Introducing proof-of-work
When Bitcoin was introduced, its proof-of-work (PoW) validation system required devices to use computational power to solve problems and secure transactions. In the beginning, many miners were people who wanted to make money gaming and saw Bitcoin mining as another passive income idea that could work for them.
Since very few miners worked on the network, early adopters could use CPU mining as an effective way to mine Bitcoin. However, as Bitcoin's popularity grew, so did its mining industry, making it harder for CPU miners to succeed. As Bitcoin grew, so did the popularity of Web3 mining.
CPUs become obsolete
Around 2010, miners realized that their CPU machines weren’t going to remain profitable in the long run. So, miners started moving toward GPUs as a way to mine successfully. At this point, if you wanted to make money online through mining, CPUs were no longer enough to mine cryptocurrencies successfully.
This was because, compared to GPUs, CPUs: Have fewer processing capabilities Can’t process as many computations simultaneously Are less energy efficient Don’t lend themselves to cryptocurrency mining
Altcoin miners emerge
In 2013, Bitcoin miners moved to a new technology that allowed them to mine even more efficiently: application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs). ASICs quickly became the norm in Bitcoin mining, but as this was happening, other blockchain networks with their own mining needs came online.
Ethereum and other altcoins started to emerge around 2014. Unlike Bitcoin’s SHA-256 hashing algorithm, altcoins were designed to be ASIC-resistant, meaning that GPUs were the best option for miners to succeed. Therefore, GPU miners quickly moved to these networks as they were immediately profitable to mine. In fact, in 2022, it was estimated that Ethereum miners alone spent $15 billion on GPU mining equipment alone.
The introduction of mining rigs and farms
With the development and introduction of new cryptocurrencies, GPU mining demand started to skyrocket. At the time, cryptocurrencies like ZCash, Monero, and Ravencoin were all popular. As a result, miners began building hardware specifically designed for mining purposes, known as mining rigs. Rigs often consist of multiple GPUs, a motherboard, RAM storage, and a cooling system. Then, they would take tens or hundreds of mining rigs and put them together in a large-scale facility known as a cryptocurrency mining farm. These farms were used for crypto mining at a massive scale.
DePIN networks add to the mining demand
A new wave of cryptocurrencies was starting to emerge, helping create decentralized infrastructure networks (DePIN). These decentralized physical infrastructure networks began using miners to secure their infrastructure and network capabilities, from decentralized file storage to computing power.
New DePIN networks like Helium, Arweave, Storj, and others emerged as decentralized competitors to physical infrastructure networks. But to keep these networks secure, miners were needed. This increased the demand for GPUs, which were used across a range of DePIN networks as an easy way for miners to make money.
Hivello turns any computer into a GPU mining rig You may not realize it, but your computer, no matter what it is, already has a graphics processing unit. If you can connect to a blockchain network, you earn money online with GPU mining from your own computer.
This is exactly why Hivello was created. Hivello is a DePIN aggregator software that turns your computer into a mining rig in three easy steps without you needing any blockchain or technical expertise. Because Hivello can turn any computer into a mining rig, it allows anyone, no matter where they're located or their device, the opportunity to make money from home. Plus, with Hivello, you can select between blockchain networks whenever you’d like and mine the digital asset that’s most profitable at the moment.
Download Hivello today, and turn your at-home computer into a passive crypto mining operation in minutes.
