Ethereum has became a real sensation in the cryptocurrency world, the launch of this platform has served as a catalyst in the development of the entire industry. In this article we will talk in detail about the mining of this cryptocurrency, as well as discuss its prospects in 2019.

1. General information about the Ethereum project

Ethereum is a platform where you can create other decentralized projects. ETH is a coin of the same name which is needed for working with the platform.

The well-known programmer,

Vitalik Buterin

, has been at the origins of the Ethereum, he still takes an active part in the life of the project, but most of the tasks are performed by a large staff. The total capitalization of the project, as of beginning of 2019, is just over $11 billion. Ethereum firmly consolidated on the

third

place in the global Coinmarketcap rating.

2. ETH mining algorithm

The growing popularity of the coin have forced many miners to transfer their computing power into Ethereum blockchain. The unlimited emission is one of the features of Ether. This is a both plus and minus of the project: on the one hand, miners, potentially, can endlessly mine new coins, but on the other hand, such an approach can lead to inflation and devaluation of coins.

Now, the confirmation in the network is made by using PoW algorithm

(

Proof of Work

)

, which allows you to mine coins in the usual way, by providing the network with your computing power. But the development team has worked quite a while on transferring the network to the PoS (

Proof of Stake

).

According to Buterin

, this innovation will reduce the inflation of the coin by several times. But all the people who are now engaged in the ETH mining will be forced to reconfigure their equipment for mining other coins.

3. What do you need for ETH mining?

Computing equipment, you can use the power of the CPU on a PC, but it is better to have several video cards (ideally, DDR 5 memory).

Uninterrupted access to the Internet, whereby high speed is not needed, a good ping is more important.

A good and reliable pool for mining, as the mining of ETH cryptocurrency in solo mode is absolutely unpromising for the vast majority of people. Only real giants who are engaged in mining on an industrial scale can afford their own mining, but even they often prefer to work in a pool.

A wallet that supports ETH, fortunately, there are so many of them.

Proper equipment maintenance and overheating protection. For that, you need to carefully consider the system of ventilation and space cooling.

4. Pools for mining

Choosing the right pool is very important. Below you find a list of the most popular and relevant pools of the second half of 2018:

Minergate works not only with Ethereum. It is one of the most popular pools in the world. Best of all it works with nvidia graphics cards. The resource has a simple and intuitive interface, which is clear for any average person.

NiceHash is also a multi-currency pool. Mining software is very easy to set up. The software automatically selects the best algorithm, based on the features of the video card or CPU.

Ethereumpool . From the name it is already clear that this pool is focused exclusively on Ethereum. It works relatively recently, but its computing power already reaches almost 2% of the total power.

WeiPool. Another young pool that can impress with small commissions (1.5%) and a user-friendly interface.

ETH Supernova. This pool is quite famous for many users, but recently it has begun to operate with Ethereum. The issue of reliability and safety comes first. The pool has been operating for more than one year and during this time has managed to gain the confidence of the miners.

5. Conclusion

Now, Ether is not having its finest hour, the coin rate has fallen to the psychological mark of $108. The profitability of Ethereum mining significantly decreased in 2018, but by and large, it can be said about almost any cryptocurrency.

It is important to remember that fundamentally nothing has changed and Ethereum is still the most technologically advanced platform. ETH mining should not be considered as a short-term opportunity to earn money, this should be treated as an investment in the future. Now the development team is actively working on elimination of the system shortcomings. Taking into account this information, we can make a conclusion that the project’s chances of a bright future are quite high.