What is MinerGate?
MinerGate is software that proposes to be a one size fits all mining platform that can help people mine with little to no experience. It is easy to set up, all you have to do is download the software, create an account and choose which currency you want to mine from the list below:
This can be very enticing to the new miner, since all it takes is a computer and five minutes on your time to set up.
Why are you telling us to stay away then?
Well, while MinerGate is easy to set up and offers a good selection of currencies, there is some suspicious aspects to the software and the company itself. Let's start with the software itself:
For this test I am using the i7 CPU from my old gaming rig because I think this is where a lot of newbies are likely to start.
This is a screenshot of MinerGate mining XMR with 3 threads:
This is a screenshot of CPUMiner mining XMR, also with 3 threads on the same exact set up:
No matter how much fiddling around with settings in the MinerGate software I couldn't get the efficiency to come anywhere close to CPUMiner. What does this mean? well either MinerGate are stealing hashpower or their program is woefully inefficient. I will leave you to decide that one on your own.
MinerGate also imposes high fees and a high sending limits, meaning if you start mining XMR now, don't expect to be depositing anything into your Monero wallet anytime this month.
Minergate is closed source, which a lot of people wouldn't call a negative, and I suppose when a closed source piece of software is developed by trustworthy people I suppose it isn't, but from my perspective nice open source mining software like CPUMiner, CCMiner or Claymores is absolutely the more trustworthy route.
There is also some evidence, admittedly its rather circumstantial and in no way conclusive, that MinerGate is either run by or linked to Bytecoin, which for those not in the know is a highly suspicious coin.
Conclusion
For new miners it is very tempting to just take the easy option and download MinerGate, but don't. Mining for newbies is tough, there is a lot to learn and understand, but I can't stress the importance of using and understanding command line based miners. If you don't take the time to learn it now you are going to have to learn it later anyway. Do it right or do it twice is the key here folks!
Happy Mining!
Viking
This post received a 47% upvote from @randowhale thanks to @cryptoviking! For more information, click here!
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thx for sharing.
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MinerGate did not work on my Lenovo Yoga laptop with Linux, specifically, with the Ubuntu Mate operating system. MinerGate said there was a problem when I tried to register or login. Plus, like you said, it is not open source.
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And it is probably stealing hash too like you said
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They did you a favour, those people are not to be trust in my opinion.
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Some viruses and some other things too perhaps, like MinerGate, do not work on Linux, on Ubuntu, on those kinds of platforms, OSes, computers, it seems, or more often than not, and that is like an advantage like you said since it saves us time and Linux is like a tester for programs and stuff and if it works on Linux then it might not be so bad since most things are made only for Microsoft and like Fake News it can be like Fake softwares and crap.
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I used this for 1 Day and Quit... The amount I was bringing in was so Small and made no sense..... NiceHash Miner is Waaaayyyy better.... GREAT POST VERY INFORMATIVE.. wish I saw it before I wasted a day on that BS
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Thanks for the kind words. Hopefully I can stop somebody BEFORE they mess around minergate.
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what I found comical they have a PHONE APP.. LMFAO...
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Haha yeah I tested that a while ago. Mining XMR on even the most powerful phones won't see you get past 20ish H/s. It would literally take years to make even 1 monero at that speed. And that is at our current difficulty, it might never even get there haha
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CPU mining isn't that profitable compared to GPU mining. As of January 2018, I would recommend to mine with a high-end GPU to earn Monero with Minergate. I think that its best to not mine with your CPU because it can damage it.
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nice info but the real solution for newbies is cloud mining
https://hashing24.com/?rid=53616c7465645f5fc8ab0d5fb3127f8d5463432704caab49
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Minergate will not perform as well as cpuminer, because the graphical user interphase requires some cpu to render. Therefore, if you want to maximize performance, cpuminer is best, but for newbies, minergate is great! If you're really paranoid, you can monitor the ports it is communicating through. I personally think it is safe. You are right that the high fees and high minimum payout are also not the best, but people can essentially ddos a service with too many low payment requests. Scanning the installer with an online virus scanner is a good idea too if you are worried.
But honestly, it is probably perfectly good software. Ultimately most mining brings in dismal profit unles done seriously large scale, so it is better to just buy some, until you can get serious into mining. But some people want to mine just for fun and the experience of creating money from electricity, evenbif it is less than a penny.
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mining with minergate 25 days with gtx 1060 6gb, mined £20 pounds. withdrawed and sold coins, working perfect. 0.22 monero 3500bcn
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Personally I find it much easier to use than mining pools and CMD style open sourced software... Whether they take a portion is really not my concern. I'm here for the technology and what it means for freedom.
I dig the fact that it has "smart mining" built-in that mines the most profitable coin at any given time.
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https://computta.com/?ref=268161
Way better than minergate.
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