The main task of dual mining is to simultaneously mine two cryptocurrencies, which are based on different protocols. Thus, the productivity of the equipment remains at the same level, and the potential profit increases. Most often, the main currency for which dual mining is configured is Ethereum. Besides him, miners set up Sia and Decred. There are already specialized ASIC miners, including the Gridseed GC3355, which can simultaneously mine Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Dual mining was quite popular in 2017year, when each miner could easily set up the mining of Ethereum and one of several altcoins at the same time. Since many double coins in our time are no longer profitable to mine, the popularity of dual mining on video cards has sunk into oblivion. But, since some users are still interested in dual mining, let's take a digression into history and tell you how it was. We will also present the digital coins available for double mining in 2020.
Each mining algorithm has its own specificfeatures that load computing units and video card memory in different ways. This allows calculations for two algorithms and simultaneously mine two different coins. This article will focus on how the dual mining of cryptocurrency worked and what was "dug" in dual with ether, or similar coins.
What is dual mining and how does it work?
The basic principle of dual-mining has already been spelled outin its name - "dual" mining of cryptocurrencies. The main task of the miner is to find two protocols that can be processed simultaneously. There are no alternatives to the Equihash protocol; it is impossible to mine ZCash and ZenCash with another cryptocurrency at the same time.
When mining cryptocurrencies that use a hash function Ethash (ETH, ETC, EXP and others), the greatest load atcalculations fall on the memory of the video card. At the same time, the graphics processor is loaded very little. This allows simultaneous mining of two cryptocurrencies using one video card. As a rule, for this they use the Claymore's Dual Miner program, which perfectly works simultaneously with Nvidia and AMD video cards in one rig running a 64-bit Windows 7 or 10 operating system.
Best Phoenix miner alternative programinitially did not support this option at the time. Then the developers added support for double mining, but few people used it already. However, in the latest releases of miners, claymore and phoenix dual mining is still available.
Dual mining setup
Dual mining setup is to installoptimal overclocking parameters for video cards, which should provide maximum performance, stability, automatic fan control and load reduction in case of overheating, as well as setting parameters associated with a specific mining pool.
- Before that, the operating system, drivers must be installed and configured on the rig, and the calculation mode for AMD drivers must be enabled.
A record of the required settings of the mining program is recorded in Bat the file intended to launch it. Let's take a closer look at the procedure for setting it up to run dual mining.
Bat file for dual mining
Dual mining can be performed both on one pool (for example Ether and Pascal on Coinotron), and on different (for example, Ether on Ethermine and Decred on pool.mn/dcr). When setting up the mining of a selected coin for a specific pool, you must familiarize yourself with the help section on its website. There should be the recommended parameters listed in the BAT batch file launch parameters.
The easiest way to configure launch parameters is if there are identical video cards in the rig.
If you do not take into account the overclocking parameters, then for Nvidia and AMD video cards, the BAT file setting for dual mining looks like this (for the Coinotron pool when mining ETH and Pascal):
EthDcrMiner64.exe -epool coinotron.com: 3344 –ewal username.worker_name -epsw worker_password -esm 2 -dcri 22 -dcoin pasc -dpool coinotron.com:3348 -dwal username.worker_name -dpsw worker_password -allpools 1 -allcoins -1
In addition, it is necessary to set the parameters for overclocking, fan control and temperature. Their setting for dual mining does not differ from the parameters used when mining one coin.
For more fine tuning of the miner, the commands are used, which can be found in the Readme !!! file, which is located in the miner folder.
Dual mining fine tuning
Let's take a closer look at the available values:
- EthDcrMiner64.exe Is the path to the mining executable file. If the BAT file is located in the program folder, then you just need to specify the name of the executable file for mining. In order to avoid problems during mining, you need to add it to the list of exceptions in the antivirus and firewall;
- -epool coinotron.com:3344 Is a parameter that specifies the address and port of the pool. To mine ETC on the same pool, enter the value coinotron.com:3345. On Ethermine, when mining ether, enter the value us1.ethpool.org:3333 (or eu1, eu2, us2, asia1 when using other servers of this pool);
- -ewal username.workername - username on the pool and the name of the rig. On some pools, there is no need to create separate workers, but if there is an optional possibility of using them, then it is better to use it. This is useful for monitoring rigs. On Ethermine, this line will look like this: -ewal wallet_address.worker_name;
- -epsw worker_password - here the worker's password is indicated, which is indicated on the pool. Many pools use the English letter x instead of a password. On Ethermine this parameter will look like: -epsw x;
- -esm 2 - this parameter (Ethereum Stratum mode) is set in accordance with the pool parameters. For Coinotron this parameter is 2, for Ethermine -1;
- -dcri 22 - parameter of the intensity of the mining of the second coin. If you do not set this parameter, then it is set to 30 by default. This parameter can be adjusted during mining by pressing + and -... One press will change the intensity by 1unit up or down, respectively. Usually this parameter is selected experimentally so that the mining speed of the first coin is the highest;
- -dcoin pasc - this parameter indicates which coin is being minedas the second (in this case, Pascal). For mining Decred indicate -dcoin dcr, for siacoin sc ", for LBRY lbc, for mining other coins using Blake2s and Keccak algorithms, indicate blake2s and keccak, respectively.
- -dpool coinotron.com:3348 - address and port of the pool for mining the second coin;
- the values -dwal username.workername and -dpsw worker_password - mining parameters of the second cryptocurrency, which are set similarly to the pool settings for the first coin;
- -allpools 1 - parameter associated with the commission to the developer. If a pool is used for mining, which is not included in the list of pools used by Claymore, then the program may terminate without setting this parameter;
- -allcoins -1 - parameter associated with mining ona developer who must be specified when mining coins other than Ether as the first cryptocurrency. When setting -1, the miner will first work for the developer, and then for the user. This will help to avoid program failures with different DAG data block sizes, which are needed when mining cryptocurrencies with the Ethash algorithm.
If during the start of mining freezescomputer, then it is worth increasing the size of the swap file, reducing the overclocking of the cards, and also adding the -gser 1 or 2 parameter to the command line for a smoother inclusion of video cards in Ethash mining.
Sometimes, when the cards overheat, the question arises of how to disable dual mining in the Claymore's Dual Miner program. To do this, just add the parameter to the BAT file -mode 1, which will switch the program to mining only the first coin. If you want to enable dual mining, you need to set this value to -mode 0.
Example, Metaverse Cryptocurrency (ETP)
As an example, let's look at how to mine Metaverse (ETP) coin in dual.
To mine this cryptocurrency, you need to open a wallet, select a pool with the lowest ping, set up a batch file to run and run it.
The wallet for this coin can be downloaded fromofficial website, or use a wallet on one of the cryptocurrency exchanges, for example, Bitfinex, HitBTC, Binance. The pool addresses can be taken from the site https://explorer.mvs.org/mining.
For example, for the Russian pool comining.io, when mining with the second Pascal coin on Coinotron, the batch file will look like this:
EthDcrMiner64.exe -epool s.comining.io:9999 -ewal address1.worker1 -epsw x -esm 3 -dcoin pasc -dpool coinotron.com:3348 -dwal login2.worker2 -dpsw password2 -allpools 1 -allcoins -1
In order to have the highest income, you need to constantly monitor which coins can be mined profitably in dual.
Which pool should you choose?
Mining pools - special servers,configured to mine different cryptocurrencies, such as Ethereum. Servers distribute tasks for finding blocks of coins (hash) between the capacities of separately connected computers of network participants. In proportion to the share of the capacity that each member of the pool shares with the server, the percentage of the remuneration received is also calculated.
Miners distinguish pools on the following points:
- reliability - the operating time of the pool in the mining services market;
- decentralization - lack of access for the administration to the funds of the participants;
- cost savings - minimum fees for participation and withdrawal of remuneration;
- the presence of a large number of servers in different countries, which minimizes the risk of simultaneous stopping of mining.
Token combination options
Ethereum was most often the first coin, but you canput another compatible altcoin. For example, Ether Classic, Expanse, Musicoin, Ubiq, and other lesser known cryptocurrencies that follow this algorithm.
Decred, Siacoin, LBRY Credits, as well as less common cryptocurrencies with Pascal, Blake2s algorithms (for example, Verge, NevaCoin, Tajcoin) and Keccak (SmartCash, MaxCoin and others). When mining new, little-known coins, you need to understand that in the future there may be problems with their sale due to the lack of support on most cryptocurrency exchanges.
The most profitable coin for mining at a particular point in time can be tracked using the Whattomine service.
Which coin to choose for dual mining?
The income from mining the first coin can be viewed at the following addresses (for the most famous cryptocurrencies):
- Ether - https://whattomine.com/coins/151-eth-ethash;
- Ether Classic - https://whattomine.com/coins/162-etc-ethash;
- Expanse - https://whattomine.com/coins/154-exp-ethash;
- Musicoin - https://whattomine.com/coins/178-music-ethash;
- Ubiq - https://whattomine.com/coins/173-ubq-ethash.
The profitability of mining the second coin can be viewed at:
- Handshake - https://whattomine.com/merged_coins/67-eth-hns.
Yield calculators for other coins can be found at https://whattomine.com/calculators... Tracking the profit from mining on these calculators will help you understand what is better to mine in dual with ether or its clones.
To enter values into the calculator, you need to know the approximate mining speed of the given algorithm, the power consumption and the cost of one kilowatt in dollars.
At the time of this review, this serviceoffers a single Handshake (HNS) coin for double mining. It is not supported by traditional Ethereum miners: Claymore's Dual Miner and Phoneix miner. And, in general, the broadcast is not the first, but the second violin here. The HNS cryptocurrency can be mined in tandem with ether using the NBMiner utility (NebuTech miner), but due to the low profit, miners have lost interest in it.
Is dual mining profitable in 2020? Pros and cons.
When mining the second coin, the following factors must be considered:
- Currently, ASIC miners have been issued for most of the coins for the second coin algorithms;
- The speed of mining the second coin on video cards is not so high and profitable, so dual mining currently makes sense for coins that do not run many ASICs;
- The latest versions of the Claymore's Dual Miner do not have a developer commission from mining a second coin.
Dual mining made it possible to earnadditional cryptocurrency without spending additional costs for the purchase of new equipment. The rate of most of the coins that are mined as a second cryptocurrency is quite low, and the difficulty of mining profitable tokens is very high. As such, mining the second coin now does not actually offset the increase in electricity costs. With the tokens that were profitable in the past for dual mining, only ASIC miners are now working.
However, there is a lesser known, but quite profitable option for the combined mining of Zilliqa + Ethereum digital currencies. It is supported by three mining pools:
The data was taken from the crypto mining monitoring service https://miningpoolstats.stream/zilliqa.
Zill + Eth mining is different from traditional miningdouble mining. Your cards do not pick up a hash for both cryptocurrencies at the same time. Working on one of these services, you mine ETH most of your time. At the right time, your rig will be transferred to Zill mining, and when the period is over, it will return to Ethereum. Everything happens automatically, the only thing that is required from you is to correctly configure the executable file.
Sample customization PhoenixMiner.exe:
Enter your wallet numbers instead ADRES ETH and ADRESS ZILL, save the file with bat extension and runcombined production. If you do not regret mining ethereum from nanopool.org, you can specify a different server, and replace the large ether with another altcoin Ethash. But in the current period, Ethereum is the most relevant. You will practically not lose anything on the air and get additional profit. A mining farm with a hash rate of 100 MH / S brings 0.087 ETH + 20 Zill per day.
According to data from https: // coinmarketcap.com / currencies / zilliqa / as of July 31, 2020, the cost of one Zilliqa crypto coin is equivalent to 0.18 USD. You can get both addresses at once by installing the Trust Wallet multicurrency wallet on your smartphone.
Over time, other altcoins may appear that are beneficial for dual or combined mining on video cards. Customize your rigs and successful mining!</p>
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