New mining software guarantees to let almost anyone earn little amounts of bitcoin with a Windows laptop computer, giving users a taste of the cryptocurrency's early days.
Revealed completely to CoinDesk, the New Jersey-based crypto mining startup Honeyminer quietly launched a free beta in june and has already garnered 10,000 downloads across the world. Honeyminer permits users to participate in a dynamic mining pool by running the app when the computer's graphics processing unit (GPU) is not in use processing images or videos.
The pool focuses on mining cryptos like ethereum, ethereum classic, zcash, monero and different GPU-friendly currencies. Then, at the end of the session, Honeyminer sends the participant's earnings, converted into bitcoin, directly to the user's wallet.
"The miner does not need to do the math or manage all the configurations and settings, or manually check the prices," Honeyminer advisor Noah Jessop, a venture capitalist at Founder Collective in San Francisco, told CoinDesk.
He added:
"We make it so that any surplus compute, so any laptop you aren't using all the way up to a rig that you run is automatically doing the most profitable computation."
This type of service offers new opportunities for people who wish to accumulate bitcoin but have little money to invest or limited access to cryptocurrency exchanges. It might also broaden the range of participants in cryptocurrency mining, which over the years has had its barriers to entry rise as pricey, specialized hardware gave massive, professional operations an edge over hobbyists.
Honeyminer's algorithm automatically switches between cryptocurrencies each 10 minutes approximately, depending on block size, if there is a sudden change within the currency's mining profitability.
"We are pooling individuals together to find those block rewards quicker. Together, we've a bigger hashrate," Honeyminer co-founder Larry Kom told CoinDesk. "Not only do we connect you to the blockchain and anonymize you through us, but you also are contributing to what's, in essence, a pool."
To be sure, this is not the most profitable way to mine cryptocurrency, given broader market volatility compared to bitcoin and Honeyminer's cut, ranging from 2.5 % to 8 % depending on the quality of the user's hardware. Somebody with a few high-end GPUs could expect to earn bitcoin value a dollar or two from running the software almost all day.
However, it's going to be one of the simplest strategies so far. Though the company declined to specify how many users are in nations where cryptocurrency access is restricted, such as Jordan or Venezuela, it said more than 18 % of users hail from developing nations.
"If you hear about crypto and you want to learn, you can either go out and pay real cash money," Jessop said. "Or you can download a program in 30 seconds and start earning your own crypto, for free."
Diversified mining
Honeyminer's software was, in part, impressed by the controversies that surround bitcoin mining. Namely, the method many users of the software feel the China-based hardware supplier Bitmain has achieved a near-monopoly on mining equipment and how an identical little number of firms control the majority of mining pools.
"As we've watched in bitcoin proper, the arms race escalates to this custom hardware and so people that have access to the best silicon tabs are the people who control mining," Jessop said. "For us, it's all regarding increasing the number of individuals who have access to the best-in-class."
But in keeping with David Vorick, ceo of Nebulous, which operates Siacoin and the mining equipment manufacturer Obelisk, this may not change the broader ecosystem beyond attracting a lot of curious newcomers. Particularly as a result of the software is closed source, albeit with plans to increase open APIs in the future.
"That actually increases centralization, because all you've got done is moved the ability from the mining pools or users who have to be advanced, to software toolkits," he told CoinDesk. "Basically all the power lies with the devs of the software."
Elaborating on this time, Vorick said he believes GPU mining will nearly entirely disappear over the next two years regardless. He added:
"We're going to see general purpose ASICs [mining hardware] come out that is capable of targeting lots of algorithms. As soon as that happens, the role that GPUs play is going to disappear."
For better or worse, the Honeyminer team recognizes it will need to provide further features for various types of users.
For newbie retail investors, Honeyminer will shortly allow them to send their bitcoin to wallets on third-party platforms like Coinbase. Plus, the app's algorithm also can help miners with professional mining rigs as well.
Whether they are low cost laptops or pro rigs, "each computer will get a different [task], based on its specific performance or capabilities, you will get assigned what's most profitable for it," Kom said.
A specialized version known as Honeyminer pro is in the works for professional miners who need help with power consumption management and options for manually choosing which cryptos to mine, thus they're not restricted to whatever's most profitable, or which coins to cash out in, in case they do not wish bitcoin.
Speaking to the lack of user-friendly tools for both novice and experienced miners, Kom said:
"I would say there's not a clear competitor for us, which is why we built what we built."
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