Bitcoin is the most widely sought after cryptocurrency used by millions of people around the world to buy and sell various products and services without being subjected to taxation and government oversight.
Bitcoin has always been a hot topic ever since it saw the light of the day back in 2009 due to the uniqueness and the innovation it brought to the world of financial markets. Bitcoins only exist in the electronic form, and can either be mined or exchanged, and can be stored in a wallet for consumption. Since there is a large user base around Bitcoin, it’s quite easy for Bitcoins to change hands within minutes. Solving complex mathematical puzzles (known as Bitcoin mining) leads to the creation of Bitcoins. Back then miners employed regular desktop CPUs to mine Bitcoins, but the whole process used to test the regular CPU beyond it’s normal working levels. Therefore miners started procuring extremely sophisticated hardware equipment for Bitcoin mining. This article teaches how users can ensure their state-of-the-art equipment stays up-to-the mark at all times.
And let’s not forget the basics during this all. While you’re urging your computer to perform at its optimal levels, don’t forget you need to optimize it from time to time to give it a refreshing touch. Use an efficient system optimizer like RegInOut System Utilities to do so.
Optimize your Computer for efficient Bitcoin Mining
This software follows Google Software Principles
Solutions
Solution 1: Use A Lightweight Operating System with BFGMiner
Windows isn’t an ideal for mining Bitcoins, and is rarely used by professional miners because Windows itself is quite ‘heavy’, and isn’t suited for Bitcoin mining purpose. This guide recommends a lightweight Linux distro such as Linux Mint along with BFGMiner for performing extremely swiftly in mining Bitcoins due to the extremely low utilization of system resources.
- Navigate to the following URL: https://linuxmint.com/download.php
- Download either 32-bit or 64-bit Cinnamon version. Cinnamon is simply the UI of the operating system; hence any version can be downloaded in this list depending on the user’s preference.
Choose between 32-bit and 64-bit - Boot it via BIOS/UEFI and install it.
- After installing the Linux operating system, proceed to install Bitcoind (a Bitcoin client used by miners). Get to the launcher, and open Terminal.
- Type the following commands in the Terminal window. Make sure you have administrator access prior to typing and subsequently executing them. The first command obtains the administrator privilege, the second updates the repository information on the local side and the third one actually updates the packages with latest updates. They are necessary because Bitcoind relies on them to install Bitcoin Core. This is necessary for maintaining a full node in the local host. Once Bitcoind and BFGMiner have been installed, create a folder in the home directory, and navigate to the location where the bitcoind.conf file is present.
sudo su
apt-get update
apt-get upgrade
apt-get install build-essential libtool autotools-dev autoconf libssl-dev libboost-all-dev
add-apt-repository ppa:bitcoin/bitcoin
apt-get install bitcoind bfgminer
mkdir ~/.bitcoin/
cd ~/.bitcoin/
nano bitcoind.conf
- Configure the bitcoind.conf file with the following settings:
rpcuser=my_username
rpcpassword=my_password
testnet=1
rpcport=7000
rpcallowip=127.0.0.1
server=1 - Launch the Bitcoind daemon, this is basically the wallet where mined coins are stored.
bitcoind –daemon - Type the following command in the Terminal to locate the public wallet address to receive mined coins.
bitcoin-cli getaccountaddress “” - Use the following command in terminal window to start mining the bitcoins
bfgminer -o http://localhost:7000 -u my_username -p my_password –generate-to YOUR_BITCOIN_PUBLIC_ADDRESS
Solution 2: Use ASIC (Application-specific Integrated Circuit) Miners
Mining Bitcoins with regular desktop CPUs is extremely expensive; therefore it’s recommended to use ASIC devices nowadays for Bitcoin mining efficiently without any risks involved to the hardware during the mining process. There are a lot of cheap ASIC miners available at various online stores. The following steps demonstrate how to purchase such devices and how to configure it for mining purpose.
- Search on any online store for ASIC USB devices.
- Once you’ve received your device after placing the order, connect it into the USB port.
- Now you’ve got to simply follow solution # 1. Usually this device performs at a rate of 330MH/s during the mining process, which is quite sufficient for a newbie. For professional miners, it is recommended they purchase at least AntMiner S5 that works up to 1155Gh/s.
Solution 3: Join with a Pool to Mine Together with Other People
The biggest drawback of solution # 1 is having to maintain a full node in the local host, and mining alone. This is preferable for large web servers where multiple people connect to mine together. For solo mining it’s not recommended due to the tremendous cost associated with it. BFGMiner is still suitable for solo mining, and yields more performance compared to other Bitcoin mining methods, but mining in a pool yields more outcomes, and is thus highly recommended. However, since pooling requires a wallet address, a Bitcoin wallet has to be created to store mined coins.
- Create an account at https://slushpool.com/home.
- Now create a crypto wallet at https://www.coinbase.com.
- Once a coinbase account has been created, navigate to Accounts and locate BTC Wallet.
- Click Receive under BTC Wallet and then click on Show Address to get the public address which you will share with other people to receive coins.
Selecting Receive under BTC Wallet 
Click Show Address to get your public address - Now navigate to Slush Pool, and click this hyperlink to receive coins mined through it: https://slushpool.com/settings/bitcoin/payouts/
- Use the following command in Terminal to start mining bitcoins:
bfgminer -o stratum+tcp://stratum.slushpool.com:3333 -u USERNAME_OF_POOL -p PASSWORD_OF_POOL - It’s highly recommended you follow solution # 2 along with the steps provided in the lines above for betting the best possible results.
