Meet Honeyminer: The App That Lets You Earn Bitcoin With a Laptop Again

Source - coindesk

New mining software promises to let almost anyone earn small amounts  of bitcoin with a Windows laptop, giving users a taste of the  cryptocurrency's early days. Revealed exclusively to CoinDesk, the New Jersey-based crypto mining  startup Honeyminer quietly launched a free beta in June and has already  garnered 10,000 downloads across the globe. Honeyminer allows users to  participate in a dynamic mining pool by running the app when the  computer's graphics processing unit (GPU) isn't in use processing images  or videos. The pool focuses on mining cryptos like ethereum, ethereum classic,  zcash, monero and other GPU-friendly currencies. Then, at the end of the  session, Honeyminer sends the participant's earnings, converted into  bitcoin, directly to the user's wallet. "The miner doesn't have to do the math or manage all the  configurations and settings, or manually check the prices," Honeyminer  advisor Noah Jessop, a venture capitalist at Founder Collective in San  Francisco, told CoinDesk.   He added: 

"We make it so that any surplus compute, so any laptop  you aren't using all the way up to a rig that you run is automatically  doing the most profitable computation."

This type of service offers new opportunities for people who want to  acquire bitcoin but have little money to invest or limited access to  cryptocurrency exchanges. It could also broaden the range of  participants in cryptocurrency mining, which over the years has had its  barriers to entry rise as expensive, specialized hardware gave large,  professional operations an edge over hobbyists. Honeyminer's algorithm automatically switches between  cryptocurrencies every 10 minutes or so, depending on block size, if  there's a sudden change in the currency's mining profitability. "We are pooling people together to find those block rewards faster.  Together, we have a larger hashrate," Honeyminer co-founder Larry Kom  told CoinDesk. "Not only do we connect you to the blockchain and  anonymize you through us, but you also are contributing to what is, in  essence, a pool." To be sure, this isn't the most profitable way to mine  cryptocurrency, given broader market volatility compared to bitcoin and  Honeyminer's cut, ranging from 2.5 percent to 8 percent depending on the  quality of the user's hardware. Someone with a few high-end GPUs could  expect to earn bitcoin worth a dollar or two from running the software  almost all day. However, it may be one of the easiest methods to date. Although the  company declined to specify how many users are in nations where  cryptocurrency access is restricted, such as Jordan or Venezuela, it said more than 18 percent of users hail from developing nations. "If you hear about crypto and you want to learn, you can either go  out and pay real cash money," Jessop said. "Or you can download a  program in 30 seconds and start earning your own crypto, for free." 

Diversified mining

Honeyminer's software was, in part, inspired by the controversies  that surround bitcoin mining. Namely, the way many users of the software  feel the China-based hardware provider Bitmain has achieved a  near-monopoly on mining equipment and how a similar small number of  firms control the majority of mining pools. "As we've watched in bitcoin proper, the arms race escalates to this  custom hardware and then people who have access to the best silicon tabs  are the people who control mining," Jessop said. "For us, it's all  about increasing the number of people who have access to the  best-in-class." But according to David Vorick, CEO of Nebulous, which operates  Siacoin and the mining equipment manufacturer Obelisk, this may not  change the broader ecosystem beyond attracting more curious newcomers.  Especially because the software is closed source, albeit with plans to  extend open APIs in the future. "That actually increases centralization, because all you've done is  moved the power from the mining pools or users who have to be advanced,  to software toolkits," he told CoinDesk. "Basically all the power lies  with the devs of the software." Elaborating on this point, Vorick said he believes GPU mining will  almost entirely disappear over the next two years regardless. He added: 

"We're going to see general purpose ASICs [mining  hardware] come out that is capable of targeting lots of algorithms. As  soon as that happens, the role that GPUs play is going to disappear."

For better or worse, the Honeyminer team recognizes it will need to offer additional features for different types of users. For newbie retail investors, Honeyminer will soon allow them to send  their bitcoin to wallets on third-party platforms like Coinbase. Plus,  the app's algorithm can also help miners with professional mining rigs  as well. Whether they're cheap laptops or pro rigs, "each computer will get a  different [task], based on its particular performance or capabilities,  you'll get assigned what is most profitable for it," Kom said. A specialized version called Honeyminer Pro is in the works for  professional miners who need help with power consumption management and  options for manually choosing which cryptos to mine, so they're not  restricted to whatever's most profitable, or which coins to cash out in,  in case they don't want bitcoin. Speaking to the lack of user-friendly tools for both novice and experienced miners, Kom said: 

"I would say there's not a clear competitor for us, which is why we built what we built."

 Honeycomb image via Shutterstock