How long can POS mine be used
Mine pool refers to:
as the computing level of the whole bitcoin network continues to rise exponentially, a single device or a small amount of computing power can not get the block reward provided by the bitcoin network on the bitcoin network
after the computing power of the whole network has been improved to a certain extent, the low probability of getting rewards has prompted some geeks on "bitcoin talk" to develop a method that can combine a small amount of computing power and operate jointly, and the website established in this way is called "mine pool"
extended data:
the existence of the mine pool reces the difficulty of bitcoin and other virtual digital currency mining, reces the mining threshold, and truly realizes the bitcoin mining concept that everyone can participate in
but its disadvantages are also very obvious, because computing power is connected to the mine pool. As a mine pool, it will have huge computing power resources. In the bitcoin world, computing power represents the bookkeeping right, and computing power is everything. If the computing power of a single mine pool reaches more than 50%, it will be easy to launch 51% attacks against virtual digital currencies such as bitcoin, The consequences are very terrible:
the mine pool can make the mine pool with 49% of the remaining computing power have no harvest, instantly quit the competition and go bankrupt. The mine pool's computing power exceeds 50%. If 51% attack is launched, it will easily occupy all the effective computing power of the whole network
POW: full name of proof of work
pos: proof of stake
both of them are the consensus mechanism of blockchain and the bookkeeping method of digital currency
the difference is:
1. POW mechanism: workload proof mechanism, that is, the proof of workload, is the requirement that must be met when generating a new transaction information (that is, a new block) to be added to the blockchain. In the blockchain network based on workload proof mechanism, the ability of nodes to obtain the correct numerical solution to generate blocks by calculating the numerical solution of random hash hash is the specific performance of node computing power
POS mechanism: the proof of rights and interests requires the certifier to provide a certain amount of ownership of cryptocurrency. The operation mode of the proof of rights and interests mechanism is that when creating a new block, the miners need to create a "currency right" transaction, and the transaction will send some coins to the miners themselves according to the preset proportion. According to the proportion and time of token owned by each node, the equity proof mechanism reces the mining difficulty of nodes proportionally according to the algorithm, so as to speed up the speed of searching for random numbersextended materials:
the concept of bitcoin was first proposed by Nakamoto in 2009. According to Nakamoto's ideas, the open source software and the P2P network on it were designed and released. Bitcoin is a kind of P2P digital currency. Point to point transmission means a decentralized payment system
unlike most currencies, bitcoin does not rely on specific currency institutions. It is generated by a large number of calculations based on specific algorithms. Bitcoin economy uses the distributed database composed of many nodes in the whole P2P network to confirm and record all transactions, and uses the design of cryptography to ensure the security of all aspects of currency circulation. The decentralized nature and algorithm of P2P can ensure that it is impossible to artificially manipulate the value of bitcoin through mass proction
Step 1: prepare mining machines and pools
if you want to dig bitcoin, you must prepare professional equipment. At present, there are many professional mining machines on the market, and the pool is also essential. When you choose a pool, you should also compare the output and income gap of each pool, and then choose the most suitable one
Step 2: register and set the mine account
after the mine is ready, register the mine account and set a common email. When setting the mine account, each CPU or GPU needs to set a mine account
Step 3: download the bitcoin miner
after you register and set up your account, you need to download the bitcoin miner. When downloading the miner, be sure to choose the miner that can make your CPU and graphics card play the most function. After downloading, set the server, user name, password, device and so on
Step 4: Mining
after setting up the miner, click the "start mining" button, the miner will enter the state of full speed operation, and the miner will start mining automatically.
Mining is the use of bitcoin mining machine, which is used to earn bitcoin
one of the ways to get bitcoin is that users download software from personal computer and then run specific algorithm to get corresponding bitcoin after communicating with remote server
bitcoin is a kind of virtual currency. Bitcoin mining system is the process of carrying out mathematical operation for bitcoin network through computer hardware. Miners who provide services can get a reward, because the network reward is calculated according to the tasks completed by miners, so the competition for mining is very fierce
mining is actually a competition of performance and equipment. The mining machine composed of many graphics cards, even if it's only hd6770, can surpass the single graphics card of most users
and this is not the most terrible. Some mining machines are made up of more such graphics card arrays. When dozens or even hundreds of graphics cards come together, the graphics card itself costs money. Considering the hardware price and other costs, there is a considerable expenditure in mining
bitcoin mining process:
1. To find the ore pool
to start mining, there must be a ore pool with convenient operation and stable output. Its function is to subdivide the data packets for each terminal, and pay the corresponding amount of bitcoin according to the proportion of the data packets calculated by the terminal through precise algorithm
2. Download bitcoin miner (software)
in fact, there are many kinds of this miner, you can go to the official website to download
3. Setting mining software is a green software. After installation, we can set the language first to facilitate further setting. Next, you need to set the server, user name, password, equipment and so on. Generally, the server chooses a better network from BTC guide series, and the user name and password are set by ourselves before
4, bitcoin mining start
when we confirm that all settings are correct, click the "start mining" button to start bitcoin mining, and then the graphics card will soon enter the full speed running state, the temperature and fan speed will increase, you can monitor the state through gpu-z or graphics card driver
after Ethereum is upgraded to version 2.0 POS mechanism, miners may switch mining machines to other networks
as Ethereum is finally ready to start its Ethereum 2.0 upgrade later this year, thus eliminating the long-term delay, the network will start to move towards the proof of rights model
therefore, the network will give up the workload proof consensus algorithm, so that eth miners have little choice. As their equipment will become obsolete, they will be forced to start mining counterfeit coins or re qualify as eth mortgagors. So, what is the current situation of Ethereum mining? With the coming transition, what will happen to the whole instry< At present, Ethereum consensus is based on POW system, which is similar to bitcoin (BTC). As a result, Ethereum's mining process is almost the same, as miners use their computing resources to earn rewards for each block they try to complete< However, there are still major differences between these processes. Although bitcoin mining has relied almost entirely on ASIC (large, loud machines designed specifically for cryptocurrency mining, most of which are concentrated in areas with low electricity prices), Ethereum's pow hash algorithm ethash is designed to support global chip manufacturers (such as NVIDIA and AMD). As Thomas Heller, global business director of cryptocurrency mining pool f2pool, explained in a conversation with cointegraph, GPU is much cheaper and easier to access than ASIC
"as ASIC is a very professional machine, when a new generation of procts is released, it is usually a huge technological leap. As a result, they have a much higher hash rate and are more energy efficient than the previous generation. This means that those manufacturers have spent a lot of money to research and develop it. Their machines are usually very expensive, and GPUs are much cheaper. "
Heller added that those who use GPU miners "have more flexibility to mine." For example, the popular NVIDIA geforce GTX 1080 Ti card can mine more than 15 different currencies, while ASIC units usually support only one currency
nevertheless, Ethereum is not completely immune to ASIC miners - at least in its current state. In April 2018, bitcontinent released antminer E3, an ASIC specially proced for mining Ethereum. Although widely praised for its hash rate of 180 megahashes per second and power consumption of 800 watts, it has received different responses from the Ethereum community. After the ASIC is inserted, a considerable number of GPU rig owners seem to suffer from loss of profits, and some are even forced to switch to other networks
"in the white paper, ETH must have ASIC resistance. I would like to say that the white paper stands for something "is one of the highest comments on the AR / ethermining topic about the topic discussed when antminer E3 was announced. Another reddit user argued that "the $800 only applies to 180mh."“ Split or die of a nation. "
some Ethereum users continue to suggest that bitmain's mining devices can lead to greater concentration, thus increasing the possibility of attack by 51%. Soon, a group of developers put forward "programmed workload proof" or progpow, which is an extension of the current Ethereum algorithm ethash, aiming to make GPU more competitive and promote decentralization
according to a paper published in March by Kristy Leigh Minehan, co-founder of progpow, about 40% of the hash rate of Ethereum is generated by bitmain ASIC. Alejandro de la Torre, the vice president of poolin, is the sixth largest pool of eth. He confirmed to cointegration that "GPU mining is still dominant" in Ethereum network, and added:
"at present, the profit of eth mining is not high, and the management threshold and cost of GPU equipment are higher than ASIC equipment. Compared with ASIC devices, GPU devices are more flexible, and you can use other algorithms to switch to other coins. "
progpow has not been integrated into Ethereum, and it is not clear when it will be finally implemented - in March, Ethereum core developers were debating whether progpow will really benefit the network in nearly two hours, and failed to reach a consensus. It is worth noting that a bitmain representative has previously told cointegraph that the mining hardware giant does not intend to extend the service life of antminer E3 to start operation after October 2020: "as far as we know, mining will end in October or some time after that."
a safe but uncertain future
indeed, Ethereum will stay away from mining in the future. Ethereum 2.0, which is planned to be launched later in 2020, is a major network upgrade on the blockchain, aiming to transfer its current POW consensus algorithm to a virtual POS (known as "block verifier")
more specifically, users are randomly selected considering their wealth in the network or their "interests". In other words, the more coins a POS verifier chooses to put in, the more coins accumulated as a reward
according to vitalik buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, e to the transition, the network will be more secure and the attack cost will be higher than the network of bitcoin, although the debate about the better consensus algorithm in the encryption community has lasted for many years. However, it is not clear when to start Ethereum 2.0, as many errors and management issues are reported to be delaying the process
another hypothetical benefit of POS system is that it has higher energy efficiency than pow blockchain. According to digiconomist, the cryptocurrency's total annual footprint is 59.31 terawatts per hour, which is comparable to the electricity consumption of Greece as a whole. However, since a report in July 2019 estimated that 74% of the exploitation of bitcoin was done using renewable energy, the environmental impact of bitcoin does not seem to be so serious
what will happen to the actual Ethereum miner? According to the documentation of Casper upgrade as part of Ethereum 2.0 roadmap, the network will initially support a hybrid model including both POW and POS, thus providing some space for block verifiers and GPU / ASIC miners. Jack O & 39, CEO of skale network; "There will definitely be a transition period when two networks are running at the same time," Holleran told cointegration The CEO of scale network (based on Ethereum's blockchain platform) gave a detailed description of this process:
"the transition from eth1 to eth2 takes time of course - it may be years rather than months. The good news about this slow transition is that dapps and defi platforms will be able to roam around based on survivability, security and real-world evidence of adoption. This is a positive impact on the Ethereum ecosystem. "
dig or not
once Ethereum is fully in the POS orbit, miners will have two options. One is to sell the equipment and use the money to accumulate more Eth and start mortgage. The other is the choice for GPU miners, which is simply switching to other ethash networks and mining counterfeit money. Nick foster, a representative of kabombacks, a US mining equipment dealer, told cointegration that most eth miners would choose the latter:
"what I want to say is that most of the miners have not really entered Ethereum or the mining of specific tokens. Yes, there is a certain amount of mineral deposits and holds, but I oppose the view that a large number of Shanzhai coin miners hold their coins at any time. "<
foster then described how he used 3gb GPU units to mine ethash's point-to-point blockchain asset ravencoin (RVN). Once it was unable to mine eth, he said, "this is the reason for mining crows. I immediately sold stability to BTC, and then sold it to US dollars to pay for my rights. I would say that a lot of people are adopting this strategy. "
as foster concludes, he wants eth miners to jump out of the network, and new players - those who don't invest in power infrastructure or drilling rigs - will take a stake in eth. He described the following:
"I can't imagine if I found a five-year lease with $0.04 of electricity and I was mining eth, I decided to sell everything and then continue to pay the rent so that I could hold eth as a share. Substitute. "
Marc fresa, founder of asic.to, a mining firmware company, agreed in a conversation with cointegraph: "if you invest in mining, you won't bet because you have enough room to grow."
one of the main counterfeit coins that may benefit from POW miners leaving Ethereum is Ethereum classic (etc), which is a more conservative version of the blockchain. It is reported that there is no POS related plan. As it also runs on the ethash algorithm, the startup of Ethereum 2.0 may lead to the migration of miners, so its hash rate may have a significant peak
eth's larger pools have similar options. When asked about the company's plans for Ethereum after pow, Heller told cointegraph that after the announcement of Ethereum's POS upgrade, f2pool launched a sister company called story.fish in early 2018. Story.fish has started to provide mortgage services for other POS and delegated POS projects, such as tezos (xtz), Cosmos (atom) and Cardano (ADA), e to numerous handover delays. For prin, e to the transition to POS, it "may temporarily give up supporting eth mining," de la Torre told cointegraph
other top eth pools, namely nanopool, ethermine, pool center, sparkpool and spiderpool, did not respond to requests for comment from cointegraph.