So I first got to know about cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin to be more specific due to a game. Seriously, a mobile game. But I will leave that story for another article.
The beginning
So the first time I mined any cryptocurrency was on my phone. Honestly, this was not really mining or anything. It was one of those apps you still can see even after 4 years on Play Store. Like the apps where you have to click a button once a day and they will "cloud-mine crypto" for you. But the very unique thing about that app was -- It worked offline 😂. And I at that time actually believed that it is real bitcoin mining so the app successfully mislead me to believe I don't need an internet connection. Lol
Let's upgrade
Alright so I upgraded from that after reading some reviews on Play Store about them not paying out when you reach minimum. So then I decided to use my PC. I think that was after seeing a "How you can mine Bitcoin on you home PC" video. So I didn't actually followed the steps in the video first. I instead went to Microsoft (Windows 10) Store and searched "Bitcoin miner" over there. And downloaded a simple app that seemed like a miner to that version of me. It was a simple KB app with a "run/stop miner" button in center and a counter that displayed how many satoshis I have mined. So that was generating very less bitcoins. A PC should be able to generate 1 bitcoin per day. That thought came due to the game.
Well, then I thought "maybe this app is fake and is taking all my bitcoins and giving me fractions instead. Let's watch that video and follow along. Even if it uses a lot of data". Yes, I used Very limited mobile data at that time. So I just did that. According to the video I download that easy miner software and I was getting some GH/s. I left it in background and started doing some more research on Bitcoin Mining.
Introduction to ASICs - Ruining dreams
To be honest, at that time I had no idea what Bitcoin even is. I was just reading those technical terms like whitepaper and blockchain and all that. Well, anyways it's free money and I want free money. So I kept researching so that maybe I can know more about bitcoin mining. After some hours I checked that software back and I had even lesser bitcoins than the app. I researched about it aannd, I get another new term, the one and only "ASIC".
Finally real mining - But no payout yet 😩
Then I came to know maybe bitcoin mining is not my thing. So I just started searching for any other way to get free bitcoins. And as you would expect, another new term "Bitcoin Faucets". But this article is not about that. So all that and then I came to know about existence of other cryptocurrencies during all this research. Skip to when I was more aware about cryptocurrencies and blockchains and algorithms. I also had discovered a software called Nicehash, but unfortunately I wasn't able to mine on it because Nicehash just got hacked at that time.
While searching alternatives I found Minergate. So I downloaded it and started mining XMR on it. Now at least I was generating "Magic Internet Money" on my potato PC. Spoiler: Core 2 quad in 2017.
2 Real payout - Finally
So you might think I got payout on minergate. You are so wrong. Not that minergate is fake or something, the minimum payout was just way to high. Remember, Core 2 quad (And obviously no GPU). So I kept discovering newer softwares and there was this one which was also a browser and it mined bitcoins. I gave it a try and now I could also see how much $s I am generating plus I was mining the most popular crypto "Bitcoin" on it instead some who know what Monero.
So it took about 3 days and I finnaly reached 1000 satoshis and withdraw all that to my Coinbase. Yes 🎊🎊🎊. Finally the first payout. Actually the second, I wanted keep the PC story continued here.
So what was the first mining payout? It was on mobile. You might think I got upgrades and never mined on my phone. But I just had my phone lying around and minergate was generating a very low income at that time on my PC (and even worse on the mobile app). So I just kept finding mining apps on Play Store. At that time mining apps were allowed on Play Store, but now you won't find any.
So I found the perfect app "MineMojo". That app mined Monero on your phone, displayed ads, you had to use a shortlink to get payout. Those all are what they were paying. Yes they shared ad revenue. And they paid on Coinbase on your email so there were also no withdrawal fees or anything. That was a perfect app. Even better after they made a browser version. Then I could mine on my school PCs 😂. I actually did that once. However like all good things, it was short lived. They said they cannot continue this app now. They did pay out till end though.
So that was my mining experience in 2017-2018. After 2018 I just came back to normal life until 2020. Hope you liked it and I didn't bored you.