Technically, the world knows several types of mining that are distinguished according to the configuration and cost of equipment connected to the network:
CPU usage
Using graphics cards (GPU) or
Application Integrated Circuit (ASIC)
The first type of mining used, is outdated due to the lower efficiency compared to modern methods. CPU assisted mining has not been profitable since 2010, when it was replaced by GPU assisted mining. GPU (graphics processing unit) mining relies on the maths performed by GPU cards. It gives high speed due to its ability to perform parallel calculations and solve several tasks simultaneously. The move to GPU mining was a real breakthrough compared to CPU mining. A GPU card can compute far more hashes than a CPU. In addition, it became possible to place four cards on one motherboard (later their number increased to six, the theoretical maximum being eight), which allowed users to create relatively cheap mining farms of GPU cards. Another type of mining is based on ASIC chips. They were created to carry out a single mission (and focus on extracting only one currency, most often Bitcoins). However, ASIC is much more efficient than CPU - the difference in performance of devices with the same price level can reach thousands of hundreds.
Mining is also divided into types according to the number of participants.
There are three main methods:
Individual mining
Mining pools
Cloud mining
Individual mining
It is important to remember that this type is only suitable for new cryptocurrencies, as not much computational power is required to perform the calculations. In this case, the blocks are searched for by the mineral independently and with its equipment. The main benefit of this type of mining is that the miners hold all of the cryptocurrencies. However, there is a drawback - searching for blocks can take a long time. Everything depends on the complexity of calculations and luck.
Mining pools
The most popular way. In this case, a large number of independent counters are pooled to calculate the blocks, and the profit is distributed among each participant, depending on his contribution (computing power). Shared mining is more effective than singles, because all participants are guaranteed a portion of the profit, regardless of which one is the block.
Cloud mining
In the first two types, the equipment itself is monitored by the metal. With cloud mining, computers can be located anywhere in the world, and the only thing left is to believe the service provider's promises. Keep in mind that there are no guarantees that suppliers will siphon off their obligations, and that the metal will get its money. Mining is still attractive, but all risks must be taken into account.