Is Mobile Mining Profitable? Considerations and Opportunities
The cryptocurrency market keeps growing every day with innovative products and altcoins worth paying attention to. One of the latest innovative features that has drawn a lot of attention in the global crypto community is mobile cryptocurrency mining. Such crypto assets gain attention for understandable reasons. Mining cryptocurrency has always been considered costly and resource-intensive. With projects like Electroneum, Pi Network, CryptoGalaxy, and Aircoins, mobile crypto mining has all the chances to grow in value and start competing with classic cryptocurrencies that cannot be mined on a smartphone. Let’s take a closer look at the projects mentioned above. But before that, let’s figure out whether mobile mining is profitable.
Is Mobile Mining Profitable?
As you’ve probably guessed, regular mining differs from mobile mining in cost. The Father of crypto, namely Bitcoin, keeps rising in value, thus attracting new stakeholders to the industry. But the majority of crypto enthusiasts are still looking for more affordable ways to earn cryptocurrency. In this regard, mobile mining is significantly cheaper and easier than mining on specialized equipment. The biggest advantage is that there is no need to buy expensive hardware. In the case of mobile mining, a good smartphone is enough to start making crypto profit right away. The main thing is to purchase a smartphone that can not only make good photos but will also be suitable for mining purposes. In other words, the mobile device you will be using is likely to have a high-quality CPU and sufficient random-access memory. The truth is, such a device will cost over $100 for sure. Nevertheless, it will still be much cheaper than any CPU for traditional mining.
Another essential point to note is that mining is quite an energy-intensive process. Hence, the smartphone should also be equipped with a powerful battery. Last but not least, you should consider having uninterrupted high-speed internet access.
If you are okay with the conditions mentioned above, then mining crypto on mobile may bring you some profit. But don’t expect it to be as impressive as in the case of traditional mining.
iOS vs Android
Since iOS is a closed operating system, it sets higher requirements for application placement on the App Store. Hence, there are just a few game applications available for mobile mining. However, the most popular apps are available on the App Store. The situation with Android mining applications holds great promise for mobile miners. With a wide variety of Google apps, owners of Android devices have many options when choosing the crypto to mine on-the-go. However, in this article we’ll overview mobile apps released on both App Store and Google Play so as not to exclude iPhone users.
How to Get Crypto with Mobile Mining
There are a few key differences between mobile and traditional mining. Mainly, the mining process itself doesn’t look the same since a mobile miner cannot view the real process of cryptocurrency mining. Instead, mobile mining application simulates the mining process for the user. This is due to the fact that such applications don’t solve cryptographic tasks like real mining CPU does. In the case of mobile mining, application inspects the CPU power of a mobile device in terms of its mining capabilities. In this regard, the hash rate depends directly on the CPU power available on the device. The speed of mining generally ranges between 2000 and 3000 hashes per minute. The application rewards users with native coins depending on the hash rate.
Now let’s overview the most popular mobile applications that enable users to mine cryptocurrency.
Electroneum
Though the number of cryptos that could be mined on mobile keeps growing every day, Electroneum remains the leading project in this niche. The project has been on the market for a while now and offers its official mobile application for both iPhone and Android users. The Electroneum blockchain uses the Proof-of-Stake mechanism just like Bitcoin, but has a higher transaction speed. Unlike other projects, Electroneum has released its own mobile device called M1 phone. It looks like the team behind the project takes mobile mining pretty seriously and maybe even sees the future of entire crypto mining in it.
The project has already gained the support of 3 million users globally and it doesn’t look like they are going to stop at this point. It is worth keeping an eye on the project’s further development.
Pi Network
Pi network is another well-known crypto project that allows its users to mine crypto on mobile. The team behind it claims Pi cryptocurrency to be the first digital asset available for mobile mining. Pi team’s main goal is to make cryptocurrency mining affordable. That’s why mining Pi on mobile doesn’t drain the phone’s battery. This is achieved through the Stellar Consensus Protocol, which is described in detail in the Pi white paper. As with Electroneum, the Pi network mining application is available on both the App Store and Google Play. Watch the Story of Pi in the video below.
CryptoGalaxy
CryptoGalaxy is a blockchain galaxy simulator where real digital resources are mined on virtual planets. The game is popular with users from all over the world. The game is powered by the ZEEPIN blockchain. It can be downloaded for free and offers in-app options for purchasing tokens that can be used in-game and allow you to speed up the mining process. By playing CryptoGalaxy, users earn GALA tokens that can later be converted into ZPT. Gamers can also stake tokens to receive a passive income while playing the game. Like the apps mentioned above, CryptoGalaxy is available for both Android and iOS operating systems.
Aircoins
The last application on our list today is called Aircoins, an action game where users can find and trade crypto on their mobile devices. Developers present this project as a new step in the evolution of blockchain technology, designed to combine both the gaming and the cryptographic sectors on one platform. Like all the other projects on this list, Aircoins is available for both iOS and Android. To get to know the project a little bit better, feel free to watch their official youtube video.
Bottom Line
Since mobile mining is pretty young, it still can’t offer the same mining capabilities as mining on high-power CPUs. Initially, the process of mining crypto was a hobby for the crypto pioneers who knew the industry like the back of their hand. To date, mining crypto on mobile is more like a small bonus for blockchain gamers. Many factors make mobile mining far from profitable, such as the energy cost, the low CPU power, and potential data fees. Mining crypto on mobile will likely only bring profit in a situation where the miner can use cheap electricity or doesn’t have to pay for it at all.
