How Exactly Do You Get Rich Off the Hot New Cryptocurrency?

With the meteoric rise in popularity of Ethereum, cryptocurrencies and blockchains are back in the news again. Graphics card prices have soared with the promise that those who have the computers and know-how to do some serious mining can take home huge sums in a Bitcoin-like gold rush to snatch up as much virtual currency as possible. But how easy is it to make your fortune in cryptocurrency? And is it worth your while getting started?

The basics

For the uninitiated, mining for currencies like Bitcoin and Ether means devoting a huge amount of computer processing power to doing accounting sums for the platforms behind them, helping to verify the accuracy of the public blockchain ledgers.

You’re essentially getting rewarded for keeping the books for these platforms, which we’ve explained in more detail here, and the rise of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and others has led to a flood of amateur enthusiasts jumping into the mining business—the idea of having your computer whirring away making you free money sounds almost too good to be true.

And in reality, it almost is—you can get rich from cryptocurrencies, but you need to put in plenty of work, and have luck on your side. You’re more likely to get a windfall due to market pressures than the quality of your mining rig, which is why it’s only worth a shot for the most committed and the most adventurous.

How do you mine coin

Mining for cryptocoin requires some free software tools and a dedicated rig. Turn the clock back several years and you could get away with a powerful home PC and make a few bucks. These days you can waste a weekend and a month’s wages on building a machine with four graphics cards purring away in a row and still not make a profit.

GPUs are now established as the mining processors of choice in most situations—graphics cards are even built for and marketed towards miners now—basically because they’re better at doing lots of laborious, repetitive tasks, whereas CPUs are better suited to switching between many tasks quickly.