Nimiq is a browser based blockchain. It was written in Javascript ES6 and because of this, the complete blockchain runs in the browser. The main goal of Nimiq is to solve the payment solution, and to provide a browser based payment solution of sending money. They also have nearly instant transactions as well. Nimiq is a CPU only mineable coin, since it uses the Aragon2D algorithm.

Now that we know the details about Nimiq, let’s get to mining some Nimiq!

Some General Mining Tips

So before we start this tutorial, most mining software will get flagged as a virus from virus scanners. Because of this, if your mining on your normal everyday use or gaming computer that has an antivirus installed, you will want to exclude the mining software from the antivirus. What I like to do, is I make one folder and then put all of my mining software in sub folders. I then exclude the top level folder from the antivirus and that excludes all the mining software.

Creating an Account

We first need to create a wallet. To do this click here. You will want to create a new account. First you have to pick an avatar.

Make sure to write that address down, because that is your public key.Then you can create the seed words.

Make sure you write down your seeds words because this is your private key (how you spend your funds). You can now login to this account by restoring the wallet using your seed words. By logging in you can then send funds using the web browser. Make sure you use https://safe.nimiq.com/#/_account/ to login.

Mining Pool

I chose sushipool for mining. They seem to have the most features and a 0% fee as of right now.

CPU Mining

There are two different ways you can mine using your CPU. You can download the miner onto your computer. I tried to download sushi miner for windows and it did not work. I also tried downloading the official windows miner from nimiq.io, but it requires you to download the full blockchain. This also was kind of glitchy, so I am not sure what exactly was going on. If I was mining this coin I would probably try the software, but if you have problems with it, or don’t want to download the whole blockchain, then the web mining is probably the best way to go. I feel this is the easier way to mine and had some unique features compared to the software mining.

You can also mine using the web browser.

We will cover the official miner first.

Software Mining

Download the official miner at https://nimiq.com/#downloads It is available for Windows and Linux. Once you download it and install it, you need to open the config file. The config is located in Appdata/local. You should be able to open the folder by typing %LOCALAPPDATA% in your search bar on the windows start tab.

For the config file I am using this config

{ dumb: "yes", type: "full", network: "main", statistics: 20, miner: { enabled: "yes", }, poolMining: { enabled: true, host: 'eu.sushipool.com', port: 443, }, wallet: { address: "NQ82 3N1P UFKN Q70N 1CLG 3KDR V2FM U3UR CFHX", }, }

Replace the host and port with whatever mining pool and port they use, and replace address with your address.

Then run the miner. It should be in the all programs folder in the start bar under Nimiq folder. If it gives an error and closes, that means your config file is setup incorrectly, syntax wise. If setup correctly, it will start downloading the blockchain. It took 12 hours for me so it could take a while. It should start mining after this.

Web Mining

First go to https://safe.nimiq.com/#/_account/ to login. Then click the + button by your accounts, and import your recovery words.

Once logged in go to https://miner.nimiq.com/ and then connect to the network. You will want to connect to a mining pool once you start mining. By default you are solo mining. This means when you find a block you get all of the block reward, but it could take a long time to find one. I noticed on the bottom, it said for me it was estimating 6 months for me to find a block solo mining. Once connected you need to login to a pool, so select a pool from the list by clicking on the mining pool box.

You can also go to your mining pools website directly and connect to the CPU miner, but I found this to be easier, and you can quickly switch between pools if one drops the connection, since this did happen to me while mining.

How much Nimiq will I earn per day?

To figure this out, you would go to https://calc.nimiqx.com/ and use their calculator. The calculator does provide a rough estimate, so you may get paid a higher or lower amount than what the calculator actually says.

Most of the values are already correctly entered, and you only need to edit a few values.

Hash rate: Enter your total speed (in kilohashes per second) for all of your mining computers. This would be the “total speed” value in your mining software. Make sure to add up all of the computers your using for Nimiq mining.

Power: Enter the total amount of power (in watts) that your mining rig is using. Some mining software will measure this for you. You can also measure total power consumption for your computer using special software, or a kilowatt meter. I prefer using a kilowatt meter, because I find it to be the most accurate. Make sure to add up all of the computers your using for Nimiq mining.

Cost: Enter the cost per kilowatt hour that you pay to your electricity company. I was able to find this info in my monthly bill, as well as on their website.

Pool fee (Under advanced options): Enter the pool fee + the miner software dev fee. For our example you would enter 0

Hardware cost: Enter in the total cost of all of your hardware.

That’s it. You should now be mining Nimiq!