Regular PUBLISH0X users may be aware of COIN, a free app that enables you to you "earn rewards for your everyday location data". I've been using COIN for three months now (on my iPhone) with mixed results: the app is something of a battery hog and is full of busywork, and what's more it has only been netting me the equivalent of just over ?1 per month.
The choice of rewards is good though, ranging from physical items such as t-shirts and caps through to ETH, BTC and XYO. Effectively by using COIN you earn an in-app token (also, confusingly, called COIN). And when you have enough COIN, you can redeem it for a product or coin/token of your choice.
Reluctant to abandon the COIN app entirely, I decided to change approach and order a SentinelX NFC. This credit card-sized device uses near-field communication technology to verify that your location is authentic. In return, you are promised "12x rewards on a Basic COIN Plan".
The SentinelX NFC (released earlier this year) is an alternative to the similarly-named SentinelX BLE, which uses Bluetooth instead and requires a battery to run. The NFC device seemed a better option to me, especially as I'd already checked that my phone was compatible.
I was amazed when my SentinelX NFC - which was being shipped internationally to the UK - arrived just four days after I ordered it. I've had domestic orders take longer. It came in a regular envelope along with a brief welcome letter as shown.
Adding the device to your COIN account only takes a few clicks, although you do have to reactivate it every four hours in order to benefit from the increased rewards. That time interval suits me, though, because it is also used by StormGain's Cloud Miner (which, so far, has been much more lucrative than COIN). If I see the icon in COIN nudging me to reactivate my SentinelX NFC, I also take that as a prompt to reactivate StormGain.
I must say though that I've found the reactivation process a little flakey. COIN tells you to "Hold the SentinelX NFC next to the top of your iPhone":
Sounds simple, huh? But whenever I try, it's like spinning a roulette wheel. I get one of these four results with approximately equal frequency:
1. Nothing at all
2. The reactivation prompt just disappears
3. An error message saying "Invalid Card Detected" along with (somewhat confusingly) a big blue tick
4. Or, if my luck is in, a success message saying "Successfully Scanned SentinelX NFC":
I recognise that this is just as likely to be an issue with my phone (or its case) as with the NFC card or the COIN app. Your mileage may vary.
Now on to those "12X rewards". COIN does state, though perhaps not clearly enough, that the multiplier only applies to mining activity ('geomines'). All other in-app activity that provides rewards, such as completing surveys or receiving the weekly bonus drop, is completely unaffected by the SentinelX NFC.
Depending on how you use the COIN app, you probably shouldn't expect your overall rewards to increase by anything like 12X. For me personally, I generate a lot of COIN through watching in-app video adverts and sadly this doesn't get a multiplier either.
The good news is that, in an effort to upsell you to a monthly paid plan, the COIN website clearly states how much COIN you have geomined:
Just log in with the same credentials that you use on the app. Multiply that 'geomined' figure by 12 to work out how much you would have mined over the same time period with the SentinelX NFC. And, by a process of deduction, you can also work out how much COIN you obtained through other means.
For example, let's say you have 8,000 COIN and the website tells you that you have geomined 3,000 COIN. This means your figures look like this:
Geomining: 3,000
Other: 5,000
TOTAL: 8,000
And with the SentinelX NFC, this would look like:
Geomining: 3,000 x 12 = 36,000
Other: 5,000
TOTAL: 41,000
In that instance, your total COIN would increase by around 5X, not 12X. Don't get me wrong, this is still a very significant increase.
You could then compare this projected increase against the cost of acquiring the SentinelX NFC to work out how long it might take you to recoup your investment.
Verdict
Would I recommend the SentinelX NFC? Well, my troubles reactivating the device are annoying but nothing more than that. More importantly, as a result of the purchase I very quickly reached my 10,000-COIN target - this being the threshold at which users can convert COIN for XYO. I am very interested to see how much more I make overall in December than in previous months.
It's also worth noting that the 12X multiplication bonus also stacks with the 'home base bonus' of up to 100%, making mining much more efficient if you are stuck at home (or have left your device at home mining).
Certainly if you are a COIN user, and don't want to pay monthly for a premium plan, then splashing out for the SentinelX NFC (or the SentinelX BLE) could be a sensible next step - as long as you have done the maths to work out your return on investment.
Speaking of investment, I haven't talked about prices yet. The SentinelX NFC can be bought directly from the XYO Network shop for $49 (or a three pack for $129, bringing the individual unit price down - assuming you have two friends).
However if you are new to COIN, it is worth searching around to see whether there are any special offers available. For example here is a legit offer to get a FREE SentinelX NFC if you "just cover the shipping cost": https://coinapp.co/free/sentinelx/nfc
Now I doubt the shipping actually comes to $12.95 (or $17.95 overseas), but this is still significantly cheaper than purchasing from the shop. It feels like you are getting the device at or near cost, enabling you to recoup your investment within a couple of months.
Best of luck if you do decide to get a SentinelX NFC, but you can't have this one - it's 'mine'!
