Image source: Emrit

When you think of cryptocurrency mining, what comes to mind? For many, energy inefficiency. And while Bitcoin mining requires a lot of energy, this label doesn’t apply to all cryptocurrency mining. As the blockchain industry innovates, energy-efficient cryptocurrency mining opportunities have come to market that enable anyone to participate and profit.

Bitcoin Mining’s Energy Efficiency Problem

A decade ago, anyone was able to use their spare computing power to mine Bitcoin, and a lot of people made a lot of money. Unfortunately, those days are long gone, as individuals are now largely shut out of this modern-day gold rush. Bitcoin mining is now dominated by companies and large institutional investors, many of which are publicly traded, effectively creating a computing power arms race which has exacerbated Bitcoin’s energy efficiency problem. 

The energy issue is tied to Bitcoin’s proof-of-work consensus mechanism. In layman’s terms, this is the process whereby computers connected to the blockchain, or nodes, validate the legitimacy of transactions. To reach consensus, blockchain nodes compete to solve complex math equations. The faster the node, the more Bitcoin it can mine which is why energy-consuming computing power is so important in Bitcoin mining.

Energy Efficient Blockchains Are Here

Fortunately, a new consensus mechanism, proof-of-stake, has cracked the energy efficiency issue. With proof-of-stake, each node on the blockchain is required to stake its own cryptocurrency for the privilege of validating transactions. This bypasses the need for more and more computing power, while maintaining security because node operators would have no incentive to fool the blockchain and risk losing their staked cryptocurrency.

Blockchains like Algorand, Cardano and Solana are leading the way in proof-of-stake, and Ethereum, the second largest blockchain, recently changed its consensus mechanism from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake to solve the energy problem. While this is very good for the blockchain industry, mining on these blockchains requires staking hundreds of thousands or even millions in cryptocurrency, so individuals are again, largely shut out of participating.

A third consensus mechanism in the decentralized wireless space, called proof-of-coverage, has fortunately opened new opportunities for individuals to profit from mining once again!

How To Profit From Energy-Efficient Cryptocurrency Mining

There’s a new breed of real-world blockchain use cases that require edge computing power and truly distributed deployments, covering large geographies. You can mine cryptocurrency on these blockchains by placing hardware, or a node in the blockchain, in your home or businesses. For example, Helium is a great project that has seen huge success, in just a few years building the world’s largest decentralized wireless network.

Helium created the proof-of-coverage consensus mechanism for its IoT (Internet of Things) network, which ingeniously uses the blockchain to verify that nodes in the network are honestly transmitting a wireless signal from their asserted location on the blockchain. In fact, Helium’s cryptocurrency (HNT) has appreciated in value 20x since the beginning of 2021, and many of our customers at Emrit have earned tens of thousands of dollars mining HNT.

It’s easy to host an Emrit CoolSpot Helium miner, which is the size of a small wireless router, using the same amount of electricity as a 5-watt light bulb.

Image source: Emrit

Another Emrit blockchain partner is PlanetWatch, which is building a global air quality sensor network using blockchain and IoT. Next year you can signup at Emrit to host both PlanetWatch and Helium miners.

This is just the beginning. As more and more blockchain projects require edge computing, distributed blockchain infrastructure companies like Emrit will help them scale by bringing simplicity to web 3.0 and creating access for the community. 

Jiten Varu is CEO of Emrit.

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Equities News Contributor: Jiten Varu

Source: Equities News