more details about what features to look for in a mining pool you can check out the <a href="https://{MIGRATED_DOMAIN}/mining/bitcoin-gold-pools/">Bitcoin Gold mining pool piece</a> for a more detailed description of each feature.</p>



<p><strong>Fees:</strong> The average mining pool will have fees around the 1% level, with fees topping out at 3% at some pools, while dipping to 0% at others. Obviously if you’re saving on fees you’re making more for yourself.</p>



<p><strong>Server Location(s):</strong> The closer the servers are to you, the better your hash power will be, and the more profitable your mining efforts will be. While it’s possible to mine from servers located on another continent, it’s best if you stick to pools located in the same geographic region in which you’re located, whether that’s Asia, Europe or North America.</p>



<p><strong>Trustworthy:</strong> The more established pools are generally considered trustworthy, but if you’re considering a new pool do some research to see if the community has found the pool to be trustworthy in properly crediting your account and in paying on time.</p>



<p><strong>Payout Scheme:</strong> There are various payout schemes, with some more geared towards luck, and others based strictly on even sharing of rewards. Which you choose is a personal preference because over the long term it all evens out.</p>



<p><strong>Pool Uptime:</strong> You should look for a pool with uptime as close to 100% as possible.</p>



<p><strong>Minimum Payout:</strong> The lower this is the better, because it means you’ll get paid sooner. There’s nothing worse than having to mine for weeks and weeks before getting paid.</p>



<p><strong>Pool Hash Power:</strong> This is subjective and you’ll have to make your own decision, but in general it’s better for the network if you choose a pool that controls just 25% or less of the network hash power. This helps decentralization and network security. You can certainly mine with the largest pools if you like, but its better for the network if you choose a smaller pool.</p>



<h2>Best ETN Mining Pools</h2>



<p>Now that the basics are out of the way let’s have a look at the more popular Electroneum mining pools to get an idea of which might be the best fit for you.</p>



<h3>F2Pool</h3>



<p>I wouldn’t recommend <a href="https://labs.f2pool.com/labs" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">F2pool</a> as an Electroneum mining pool, simply because they currently control nearly 70% of the network hashrate. They are a well known pool, and based on their history its almost certain that all of this hash power is coming from ASIC units.</p>



<div class="blockImg"><img src="https://img.coinbureau.dev/strapi/2018/10/f2PoolETNStats.jpg" alt="F2Pool Electroneum Statistics"><br>
<i>F2Pool Electroneum Pool Statistics</i></div>



<p>They also have the highest fee you’ll find for Electroneum pool mining at 3%. And they require registration and personal information to be able to mine, which is a bit against the privacy-features of a coin such as Electroneum.</p>



<h3>Poolin</h3>



<p><a href="https://www.poolin.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Poolin</a> is the second largest Electroneum pool, with roughly 12% of the network hash power. Like F2pool it is based in China, and it also has a focus on ASIC rig mining. It also has a high mining fee of 2%. Payments are made once daily and there’s a minimum 100 ETN threshold for payments.</p>



<div class="blockImg"><img src="https://img.coinbureau.dev/strapi/2018/10/poolinETNStats.jpg" alt="ETN Pooling Statistics"><br>
<i>Poolin ETN Pool Key Figures</i></div>



<p>They recently introduced California based servers, so they now have a global base of servers and you can mine with them from anywhere in the world. They are interesting in their use of a native token, the PIN, which is distributed to miners via airdrop on a daily basis.</p>



<h3>Spacepools</h3>



<p><a href="https://etn.spacepools.org/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Spacepools</a> is one of the oldest Electroneum mining pools and it was previously hosted at <strong>http://pool.electroneum.space</strong>. It isn’t the largest pool by far, but it also isn’t the smallest, with well over 1,000 miners controlling a bit less than 10% of the network hash rate. This has them finding a block roughly every hour.</p>



<div class="blockImg"><img src="https://img.coinbureau.dev/strapi/2018/10/spacepoolsETNStats.jpg" alt="ETN Statistics at Spacepool"><br>
<i>Spacepool Electroneum statistics and key Figures</i></div>



<p>One big benefit of mining with Spacepools is the ultra-low 0.1% mining fee. They also feature a 100 ETN minimum payout and global servers.</p>



<h3>Fairhash</h3>



<p><a href="https://electroneum.fairhash.org/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Fairhash</a> – This is a Russian based pool, but has global servers. Like Spacepools above they have just under 10% of the network hash rate, and tend to find a block roughly every hour or so.</p>



<div class="blockImg"><img src="https://img.coinbureau.dev/strapi/2018/10/ETNFairHashPoolStats.jpg" alt="Electroneum Pool Fairhash"><br>
<i>Electroneum Market Stats and Fairhash ETN Pool Numbers</i></div>



<p>The mining fee is an average 1%, and they support mining directly to an exchange wallet, which is convenient if you’re planning on simply selling your mining profits.</p>



<h3>Nanopool</h3>



<p><a href="https://etn.nanopool.org/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Nanopool</a> – Nanopool has mining pools for several privacy focused coins, and Electroneum is just one of them. They also control roughly 10% of the network hash rate, but are a bit more expensive as they charge a 2% mining fee.</p>



<div class="blockImg"><img src="https://img.coinbureau.dev/strapi/2018/10/nanopoolETN.jpg" alt="Electroneum Pool Nanopool"><br>
<i>Headline Numbers at Nanopool's ETN Pool</i></div>



<p>One nice feature at Nanopool is a quick start guide that should have you up and mining in just minutes. It’s a good choice from a trust and decentralization standpoint.</p>



<h3>Other Electroneum Pools</h3>



<p>There are other pools outside these five, but they have very few miners, and the hashrates are very low and can be quite choppy as well. You could try some, such as <a href="https://easyhash.pro/etn/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Easyhash</a>, <a href="https://electroneum.miningpoolhub.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Miningpoolhub</a>, <a href="http://etn.superpools.online/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Superpools</a> and <a href="https://electroneum.hashvault.pro/en/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Hashvault</a> to keep the hash power more decentralized, but understand that you might have to wait longer to find blocks and for payouts.</p>



<h2>Conclusion</h2>



<p>Choosing a good altcoin to mine can be confusing with so many options, but you could certainly do worse than choosing Electroneum. Despite allowing ASIC mining it remains a profitable coin if you have a high end GPU.</p>



<p>Similarly, given that it can be mined with nothing more than a smart phone it’s accessible to billions of people across the globe. To be sure you won’t earn more than a penny or two a day with a smart phone, but in some areas of the world that’s all that’s needed to make a difference in someone’s life.</p>



<p>The price of Electroneum has also seen a nice boost higher in September and October 2018, despite the overall cryptocurrency markets remaining weak. This could be a sign of more good things to come, and having some Electroneum in your wallet if it rallies in 2019 could be a smart move.</p>



<p>I would caution to avoid F2pool as an Electroneum mining pool, but any of the others I covered would be good choices to make some ETN for yourself, while also helping to strengthen the network.</p>



<p><i>Featured Image via Fotolia</i></p>

strapi-2018-10-ETNMiningPoolCover.jpg

Electroneum Mining Pools: Best Places to Mine MTN

Review

<p>Electroneum was the first cryptocurrency that was developed exclusively for use on mobile phones. This is indeed a massive untapped market as there are over 2 billion mobile phones in the world today.</p><p>Many may also know <a href="http://electroneum.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Electroneum</a> because of their highly successful ICO that took place last year between September and October. They were able to reach their hard cap of $40m with over 120,000 contributers to the project. These Electroneum tokens have now hit the open market and are open for trading.</p><p>Yet, what is Electroneum and should you consider an investment?</p><p>The concept is quite simple really, which is why many are quite bullish on the prospects of the coin. They want to make it as simple as possible for someone who has never used cryptocurrencies to not only buy, sell and send the coins on their mobile device but also to use their phones to mine them.</p><p>Let's dig into the project a bit more.</p><h2>A Simple Mobile Friendly Coin</h2><p>Cryptocurrencies can still be an intimidating investment for those who have never used them before. People have to get used to concepts that are rarely ever used in their day to day life. Hence, there still remains a certain barrier to adoption.</p><p>The technical requirements and skills required to mine cryptocurrency are that much more advanced. Not only do the users have to know to set up and maintain a mining rig, but they also have to spend quite a bit for the best hardware.</p><p>Yet, with Electroneum a mere smart phone is all that the user requires.</p><p>The concept behind Electroneum is to merely download their mobile app which will give you instant access to the Electroneum network. Using the client application on the phone, you can then mine the cryptocurrency with the phone's CPU.</p><p>This simplicity comes from the large initial supply of coins coupled with the two decimal use.</p><h2>Electroneum Specifics</h2><figure class="image"><img src="https://img.coinbureau.dev/strapi/2018/01/electroneumPhone.png" alt="Electroneum Mobile Phone App"><figcaption><i>Screenshot of Electroneum App</i></figcaption></figure><p>With cryptocurrencies, the supply of the coins is determined from the beginning and is either pre-mined or mined over time. For example, the total supply of <a href="https://{MIGRATED_DOMAIN}/search/?page=1&amp;search=bitcoin/">Bitcoin</a> that will exist is 21m coins.</p><p>This means that as we approach the total supply cap, the price of Bitcoin is likely to appreciate substantially as demand outstrips supply. Moreover, Bitcoin will continue to be denominated into smaller fractions in order to facilitate commerce and payments.</p><p>Similarly, in order to limit the supply of the coins, the technical protocol will adjust the mining difficulty in order to make sure that no more miners can produce the coins. This adjustment takes place in an ongoing basis and hence requires much more advanced processing power to mine the coins.</p><p>With Electroneum there will be a large supply cap of over 21 billion coins. This means that there will be a large amount of coins to be mined before they ever approach the supply limit.</p><p>They have also used a specific protocol which cannot be easily exploited by ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuits) mining chips. These are essentially mining equipment that is developed specifically for mining and they have cornered the whole Bitcoin market.</p><h2>Use of CryptoNote Protocol</h2><p>Something that Electroneum have done that makes them rather unique is that they have built their own blockchain. Most of the other ICOs have built their applications with <a href="https://{MIGRATED_DOMAIN}/education/ethereum-smart-contracts/">Ethereum smart contracts</a>.</p><p>When it comes to the protocol that they have decided to use on their blockchain, the developers have opted for the established cryptonote protocol. This is the same protocol that is in use by popular privacy coins such as <a href="https://{MIGRATED_DOMAIN}/education/what-is-monero/">Monero XMR</a> and Bytecoin.</p><p>Apart from making the Electroneum mining resistant from any <a href="https://{MIGRATED_DOMAIN}/education/ethereum-smart-contracts/">ASICs</a>, the CrypoNote protocol is also extremely secure. Using some of the most advanced technology in public key cryptography, the CryptoNote protocol is able to hide transactions from public view.</p><p>There are also a number of other more technical advantages that the CryptoNote protocol has such as adaptive block limits and smooth emission. We won't cover them here but you can read all about how it works on the official <a href="https://cryptonote.org/inside/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">website</a>.</p><h2>Centralised Mobile Mining</h2><p>The idea of users being able to mine their own Electroneum using a mobile phone is not entirely new. There have been other cryptocurrencies that have attempted mobile mining with the standard algorithms that apply to those coins.</p><p>However, these tended to have some side effects on the phone. The performance of the phone tends to dip and it quickly drains the battery. In some cases, the phone would also overheat as a result of the intensive operations that were occupying the CPU.</p><p>Hence, when we heard about the Electroneum mobile mining, we were interested to find out how they managed to adjust the protocols in order to avoid these issues.</p><p>Taking a look at the <a href="http://electroneum.com/technical-white-paper.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">technical white paper</a> one can see exactly how they approach their mobile mining. They use a centralized system to reward the miners instead of a traditional <a href="https://{MIGRATED_DOMAIN}/education/what-is-blockchain-technology/">blockchain technology</a> based decentralised system. They took the view that</p><blockquote><p>the positive benefits to be gained from a centralized app and mobile mining algorithm outweigh any negative aspects.</p></blockquote><p>The fact that the mining process is centralised may alarm many purists in the cryptocurrency space as they view decentralised miners or nodes as the only way to keep a system completely honest. In this case, the mining rewards are not controlled by protocol but by Electroneum.</p><p>It is important to note, however, that Electroneum claims that this is the only part of the system that is centralised. There are also other benefits from the centralised system and that is the speed of the transactions that can be processed.</p><p>Moreover, there are a number of other highly centralised coins such as <a href="https://{MIGRATED_DOMAIN}/education/what-is-ripple-xrp/">Ripple XRP</a> that have great use cases for the banking industry. Investors have put aside those concerns and helped drive <a href="https://{MIGRATED_DOMAIN}/news/ripple-xrp-exploding/">Ripple to record highs</a>.</p><p>Hence, it is up to the user to weigh up the pros / cons of having a centralised mining system over a fully decentralised one. The coin price is likely to react to the expansion of user adoption.</p><h2>Strong ICO Results</h2><p>Electroneum was able to raise the maximum target ($44m) of their ICO projections. There has also been a rally in Bitcoin and Ethereum since then increasing this fund. This means that they will have a lot of firepower in terms of development budget for the upcoming months / years.</p><p>The Team behind the project is also quite strong with a range of different backgrounds. For example, the CEO is a man called Richard Ells who has a successful history building a number of digital businesses.</p><figure class="image"><img src="https://img.coinbureau.dev/strapi/2018/01/electroneumTeam.jpeg" alt="Electroneum Logo"><figcaption><i>Electroneum Team Members</i></figcaption></figure><p>There are also a number of use cases that Electroneum can be applied to as a utility token. Apart from being used as a simple method of exchange for individuals and businesses, it could also be used to a larger extent in mobile gaming.</p><p>For example, if someone wanted to gamble on their mobile phone, they could do so through mining the Electroneum tokens and using them to stake wagers. They could then accumulate the tokens and easily exchange them for Fiat currency on a cryptocurrency exchange.</p><h2>Prospects for ETN Token</h2><p>Currently, the Electroneum token (ETN) is only available on one exchange. That is <a href="https://www.cryptopia.co.nz/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cryptopia</a> which is an exchange that is based in New Zealand. Despite the limited trading avenues, ETN has rallied by over 100% in the past 24 hours.</p><figure class="image"><img src="https://img.coinbureau.dev/strapi/2018/01/electroneumPriceRally.jpg" alt="Electroneum ETN Rally Coinmarketcap"><figcaption><i>ETN Token Rally - Image Source: Coinmarketcap.com</i></figcaption></figure><p>The team is trying to get the coin listed on a number of other exchanges such as Bitfinex, <a href="https://{MIGRATED_DOMAIN}/review/bittrex/">Bittrex</a> and <a href="https://{MIGRATED_DOMAIN}/review/hitbtc/">HitBTC</a> to name a few. There are many who think that the larger trading volume these sites will provide are likely to drive the coin up considerably.</p><p>There has currently been no update from these exchanges for the timeline for a release unfortunately. Hence, you will have to create an account at Cryptopia if you would like to purchase ETN.</p><p>Should you invest?</p><p>We do not provide investment advice at the Coin Bureau but have hopefully given you the information that you may require in order to create an informed opinion on any investment.</p><p><i>Disclaimer: These are writer opinions and should not be considered investment advice.</i></p>