Coinmine One Review
Coinmine One Review – Plug and Play Comes to Cryptomining…. with a Catch.
This Coinmine One Review is going to be very interesting. That’s because we think the idea is brilliant but in its brilliance are its limitations. Let’s put this right out there: The Coinmine One should not be considered for serious cryptomining. The specs make serious cryptocoin mining impossible. According to the official Coinmine website here’s what’s under the hood in a Coinmine One: RX580 8GB GPU, Intel Celeron CPU, 8GB RAM
Any serious crypto miner will tell you those specs are basically meaningless compared to a serious cryptocoin mining rig.
HOWEVER…
The Coinmine One has four great features as reported on their website:
- It’s only $699.
- It’s super-simple to setup. We’re talking plug-and-play simple. No cables. Just Wifi.
- It consumes VERY little power. This is because it’s simply enough power for a low-spec PC.
- It’s small and quiet. Compared to a conventional mining rig or an ASIC miner it’s almost silent.
The conclusion of this Coinmine One review: The Coinmine One is great for hobbyists who want to dabble in cryptomining with no intentions of making any serious amounts of money. Especially Bitcoin.
Coinmine One Discount from CryptoCapers.
FULL DISCLOSURE: This Coinmine One review was conducted without physical access to an actual miner.
Cryptocoin Mining Crashes
ASIC Miners and Mining Rigs Go Dark as Crypto Markets and Cryptocoin Mining Crashes
One year ago, basements were being converted into mining farms as electricians and heating/cooling experts were brought in to upgrade electricity, install duct work and fans to power up and cool off mining farms. Reddit and Facebook groups were loaded with pictures and videos of homebrew mining rigs as the price of graphics cards skyrocketed and became scarce. Gamers complained. Retailers began limiting order quantities. Cryptocoin mining crashes? Unthinkable at the time.
Bitcoin mining was worse. ASIC mining manufacturers Bitmain and Canaan couldn’t make them fast enough. When a batch went on sale they were sold out in minutes and at top dollar. Today, Bitcoin miners are readily available with more power and efficiency than ever at a fraction of price. Nvidia is facing pain from a sudden plunge in demand too.
The after-effects of cryptocoin mining crashes.
The laws of supply and demand are in full force. With the recent crashes across all cryptocoin markets, existing mining operations are going dark and nobody is thinking about starting one or expanding.
Watch the stats on Slushpool and the story tells itself; hashpower is dropping on a daily basis as thousands of workers go dark after miners hit the OFF switch. Who can blame them? Run the numbers on any crypto mining calculator and see how much money you’ll lose mining crypto on an HOURLY basis.
We documented a cryptocurrency mining downturn back in August but could never dream that just three months later, the entire mining ecosystem would face collapse. This is worrisome for the entire cryptocurrency sector because miners keep everything moving; Bitcoin miners not only mine new Bitcoin; they process all of the transactions on the blockchain. This extends to all of the other digital currencies out there; without miners doing what they do, things can grind to a standstill.
While cryptocoin mining crashes do not bode well, it is too early for anyone to predict future market moves one way or the other.
Cryptocoin Mining Meltdown
Cryptocoin Mining Meltdown – ASIC Bitcoin Miner Prices Plunge as Other Cryptocoin Miners Pull the Plug
Canaan’s Avalon 841 Bitcoin miner went on sale 24 hours ago at $2299. Earlier today there was a price drop to $1999. There’s proof right there of a cryptocoin mining meltdown. Rewind to six months ago and brand new ASIC Bitcoin miners were selling out at full price in a matter of minutes. I know. I was there. I saw it myself. One of my orders was canceled because they couldn’t meet the demand. Now the supply of Bitcoin miners outweighs demand; the Avalon 821 NEVER sold out as resellers began issuing hefty discount coupons anywhere from $100 to $400. Heck, in some cases they have been GIVING AWAY Avalon 821 miners if you bought enough 841s. What’s really startling is the long-awaited Avalon 841 is still in inventory a full day after going on sale AND with a 15% price drop.
What’s going on? Well, Bitcoin prices are low while the difficulty rate remains high. Then we have this new round of FUD from CNBC on the bleak outlook of Bitcoin mining profits AND reports out of Plttsburgh, New York of the first-ever Bitcoin mining ban. Mix all of these ingredients together and bake them under the heat of FUD and you end up with a cryptocoin mining meltdown.
Cryptocoin miners of every stripe are feeling the pain. Cruise various Internet discussions and you’ll learn of miners shutting down their rigs to wait this out as the current price of altcoins makes mining such coins pointless. Other miners are already listing their cryptocoin mining hardware on eBay and other places. Oh yeah, there’s a cryptocoin mining meltdown well underway. New cryptocoin miners who just finished remodeling their basement turning it into a mining farm are wondering what to do with an “OH FUCK” moment in light of the current cryptocoin mining meltdown.
Until just until recently cryptocoin miners dreamed of moons and lambos as they plowed thousands of dollars into hardware and high electric bills. The future is uncertain in light of the cryptocoin mining meltdown underway. For any sort of inspiration and guidance through this storm turn to Jihan Wu, co-founder of Bitmain. He has made billions on cryptocoin mining and stands to make billions more. In my opinion he is the de-facto leader of crypto mining. No one has more motivation than him to figure this out. In the short term, do your research and do your own math to see if cryptocoin mining in the short term makes economic sense.
Bitcoin Prices & Bitcoin Miners
Bitcoin Prices & Bitcoin Miners – Miners Care Very Little About Bitcoin Pricing
In June 2017, when Bitcoin prices were hovering around the $2200 mark, Bitmain very quietly formed a corporation in Washington State. The objective? Expand Bitcoin mining operations beyond China. They knew then as we all now know that Bitcoin mining is one of the most profitable business ventures on the planet. That’s why Bitcoin prices & Bitcoin miners have a very casual relationship.
A Bitcoin miner cares about Bitcoin prices only to the degree that the higher the price, the higher the profit. As a Bitcoin miner since last summer myself I know this to be true. When Bitcoin plunged to $6,000 recently my modest Bitcoin operation still generated daily profits. Of course profit was higher in December when the Bitcoin price tickled the $20,000 mark but money was made before, during and after. That’s why Bitcoin Prices and Bitcoin Miners make for an easy affinity.
When Bitmain expanded their operations beyond China to the United States, Iceland, Switzerland with Canada their next likely location, they did so when Bitcoin was a fraction of the price it is right now. While cryptocoin investors panic over the current Bitcoin price of $8832, Bitmain was very quietly expanding their Bitcoin mining operations into a multinational venture. Bitmain doesn’t care about the current Bitcoin price; they clearly see the bigger picture of the relationship between Bitcoin prices & Bitcoin miners.
“Bitcoin investors will be the richest people on earth. Anyone who understands Bitcoin cannot deny this. But what does that say about Bitcoin miners? We occupy the top rung of profitability. Soon, mining will be immorally profitable.” – John McAfee
John McAfee is considered by some to be a scoundrel, by others a business genius and by others still a mathematical prodigy. Having created the world’s first antivirus product which blossomed into a business worth many millions, John McAfee is definitely NOT a fool. John McAfee worked for NASA (so yes, he IS as smart as a rocket scientist), he holds a degree in mathematics and was later awarded a Doctor of Science degree in recognition of his academic contributions.
So when John McAfee, suspected scoundrel, recognized scientist and mathematical genius says that Bitcoin mining will be immorally profitable you can take that to the bank. Before I made my first ASIC Bitcoin mining purchase I relied on my accounting degree to help me run the numbers and, yes, they work. They not only work, they are beautiful. That’s why Bitcoin Prices & Bitcoin Miners will be involved in a very long love affair of technology and wealth. Bitmain was clearly on to something years ago and they are obviously doubling down year after year with Bitcoin mining operations spanning three continents. Oh here’s a closing thought; Bitmain co-founder Jihan Wu and John McAfee are friends…
Bitcoin Mining PSUs
Bitcoin Mining PSUs – The Wrong Power Supply Can Cost You Money and Possibly Kill You.
My first experience with Bitcoin mining PSUs came through a Canaan Avalon Miner 721 with EVGA 1200 watt power supply AND controller purchased on Amazon for just $900. That was an EPIC deal, by the way. The EVGA gold rated power supply spoiled me, I must admit. Subsequent power supplies never measured up. Now I know why.
Bitcoin Mining PSUs are more or less measured relative to their power output (650 watts, 750 watts, etc.) and their rating (bronze, gold, etc.). HERE’S WHAT’S DIFFERENT – the cables. You need heavy duty cables for Bitcoin mining PSUs. The EVGA 1200 watt power supply that came with my first Bitcoin miner came with heavy duty cables and I didn’t appreciate the difference until recently. See for yourself…
The picture above is the most dramatic – the heat MELTED the interface AND the cable connector AND the cable. Why? The cables that came with the power supply were never intended to handle such a power load. I’m not going to knock any Bitcoin mining PSUs or the PSU shown here. I remain convinced it’s a quality power supply that ships cable sufficient to power a GPU but never intended to power an energy-hungry ASIC Bitcoin miner.
This has happened to me before. I was in bed watching TV one night when I saw a little flame out of the corner of my eye. I have my Avalon miner 721 running in my bedroom. The cables running from the power supply to the miner CAUGHT FIRE. Luckily I was still awake to handle the situation or there would be no telling what could’ve happened to me.
So what’s the answer to avoiding a literal meltdown in Bitcoin miner PSUs? The cables. The EVGA power supply that came with my Avalon 721 included heavy duty cables. When I unpacked and deployed new Bitcoin miner PSUS on my Avalon 741s I was surprised at how comparatively flimsy those cables were. I’ve been shopping for replacement Bitcoin miner PSUs when I discovered the Rosewill power supplies. They meet my power needs with ranges from 550W to 650W to 750W and possibly higher. What got my attention are the HEAVY DUTY CABLES. While the rating of the PSU is important (Bronze, Gold etc.) the cables of the PSU connected to your Bitcoin miners is the most important consideration of all.
I have not yet purchased a Rosewill power supply so I can’t officially endorse or in any way recommend this product but it’s the next power supply I’m going to buy for my miners. I have high hopes and will post a comprehensive review in the future.
Avalon 821 on Sale
Avalon 821 on Sale – Sticker Shock Included at No Extra Charge
Canaan’s long anticipated Avalon 821 Bitcoin miner went on sale last night via authorized distributor Blokforge. Nobody should be surprised to learn The Avalon 821 on sale event was very, very short; they were sold out in minutes. However, everybody should be shocked by the price – $3,599. I predicted a $1500 sticker price back when we announced the 821 relative to the price and performance of the Avalon 741.
Boy was I wrong. I got an email from Blokforge announcing the Avalon 821 on sale and surfed right over — HOURS before the sales window opened at 7:00 PM MST — and already saw it was sold out. WTF? Figuring it might be a mistake or that the eCommerce system didn’t have it entered yet or whatever I hung out at the Blokforge website for hours. No go. It seems their entire allotment of Avalon 821s were gone in record time. While I was waiting to see if I could buy at least one Avalon 821 my mind struggled to understand the price…. $3,599!
The Avalon 821 on sale at $3599 makes it 450% more expensive than the Avalon 741. I purchased two Avalon 741s last fall for $798 each from authorized distributor Minerwarez. Minerwarez was excellent with good communications and fast shipping. The only reason I tried to go with Blockforge is that they were talking about the new Avalon miners (761, 821, 841, etc.) while Minerwarez didn’t even mention them.
IN ANY CASE let’s gain an understanding behind my sticker shock. The Avalon 821 on sale now has a hash rate at 11 TH/s with 1200 watts power consumption. Canaan deserves a lot of credit for building such an efficient Bitcoin miner. The thing is – the Avalon 741 operates at 7.3 TH/s with 1150 watts power and could be acquired at a fraction of the price. On a side-by-side comparison the Avalon 821 delivers 50% more TH/s than the 741 but it costs 450% more.
The math doesn’t work with the Avalon 821 on sale at such a high price. When I did my research last summer on which Bitcoin miner to buy I ended up going with the Avalon miners because they had more bang for the buck and would deliver faster ROI than any other option out there. Canaan has indicated that pricing for the new line of Avalon miners would be based on market demand among other factors. I totally understand the whole supply vs. demand thing but don’t understand the justification of putting the Avalon 821 on sale at a price inordinately higher than it’s predecessor. My initial price estimate of $1500 would make perfect sense and I have no doubt Canaan would make a lot of money at that price. I can even digest a price of $1999 to make it a competition-crushing product relative to Bitmain’s Antminer S9.
Interestingly, the NEXT BATCH of Avalon 821s were priced significantly lower at $2899 — and are also sold out. I can see myself paying $2899 with a frown on my face because I happen to like the Avalon miners quite a lot and anticipate recapturing my investment as Bitcoin is expected to go nowhere but up. Obviously I’m not alone in my thinking.
Bitcoin Mining for Beginners – Episode 6: ASIC Miners
Bitcoin Mining for Beginners – Episode 6: ASIC Miners
When we last left off, I was sharing my experiences with purchasing my first ASIC miner. Before continuing, I highly recommend reading my previous article here. Bitcoin Mining for Beginners is a complicated topic with lots of moving parts.
Writer’s Note: This article was heavily delayed due to the holidays and unexpected health issues. I’m very well now, but the past month has been very trying. I thank you all in advance for your understanding.
Miner Configuration
The miner I ordered from eBay had arrived, and I had begun the process of configuring the ASIC for mining Bitcoin. Yes, you can mine other SHA-256 cryptocurrencies with ASIC miners designed for mining Bitcoin. But that is a topic for another day.
As previously mentioned, I reset the device, connected a power supply, and connected the miner to the network via Ethernet. From this point, one is required to enter the web-based configuration interface by entering the IP address of the miner into a browser. One then enters the username and password, which should be the default account on the device if the reset process was done correctly.
Since I was using a Bitmain Antminer S3+ as my first foray, the default username and password were “root.” If you’re running a different device, your default credentials may vary. Please consult documentation for your device to verify. You may have to do some digging online if you’re using an older ASIC to test the waters, much the way I did when I began.
ASIC Web Configuration Interface
A very important step in locating your miner on the network is knowing whether or not the device will use DHCP or a static (pre-programmed) IP address. This should be documented with the ASIC device itself, but if you’re using older generation hardware like me, you may receive your miner without documentation. If this happens, you may have to perform more in-depth research and fact-finding on the web. You will also require the use of an IP scanning tool, such as Angry IP Scanner.
Angry IP Scanner
Defective ASIC?
After all configuration steps were complete, I was then tasked with configuring my ASIC miner for mining. As documented in previous editions of this series, one should have an account setup with both a mining pool and an online wallet. That’s Bitcoin Mining for Beginners 101 — establish how and when and why you get paid!
So I had all of my information in hand, including links, port numbers, and login credentials for my mining pool. I then entered that information into the ASIC’s configuration interface, and voila! I was actively mining!
But…
After 12 hours of mining, my device stopped mining suddenly. I attempted to access the web interface, to no avail. I tried power cycling. Nothing. I tried resetting the device to being anew. Nothing. The device was simply not responding or working correctly at all. I was at a total loss.
Buyer Beware!
We all know that buying used tech on eBay is a perilous experience. You can never be sure if what you’re buying is as described. You can also never be certain that a seller will provide good support after a transaction is complete. This is especially true in the world of used mining equipment – every item has a tagline that states something along the line of “due to the nature of cryptocurrency, this item is sold as-is without warranty.” Not very comforting when dealing with a $250 doorstop. Then are the examples of eBay sellers shipping goods only to have empty boxes arrive – or eBay buyers keeping ASIC miners then filing false claims and shipping back empty boxes. No Bitcoin Mining for Beginners guide would be complete without this ample warning to the perils of buying bitcoin miners on eBay.
Fortune smiled on me, however, as the seller I had chosen to do business with was highly rated. This seller responded to my initial questions about the defunct miner within 8 hours, and they offered me a deal I couldn’t refuse. They not only refunded my miner in full, but they sold me a new miner for the ridiculously low price of $60. They were trying to do right by me, as they said in their reasoning for doing so. I was giddy, to put it lightly.
The new miner arrived after a couple of weeks. I plugged everything in and repeated all of the aforementioned configuration steps, and voila! It was working. I held my enthusiasm for a couple of days, to ensure I wasn’t dealing with another DOA miner. This time, however, fortune smiled upon me. yet again. This miner is still working to this day.
My First ASIC Bitcoin Miner
About the Defunct Miner
At this point, you may be wondering what happened to the dead miner. I wasn’t required to send it back, per the seller. So what now? Well, I decided that I should take this learning experience to the next level and try to repair the device. Bitcoin Mining for Beginners is an ongoing series.
Stay tuned to this space for my adventures in ASIC miner repair!
Bitcoin Mining Home Setup
Bitcoin Mining Home Setup – Everything You Need to Know
Every Bitcoin mining home setup needs two things; plenty of electricity and ample air circulation.
That’s all you need to know about a Bitcoin mining home setup. Thanks for reading!
OK seriously. Plenty of power and air flow is all any cryptocoin mining home setup needs – whether you run ASIC miners like me or mining rigs for other coins.
Bitcoin Miners Need Breathing Room.
The layout of my apartment made my Bitcoin mining home setup a snap; I positioned the miners right by windows. As a result, all of the heat generated by my ASIC miners blow right out the window. No need for fans and no need to go bankrupt on air conditioning come summer time. Whenever possible get the heat generated by mining equipment vented right out of the room. Fans are acceptable if there’s no other way but fans just blow all that heat around the room which is not an optimal solution in the long term. Venting heat directly OUT of the room is the way to go.
See for yourself….
How Much Power Do You Need for Bitcoin Mining?
I’ll defer to Eric Eddy on a future article about other forms of mining rigs and stick with what I know; ASIC miners. From long, painful experience you can safely deliver a maximum of 1950 watts to ASIC miners in any given room assuming a standard 20 AMP circuit in that room. The math might work on paper in the sense that a standard 20 AMP circuit in the United States delivers 2400 watts. But in reality it’s not going to happen. How do I know? I was trying to run two Avalon Miners (one 721, one 741) with a total rated power consumption of 2050 watts and I was popping circuit breakers constantly.
To make my Bitcoin mining home setup work I ended up moving the Avalon 721 to my bedroom giving it ample power all on its own. So the 741 ran in the living room and the 721 ran in my bedroom.
Until I tried to deploy a second Avalon 741 in the living room. Knowing in advance there was no way I could sustain two 741s consuming 2200 watts, I ended up running a heavy duty orange extension cord into the next room and PROBLEM SOLVED. I deploy TWO power supplies per Avalon miner so the setup ended up being THREE of the FOUR power supplies powered from the electricity in the living room while the other power supply was juiced through the extension cord running from the guest bedroom.
Now I have enough power left over in the guest bedroom to deploy my next Bitcoin miner; the Avalon Miner 821. I am already on the list.
Behold the future site of my Avalon Miner 821 right by a window for easy exhaust of heat plus ample power right there.
And there you have it – a Bitcoin mining home setup in a nutshell. In a future article I’ll go into detail about my next home and the criteria I will use to pick my house. Can you guess what the top two items on my house shopping check list will be?
Making Money Bitcoin Mining
Making Money Bitcoin Mining – Everybody is Getting In On It.
John McAfee joined MGT Capital Investments last year, steered them to making money Bitcoin mining and the stock took off. In the past 12 moths MGTI’s stock price went up over 400% and they are making steady profits as one of North America’s biggest miners of Bitcoin.
The Long Island Iced Tea Company also announced it’s plans to hitch their wagon to making money Bitcoin mining. They were losing money selling iced tea and days away from seeing their stock delisted. So they changed their name to include the word blockchain and announced plans to purchase 1,000 Bitcoin miners then the stock exploded.
Then just yesterday Kodak announced their entry into the Bitcoin mining business as well as a new ICO. Can you guess what happened next? Yes! That’s right! Kodak stock went up by 120% on the announcement. Making money Bitcoin mining is a thing. A real thing.
Making money Bitcoin mining is reality. I’m living proof. I run a small mining farm in my home and it brings profits every single day. I started Bitcoin mining last summer when I purchased an Avalon Miner 721 when Bitcoin was not quite $5,000. It took me a few days to get the hang of it but I did. Then I purchased and deployed two Avalon 741s and now make more money day in and day out. And mining Bitcoin at $5,000 was profitable. Naturally it’s much more profitable now. Nobody doubts Bitcoin will continue to rise in 2018 which makes Bitcoin mining incrementally more profitable.
Why?
Because operating expenses of a Bitcoin mining farm are fixed but the price of Bitcoin goes up. As a result, making money Bitcoin mining accelerates as the price of Bitcoin continues to rise. Think about it. You bought your ASIC miners and PSUs. That’s a one-time cost. Your electricity costs to power them doesn’t fluctuate to any measurable degree. Yet Bitcoin pricing is only trending upward which makes daily operations of mining Bitcoin increasingly lucrative.
John McAfee summarized this perfectly…“Bitcoin investors will be the richest people on earth. Anyone who understands Bitcoin cannot deny this. But what does that say about Bitcoin miners? We occupy the top rung of profitability. Soon, mining will be immorally profitable.”
Bitcoin Mining By an Iced Tea Company
Bitcoin Mining By an Iced Tea Company
Bitcoin Mining by an Iced Tea company is about as far-fetched as it comes. When I branched out from crowdfunding promotion to Bitcoin mining it wasn’t such a big leap; both are core financial activities. But to go from produced brewed iced tea to mining Bitcoin is as big as a jump as anyone could imagine.
The Farmingdale company formerly named Long Island Iced Tea Corp and now known as the Long Blockchain Corp. announced today that it is purchasing 1,000 Antminer S9 ASIC miners with the intention to deploy them somewhere in Scandinavia.
This move redefines “corporate reinvention” as the seismic shift from producing beverages to producing Bitcoin is the widest departure from core competencies since Berkshire-Hathaway. The Bitcoin mining gear will be installed in a top-grade data center experienced in cryptocurrency mining. The company anticpates operational dividends from contracting with an established data center while leveraging lower energy costs via geothermal and hydro-electric power sources.
According to Philip Thomas, Chief Executive Officer of the Company, “We view this transaction as an important and validating initial step in the Company’s progression into blockchain technology. The commencement of our mining operations places us on a path to generating blockchain-related revenue through the accumulation of bitcoin. This platform will help support our longer-term strategy of engaging in partnerships, investments and acquisitions in the blockchain ecosystem.”
Clearly iced tea is out and Bitcoin is in. Surprising to us is the company’s selection of The Antminer S9 which is slated for obsolescence in light of anticipated new offerings from Canaan and Dragon due sometime this quarter which promise the highest possible hashrate with very low power consumption.
Bitcoin Mining By an Iced Tea Company is the most astonishing and possibly most impressive example of a company reinventing itself. It’s not hard to imagine The Long Blockchain Corp. will realize far higher profits mining Bitcoin than brewing iced tea.