There is no denying that cryptocurrencies are among the hottest trends in modern times. Indeed, a recent Pew Research Center study revealed that most American adults have, at the very least, heard a little about cryptocurrencies like Ethereum and Bitcoin, and 16% have personally invested, traded, or used one. If you are interested in cryptocurrency, you have undoubtedly come across the term "mining." Mining is simply the generation of new cryptocurrency coins. It isn't exactly comparable to the work performed by miners who physically search for precious metals. Nevertheless, the comparison holds to a degree; digital currency miners harness computers to crack cryptographic problems and receive rewards in the form of cryptocurrency. Here are some of the popular methods people use to mine their crypto.

1. Cloud Mining

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Cloud mining is perhaps the most famous way to mine cryptocurrencies without too much work. It involves paying someone, most likely a big corporation or renowned cloud miner, a huge amount of cash to "rent out" their mining device (rig) and take charge of the mining process. Usually, the huge corporations that provide cloud mining services have large mining facilities with tens or hundreds of rigs and are experts at mining cryptocurrency. Your rent last for a defined period, and all the earnings your rig makes are sent to your cryptocurrency wallet after electricity and maintenance costs are deducted.

There are two approaches to cloud mining: free and paid. It is common for many people to consider the free option instead of paying to lower their overall cost. However, many experts recommend paid cloud mining to avoid the free alternatives' many drawbacks, like too many conditions and incredibly slow mining speeds. You will simply find your cloud mining host online for paid cloud mining. Then, select one of the host's existing plans or create and customize one if possible. You can then register your crypto wallet code and take your first steps into mining cryptocurrency. One of the best things about cloud mining is that you can mine many popular cryptos like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin. In addition, it allows you to participate in cryptocurrency even without sophisticated hardware like rigs. However, it is worth knowing that cloud mining typically requires committing to a contract. Also, you are highly unlikely to break even if crypto prices drop.

2. CPU Mining

CPU mining is also among the popular ways to get into cryptocurrency. It simply involves using processors to mine cryptocurrencies. This mining method was immensely popular in the past, but fewer people rely on it now to mine their cryptocurrencies daily. There are several reasons for this new reality. For starters, CPU mining is quite slow; you can reportedly go on for months without enjoying the slightest returns from your effort. Additionally, it is typically not that worth it since you make little money but spend about ten times more on your electricity and cooling costs. Admittedly, you can circumvent this problem to some extent if you find a location with excellent cooling and affordable electricity bills.

All these drawbacks of CPU mining might leave you wondering why people still use it in the first place. The answer is simple - almost anyone with a desktop computer can engage in CPU mining. Statista data estimates that three out of four American adults owned a computer in 2019, so it is easy to see why this method is still popular. All you need to get started are a few programs that will assist with the mining. Although you can technically do it with a computer, experts strongly advise against it to prevent overheating and possibly frying in a few hours. Nevertheless, CPU mining's ease continues to attract new miners daily. Some miners don't care about the fine details; they just want to begin mining as soon as possible and by any means, and CPU mining is often the perfect answer.

3. ASIC Mining

You can also mine cryptocurrency using ASICs, so keep this in mind. ASICs (Application-Specific Integrated Circuits) are dedicated devices designed to perform one task, which in this case is cryptocurrency mining. These devices are quite popular and liked because they produce considerably higher volumes of cryptocurrency than their rivals. However, ASIC mining is a huge bone of contention in the cryptocurrency community, despite being arguably the best way to mine cryptos. Indeed, the ASIC company's announcement of its new machine version caused a huge uproar in the cryptocurrency world, with many individuals calling for these devices' outright ban. The reason behind ASICs' unpopularity is they are too powerful, robbing other miners relying on CPU or GPU rigs of the chance of keeping up in hash speeds and earnings. 

Consequently, owning an ASIC gives you somewhat of an unfair competitive advantage. Most crypto earnings can technically end up with just one miner with a powerful ASIC farm, leaving other miners with little. Also, they are quite expensive, despite being the only kind of device that allows you to potentially make huge profits from crypto mining.

4. Joining Mining Pools

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A mining pool is a group of miners combining their various computing power to mine cryptocurrency and share the wards. These miners usually have few chances of mining new blocks while working solo with their hardware. Indeed, it is quite difficult to mine Bitcoin blocks if you are working alone. However, working together increases miners' chances of mining new blocks. Every mining pool has unique hardware requirements, like owning a GPU or ASIC miner. Also, if you belong to a mining pool, your profits will be proportional to the amount of work your address contributed to the entire process. Mining pools' biggest advantage is that you don't have to put significant cost and effort into your initial setup to mine cryptos. For instance, there is no need to build a multi-GPU mining rig before mining if you join a pool. Nevertheless, you are unlikely to earn significant profits as a mining pool member since you will share any rewards with the rest of the pool.