This is number 13 of the mining articles for beginners and hobby miners, if you're interested at having a go at mining some other coins then check out the rest of my blog here.
Before I begin there are a couple of things to remember; Firstly unless you have an extensive mining setup you're unlikely to get rich (or break even) and Secondly I take no responsibility for any issues you run into if you try this at home (be smart download mining software at your own risk).
This is for informational and fun purposes only; I don't claim to be an expert. If you're reading this and you are more experienced and spot any issues, by all means point it out in the comments and I'll try make the necessary updates.
Introduction
As of 28Jun2020, block 777777, BEAM (a well know privacy based cryptocurrency) successful forked and made an update to the mining algorithm used to perform Proof-of-Work for block validation on the chain. The new algorithm Beam Hash III, a modified version of Equihash (150,5), was set out to bring in line GPU and ASIC mining to allow for a level playing field without giving unnecessary preference to one or the other. The coin itself is comfortably sitting in the top 200 and has a very consistent development team backing it up.
Here is a quick look at the current road map for the project in 2019/2020, it gives a solid image of a team building functionality into a project. I also really like the nifty addition of atomic swapping built right into the core desktop wallet, cool feature! Another neat thing is that for a privacy coin they have made and effort to bridge the regulatory gap by adding auditability as well, allowing for privacy but not at the cost of compliance.
Also if you're looking at places to spend beam, they have a nice list on the site. Sure nothing groundbreaking (plus a couple of adult shops, as you may expect from a privacy coin) but it is a nice touch, always good to be pushing those real-world use cases.
https://beam.mw/beam-accepted-here
Anyway, enough of the basics. Let get mining some cryto!
Step 1: The Wallet
First things first, we need to go ahead and get ourselves a wallet. Now as of recent months I've been quite a fan of the multi-coin wallet scene. However, when it comes to privacy coins it makes sense to go to the source. Beam has a really tidy core wallet, so for this tutorial we'll use that one. Note that we will also be downloading the blockchain to our device so be prepared to get it started and leave it running for a bit.
- 1 - Download the .exe file form the main site: https://beam.mw/downloads/mainnet-windows
- 2 - Double click and follow the basic setup (note that you will need to make sure to back up your seed phrase)
- 3 - Once it is successfully installed you'll get an option to choose how you plan to use the wallet and if you're going to sync with the full block chain. It is up to you, however, I am a fan of having the full chain, so select the first option
Most of the time we consider this a chore. However, remember that if you on a copy of the LEDGER yourself you are free from trusting anyone to accurately tell you what is in it, you can look for yourself. It also support the network too as it help distribute the ledger in a decentralized manner, which is what we're all about!
Step 2: The Mining Software
While the block chain is syncing lets get some mining software set up. The team over at Beam, helpful as ever, even point us in the right direction for this. Now, I have an AMD card and sadly it is just 4 GB so lolMiner is no good for me (despite already having it from the AION guide). So instead, I'm going to use Gminer.
- 1 - Head to the release page and get the latest version https://github.com/develsoftware/GMinerRelease/releases
- 2 - Download extract the zip file to a secure location. If you don't see the file below, best to check your virus software exceptions in case it got intercepted.
Step 3: The Pools
Now that we've got the wallet and the software we need to find a mining pool. There are a lot of pools out there with a variety of fees/payout levels etc. pick one that suits you.
Here are just a couple of suggestions that don't require registration.
- 2Miners - https://beam.2miners.com/en
- Fee = 1.0%
- Min Payout = 3 BEAM
- LeafPool - https://beam.leafpool.com/
- Fee = 2.0%
- Min Payout = 1 BEAM
In my experience I find that lower payouts allow you to chop and change more regularly, but lower fees are better for longer term mining. For now lets stick with 2Miners. Alternatively, if your hashrate is good enough, or you're just feeling lucky, you can also Solo mine.
- 2Miners (Solo) - https://solo-beam.2miners.com/en
- Fee = 1.5%
- Min Payout = 3 BEAM (though a block reward is currently 40 BEAM so if you get lucky you go over that immediately)
Step 4: Mining
The final step now is to bring everything together and kick off the mining software. To do this we're going to need to do the following:
- 1 - Grab our wallet address for payout
- A) Click on the wallet icon and then select 'Receive' in the top right corner
- B) On the next screen select Expires 'Never' from the drop down
- C) Click copy transaction address
- 2 - In the miner folder right-click and edit the "mine_beam" BAT file
- Add wallets address
- Add pool address
- Save and close
Now all we need to do is double click the BAT file and watch those privacy tokens roll in!
Congratulations you're mining BEAM!!
Once your are mining (after a few submitted shares) you can check your stats on the 2Miners site. Just navigating there on your favorite browser (#BRAVE) and have your address to hand. Paste it into the bar at the top middle of the main page and hit enter (note that if you are solo mining you need to navigate to the solo mining page to find your address). You'll see all your stats on the next page.
Hope you enjoyed the guide, good luck y'all!
Donations Welcome (BEAM): 1f18a98b07ec7f91df11dd83f86dc34502730174f4f1b952911e6e0e0519773e485
Useful References:
https://beam.mw/mining
https://documentation.beam.mw/en/latest/rtd_pages/user_mining_beam.html
https://www.publish0x.com/cryptocurrency/what-is-beam-beam-a-comprehensive-guide-to-understanding-bea-xymkdd
