Bitcoin mining in Nigeria(How to get started)

Bitcoin mining is the process in which Bitcoin transactions are added to a public ledger called the blockchain.

It is through Bitcoin mining that a new bitcoin is created.

Bitcoin mining keeps the blockchain secure and ensures that bitcoin cannot be spent twice.

In this post, am going to be writing about all you will need to know about Bitcoin mining, how to start Bitcoin mining in Nigeria and also if Bitcoin mining is profitable.

Table of contents

1. What is Bitcoin?

2. How Bitcoin mining works?

3. How to start Bitcoin mining in Nigeria

4. My advice on bitcoin mining in Nigeria

5. Conclusion

What is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is a digital currency that was created by satoshi nakamoto in 2009.

It is a decentralized currency, this means that Bitcoin is not controlled by any central authority.

Think of Bitcoin as money, except that while with money, central banks can decide to print more in case of inflation, Bitcoin is not controlled by any authority.

Over the years, the value of Bitcoin has risen and it has gotten to as high as $20,000.

Early adopters of this digital currency are now millionaires.

Although there are lots of other cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin is still the most valuable.

Bitcoin is very volatile, time and time again, the value has risen and dropped also.

Bitcoin has seen increased adoption over the years, you can  pay for stuff with it.

With this adoption, many people have started looking for ways with which they can get Bitcoin.

Bitcoin mining is one of such ways and am going to show you how to get Bitcoin through mining.

How Bitcoin mining works?

 

Bitcoin mining does not involve tilling the ground to find Bitcoin (but I suppose you already know that since bitcoin is a digital currency)

In order for you to know how you can start Bitcoin mining in Nigeria, you need to know how it works.

If you have ever sent/transferred Bitcoin to another person, you will know that there is a transaction fee attached to it.

This transaction fee goes to the Bitcoin miners, it is their reward for adding your transaction to the blockchain. Adding your transaction to the blockchain makes it valid.

This process is known as Bitcoin mining.

How do they do this?

Bitcoin miners use very powerful computers to solve complex mathematical computations.

Any miner who is able to solve this computation gets to place the next block on the blockchain, the reward for this is a new Bitcoin.

The computers used to do this are special computers made specifically for mining.

They are called ASIC (Application specific integrated circuit) computer, these computers have high processing power.

These highly powered computers also consume a lot of electricity and are quite expensive to purchase and to maintain.

Initially you could mine bitcoin with your laptop/desktop, but as Bitcoin’s popularity grew, people soon realized that graphic cards meant for gaming(GPU) was faster and more effective for Bitcoin mining.

Over time, the application specific integrated circuit have been used to mine Bitcoin. There are data centers over the world with lots of ASIC computers meant specifically for mining bitcoin.

How to start Bitcoin mining in Nigeria

There are two types of bitcoin mining

1. Physical mining

2. Cloud mining

After reading this post, I will let you decide which one is for you.

Physical mining

Physical mining involves buying the necessary hardware required to mine Bitcoin.

There are 3 things you need to consider when buying Bitcoin mining hardware in Nigeria.

1. Internet connectivity

2. Cooling system

3. Power supply

Internet connectivity

You will need to connect your mining rig to a mining pool of your choice.

A mining pool are group of people who combine their hardware to increase their chances of mining Bitcoin.

About 70-80% of Bitcoin miners are in some sort of mining pool.

Some good mining pool are:

i. Slushpool

Slushpool was the first mining pool and currently mines about 11 percent of all blocks.

Slushpool is one of the best and most popular mining pools.

ii. Antpool

Antpool is a mining pool based in China, antpool mines about 11 percent of all blocks.

iii. F2pool

F2pool is based in China, it has mined about 10 percent of all blocks all over the past 6 months.

iv. Btc.com

BTC.com is a public mining pool that can be joined and mines 15 percent of all block.

You will need to join a mining pool if you are serious about mining Bitcoin.

Mining pools usually divide every mined Bitcoin to it’s members according to the hash rate your computer contributes.

The internet required to connect to a mining pool is not usually expensive.

Cooling system

Your mining rig can get hot (like really hot), in a country like Nigeria where the climate is hot, you are going to need something to cool down your mining rig when it’s gets very hot.

Power supply

Bitcoin mining consumes a lot of electricity, in a country like Nigeria where electricity is very expensive, it might not be feasible in some areas.

Some people will usually rely on solar powered supply to keep their mining rig running.

You can buy the ASIC miner (which has different types) from popular foreign online stores like alibaba.com and get it shipped to Nigeria, considering all costs.

Cloud mining

If you don’t want to get involved in the buying of equipments for mining Bitcoin, then cloud mining is for you.

With cloud mining you can mine bitcoin without ever laying hands on any of the hardware. How?….By purchasing a cloud mining contract.

With cloud mining you are investing in people who already have the hardware to run Bitcoin mining.

You get paid based on the hash rate you purchase.

Benefits of cloud mining

1. You don’t have to invest in the necessary equipment necessary to run Bitcoin mining

2. No electricity cost at all

3. You can participate in Bitcoin mining without laying hands on the hardware.

Disadvantages of cloud mining

1. It has a high potential for scam

2. You have no involvement in the technical aspects of Bitcoin mining

Some of the trusted places to purchase a cloud mining contract in Nigeria

Eobot

With eobot cloud mining you can purchase fractions of a cloud instance. Pay with PayPal or using cryptocurrencies and mine a wide variety of cryptocurrencies such as litecoin, ethereum, Bitcoin cash, Dogecoin, ripple, dash e.t.c.

You can start with as little as $10. They also offer a calculator on their website so that you easily can calculate the earnings per cloud instance.

Hashflare

Hashflare is a well known cloud mining provider that has operated since 2014.

They offer a customizable pool mining solution, you can decide which pools you want to mine in to make the most money possible.

You can request for payout in 24 hours.

Genesis mining

Genesis mining is one of the oldest cloud mining providers and thus they have a lot of experience in the field.

Genesis mining offers different pricing package based on what coins you are interested in mining, as well as the amount of hashpower you want.

Hashing24

Hashing24 is a well established cloud mining company, they have been in operation since 2012.

Their data centers are located in Georgia and Iceland where electricity is cheap.

Minergate

Minergate not only offers cloud mining but also mining software so that you easily can mine cryptocurrencies using your computer.

My advice on Bitcoin mining in Nigeria

Before going into Bitcoin mining in Nigeria, you have to do a feasibility study to see if it will be profitable for you, especially in the long run.

Bitcoin mining is not profitable for everyone, sometimes the money you spend on getting started might be way more than what you are getting in return.

My advice will be to always carry out a feasibility study to see if Bitcoin mining is for you.

Also, although it is possible to mine Bitcoin with your laptop, desktop or Android (using minergate or cryptominer).

It is generally a waste of time as you will never mine any substantial amount of bitcoin and you will just be wasting electricity.

You can although decide to mine other cryptocurrencies with your laptop/desktop. Some of these cryptocurrencies require little processing power.

Cryptocurrencies like litecoin, Dogecoin, monero and other less popular cryptocurrencies require less processing power to mine.

The disadvantage here is that these other cryptocurrencies (altcoins) are not as valuable as bitcoin.

Some people usually mine these altcoins and later exchange them for bitcoin, in the hope that the value of bitcoin will rise, so they can see profits on their investment.

The truth is, there is no guarantee that the value of bitcoin is going to keep rising, bitcoin has always and for the foreseeable future will always be high risk.

If you are going to invest in any type of mining, it should be with the money that you can afford to lose. It’s not particularly smart to invest your life savings on something so volatile.

Also, if you decide to go into cloud mining, you should know that these cloud mining platforms have a certain amount of money you will have to pay before you can begin.

It might take you months to recoup your initial investment before you start seeing profit. Also, as is written on the websites of most cloud mining companies, there is no guarantee that you will make profit.

If you feel like Bitcoin mining is not for you, there are ways on how to make money from bitcoin in Nigeria.

In this post, I have written on some of the best ways with which you can make money with Bitcoin.

You are probably not going to become a millionaire by following some of these methods, but you should have a clear idea of where people make the most profit when it comes to bitcoin.

Conclusion

You should know that as more Bitcoin are being mined, the reward for mining Bitcoin will reduce.

That means Bitcoin mining will become less profitable in the future.

You should also know that there will only ever be 21 million Bitcoin, as of now about 19 million has been already mined.

This probably means that when all Bitcoin has been mined, Bitcoin miners will reduce in numbers as there will be no incentive to add transactions to the blockchain.

Bitcoin transaction fees might probably increase then to keep miners motivated.

If you have enjoyed reading this post, leave a comment below, if you have a question regarding bitcoin mining in Nigeria, leave a comment below and I will tend to it as soon as possible.

If you also have some sort of helpful contributions, you can as well leave them below.

Thank you for reading, and please share to your friends

Read my post on how to make money with cryptocurrency in Nigeria

Read my post on the 12 best exchanges to buy Bitcoin in Nigeria

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