You trade cryptocurrencies, buying and selling them while watching market trends. One day, you became passionate about crypto mining, and you want to dip your toes into it. Sitting at home, you asked yourself: Can I really mine cryptocurrencies using a mobile phone and laptop? Is it a possible task?
You can mine crypto with a laptop, but be careful…
If you have a laptop, you can mine crypto, but it depends on the coin you mine. Did you get it? Not all cryptocurrencies support mining using a laptop. Bitcoin, the digital gold, cannot typically be mined on a laptop, and the reasons are quite a lot. A lot of electricity and computational power are pumped into your device when you start mining. Does your laptop handle this high-energy task? Obviously not. It can damage your laptop without any additional mining devices. And that’s why you need proper mining equipment besides a highly functioning computer or smartphone.
Mining Bitcoin requires high computational power
As cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin solve highly complex calculations to mine a coin, you need to rely on the most efficient crypto mining devices that exist. For Bitcoin, miners use dedicated hardware such as,
- ASICs (Application-Specific Integrated Circuits)
- Computer/smartphone
- Power Supply Unit (PSU)
- High-end GPUs (graphics cards)
- Mining Software
- Proper cooling and ventilation
- Wallet address
How does crypto mining on smartphones affect profitability?
Technically speaking, you can dig for crypto using a mobile phone or laptop, but you earn very little profit as these devices perform slowly for mining. When you mine crypto, you get a reward in the form of crypto. Slow computational process leads to low hash rate, affecting the rewards you get, and this adds to the reason why using a mobile phone or laptop can hinder the profit you earn. You spend more than you earn. A stable wifi connection is also quintessential apart from the mining equipment.
Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin use Proof of Work (PoW) consensus mechanism. The amount of work a miner takes to dig a coin is calculated as one of the criteria for earning rewards.
You can mine these coins on a laptop or smartphone
But, don’t worry, if you are genuinely interested to mine and do not bother about coins like Bitcoin, then put a smile on your face! Monero (XMR), a privacy-focused crypto, can be mined on a laptop. The crypto supports RandomX, an algorithm designed to resist ASIC. MobileCoin (MOB) is a crypto suitable for mining on smartphones. Pi Networks is also not an exception. Its energy-efficient and user-friendly approach makes it one of the best cryptos to mine on a smartphone. Litecoin, Ravencoin, and Electroneum also support mobile phone mining.
Here’s a reality check: smartphones can do a few kilohashes per second, whereas ASICs can do terahashes per second, meaning Bitcoin mining is a trillion times faster than other altcoins, which favors smartphone mining.
