[Hardware] How to Mine Cryptocurrency with Raspberry Pi

[Agent47]

 

 

With Bitcoins trading at almost $14,000 per bitcoin, perhaps it is finally time for me to get into the cryptocurrency game? Instead of buying bitcoins, could I use my Raspberry Pi to mine for bitcoins instead? 

What is Cryptocurrency mining? 
Crypto mining is the digital version of mining for gold, combining performing complicated calculations and pure luck (being the first to complete the calculation) with your computer. Mining is essential to cryptocurrencies in order to maintain their distributed ledger, aka Blockchain. 

While Bitcoin is the most well-known form of cryptocurrency, it’s hardly the only game in town. All forms of cryptocurrency use blockchains to maintain the validity of each transaction and prevent someone from fraudulently spending their coins more than once.

Is Raspberry Pi Bitcoin mining profitable in 2020? 
My initial research showed that mining for bitcoins with any consumer grade computer is not profitable when factoring in the cost of electricity and hardware. Most bitcoin mining is now done on ASIC Bitcoin Miners; hobbyists and individuals can find limited success by joining a mining pool, harnessing the power of a group of distributed computers. What if we joined a mining pool, used solar panels to power our Pi, and ‘wrote-off’ the cost of our hardware? Bitcoin mining is an extremely competitive venture with too many other miners, increasing difficulty levels, and lower rewards for miners. 
Mining Pools
Individual cryptocurrency mining was out of the question since we are using a Raspberry Pi and not an ASIC Bitcoin Miner. I looked at several mining pool software groups I could join; most had options for Windows and MacOS; there were no mining pools with support for Raspberry Pi. Raspberry Pi is not supported by Linux miner software due to its ARM Architecture. Supported Linux mining software is based on x86 processors found in typical PCs.

Disclaimer: This article is presented as an educational opportunity to spark interest in learning more about blockchain and cryptocurrency, and not necessarily to generate cryptocurrency. The methods described in this article are hacks and not officially supported. The easier and faster method is to download and install the free software associated with the mining pool of your choice on your PC. 

What You’ll Need for this Project 
Raspberry Pi 4 or Raspberry Pi 3
8 GB (or larger) microSD card (see best Raspberry Pi microSD cards) with a fresh install of Raspberry Pi Lite OS or Raspberry Pi OS with Desktop.
Power supply/Keyboard/Mouse/Monitor/HDMI Cable (for your Raspberry Pi)
Optional (Recommended): Heatsinks and fan for your Raspberry Pi
Optional: Solar Panel Power Bank with USB-C
Optional: Raspberry Pi Cluster Case with Heatsinks and Fans
This tutorial is based on terminal commands. If you are not familiar with terminal commands on your Raspberry Pi, we highly recommend reviewing 25+ Linux Commands Raspberry Pi Users Need to Know first