A Look at Bitcoin Gold Mining

Bitcoin Gold is a fork of the original Bitcoin code introduced at the end of 2017 by the Bitcoin Gold Organization. The organization is headed by Jack Liao, one of the six co-founders. The Bitcoin Gold mining start date and launch of the network happened on October 24 following an initial delay. The coin is easy mineable and the price of Bitcoin Gold today is around the $9.50 area. Why Bitcoin Gold and what makes it unique? One of its most notable features is that it is ASIC resistant. Mining BTG is done via standard GPUs instead of high-performance ASIC mining equipment. Expensive ASICs institute centralized mining, putting the control in the hands of a few powerful parties. GPU mining restores that power, making mining available for everyone. Mining rewards are spread across random users instead of influential mining enterprises. Even Bitcoin Gold CPU mining is a possibility, but not a very profitable one.

The BTG blockchain resembles that of Bitcoin in many ways. The network is compatible with SegWit and the Lightning network, but since Bitcoin Gold uses the PoW Equihash algorithm, it isn’t as resource-heavy as Bitcoin. The Lightning Network makes a Bitcoin Gold transaction scalable to a limitless number per second with the BTG sidechains enabling smart contract functionalities.

How to Invest in Bitcoin Gold?

BTG is currently trading on 73 different crypto exchanges. The best exchange for Bitcoin Gold currently, in terms of daily trading volume, is Bione with a BTG/USDT exchange pair. Among other notable exchanges, we find the likes of OKEx, Bithumb, Binance, and Bitfinex. All the latest Bitcoin Gold news and listing announcements are available on the official website as well as social media channels.

How to Mine BTG?

BTG can be GPU mined on standard desktop computers. For a successful mining operation, a user needs to have the following:

  • Windows 7 or above 64-bit OS
  • An Nvidia or AMD graphics card
  • The latest GPU drivers
  • Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0
  • Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable 2013
  • A Bitcoin Gold Wallet

The first step is to generate a Bitcoin Gold wallet online or use a suitable software or hardware wallet. This wallet will be used to store mining rewards. There are several wallet options.

  • ElectrumG is the official light-weight client for Bitcoin Gold. It’s available on Windows and Mac. OS.
  • BTG Core is the official full node variant. It is compatible with Windows, Linux, and Mac OS.
  • BTG coins can be stored on Trezor and Ledger hardware wallets. Many Bitcoin users who were holding Bitcoin before the BTG fork have the right to claim BTG coins. To find out how to get Bitcoin Gold from Ledger Nano S please take a look at the following video.
  • Coinomi is a multi-currency software wallet that supports Bitcoin Gold. It is available for all platforms and there is a BTG wallet iOS as well.

After selecting a wallet, it is time for Bitcoin Gold mining software download. A different mining software will have to be used depending on your computer’s GPU. A suitable Bitcoin Gold miner AMD is Claymore's ZCash AMD Miner. Download and extract the newest version on your device. You need to edit the extracted config files and add your BTG wallet address and mining pool.

Before commencing any mining activities, it is recommended to increase the virtual memory on your computer for an optimal, error-free mining process. To do that you need to go into your system settings and click on “Advanced System Settings”. Click on the Settings button on the “Advanced” tab. Click on Advanced one more time and change the Virtual memory size to 16384. For Nvidia GPUs, we need to use different software. A relevant BTG miner Nvidia is EWBF’s, Cuda Miner. Download and extract the miner software on your device. Look for the ‘start.bat’ file. Edit it by entering your BTG wallet address and the correct mining pool URL.

How to Start Mining BTG?

Once the correct mining software has been downloaded it is time to edit the configuration files and start the mining process. AMD GPUs In this guide, I am going to describe how to configure Claymore’s Miner to mine on the BTG Pool Pro mining pool. The setup process is similar for other pools as well. Select the server closest to your region. I am going to use ‘us.btgpool.pro:3857_’. Two files need to be edited. In the folder we downloaded and extracted earlier, find the ‘_start.bat’ file and enter the following: “set GPU_FORCE_64BIT_PTR=1 set GPU_MAX_HEAP_SIZE=100 set GPU_USE_SYNC_OBJECTS=1 set GPU_MAX_ALLOC_PERCENT=100 set GPU_SINGLE_ALLOC_PERCENT=100 ZecMiner64” Save the changes and close the file. Now find the ‘config.txt’ file and add the following strings and save the changes: -zpool stratum+tcp://eu.btgpool.pro:3857 -zwal yourwalletaddress.workeraddress -zpsw x -allpools 1 Take note of the following tips:

  • Don’t forget to add the port number immediately after the mining pool address.
  • Your Bitcoin Gold wallet address should be entered on the 2nd line following ‘-zwal’.
  • The last line, ‘-allpools 1’, is essential for the BTG miner to start mining the correct coin.

After successfully editing all files, clicking on the ‘Start.bat_’ file will initiate the mining process. To check the performance of your miner just enter your BTG wallet address in the search area of the mining pool you use. Nvidia GPUs After the mining software has been downloaded and extracted, it is time to configure the ‘_start.bat_’ file. As an example, I will show the needed steps to point our miner towards the BTG Pool Pro mining pool. Enter the address of the server closest to your geographical location and your BTG wallet address in the file. For example, ‘_us.btgpool.pro:3857’. The following line should be added in the config file: miner --server eu.btgpool.pro --port 3857 --user GLHraJJfsNknm5wGCqSJ7V6cGDnA6gAV8y.worker --pass x –pec Double-clicking on Start.bat will start the mining process if it was set up properly.

Best BTG mining hardware

A question that all miners want to know is: Which is the best GPU for Bitcoin Gold mining? Before I answer that I should explain two things:

  • Bitcoin Gold mining difficulty
  • Bitcoin Gold GPU mining profitability

Mining difficulty measures how hard it is to solve a cryptographic problem and add a block to the blockchain. If more miners are working on solving the problem, the solution will be found quicker, and vice versa. The current Bitcoin Gold mining difficulty is 135.25. This figure is regularly updated. Mining profitability calculates how profitable the mining of a coin will be based on a GPUs hashrate, mining difficulty, power consumption, and cost of electricity, among other things. A complete insight into the Bitcoin Gold mining profitability can be found on WhatToMine. The list of the TOP 3 GPUs for Bitcoin Gold mining looks like this:

  • GeForce GTX 1080Ti 11GB

  • GeForce GTX 1070 8GB

  • GeForce GTX 1060 3GB or 6GB

#3 GeForce GTX 1060 3GB or 6GB

  • Hashrate/Sols: 31-40 Sols
  • Power consumption: 75-99 watts
  • Price: 220-300 USD

#2 GeForce GTX 1070 8GB

  • HASHRATE/SOLS: 45-59 Sols
  • Power consumption: around 150 watts
  • Price: 300-550 USD

Depending on the producer, the GTX 1070 Bitcoin Gold hashrate varies between 45-59 Sols. It’s quite a performance boost compared to the GTX 1060 which is reflected in the price. But the best GPU for Bitcoin Gold is not the 1070 model. #1 GeForce GTX 1080Ti 11GB

  • Hashrate/Sols: 59-87 Sols
  • Power consumption: around 250 watts
  • Price: 700-1,000 USD

The miners who want more than the GTX 1070 Bitcoin Gold Mining Hashrate should obtain a GTX 1080Ti. The 1080 Ti Bitcoin Gold hashrate can get as high as 87 Sols, making it the absolute winner in this category. For such amusement, investors need to be ready to put up to $1,000 on the table.

The Best BTG Mining Pools

Bitcoin Gold is most efficiently mined by combining all the hashing power of all miners in a mining pool. Solo mining is also possible but this method results in infrequent and low mining returns. The value of Bitcoin Gold, just like any other cryptocurrency, oscillates up and down. Using a profit calculator to check the mining profitability is always advisable to make sure that in the long run, the mining operation will be worthwhile. The perfect mining pool should have plenty of hash power and overall market share, servers close to your location, and a low poll fee. With all that in mind, here is a list of the TOP 3 BTG mining pools according to MiningPools.com: #3 2Miners.com

Market Share/Hash PowerServer LocationsPool Fee
8.4%EU1%

#2 Suprnova

Market Share/Hash PowerServer LocationsPool Fee
20.6%Asia, EU, USA2%

#1 Mining Pool Hub

Market Share/Hash PowerServer LocationsPool Fee
61.6%Asia, EU, USA1%

As we can observe from the data above, Mining Pool Hub is currently the BTG mining pool offering the best hashrate. Approximately 61.6% of the world’s Bitcoin Gold miners use their services. They have an industry-standard 1% pool fee and servers located worldwide. Miners are recommended to sign up for a few mining pools, not just one. If one pool would stop working, the miner would automatically switch to the next one on the list.

Conclusion

Bitcoin Gold is an open-source decentralized cryptocurrency that uses the Equihash hash function. ASIC resistant as it is, it gives ordinary GPU miners a chance to make a decent profit. For a successful mining performance, users need a strong graphics card. Tests have shown that GeForce GPUs perform exceptionally well. The appropriate mining software and its setup are essential. I have listed a couple of suggested mining pools for BTG. Make your own research and join one that fulfills all your requirements. With the upcoming Schnorr Signatures upgrade, the Bitcoin Gold future looks bright. Market analysts agree that BTG is a good long-term investment and is on a good way to gain in value.

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