How to mine DogeCoin and other crypto with your laptop (CPU mining on Mac/PC/Linux)
This post is the english version of my original post written in French here.
If you are reading this, I guess that you already know DogeCoin, which is a crypto currency created for fun in 2013. But recently, this crypto is becoming more and more famous since Elon Musk started buying and supporting it in February 2021. It gains more than 3000% in 2021.
I did some research to see how I can generate some DogeCoins with my old Mac laptop (2011 version). Below the steps:
What you need to mine Crypto curencies ?
To mine crypto currencies, you need 3 things:
- A mining application or script
- A mining pool
- A wallet to store your coins
Mining any crypto with Unmineable pool
Unmineable pool allows to mine many cryptocurrencies, even those that are not mineable (“unmineable”). You can for example mine aave, yearn.finance, wink, ATOM, BAT. You can find the complete list of supported currencies here.
You can follow the steps in the next pargraph (mining DogeCoin) and just change the configuration file with the crypto name as described below:
But as per my understanding, when you mine using Unmineable, you are mining “a mineable” currency such as ETC, ETH or Monero. And it is the pool Unmineable who converts your reward to the crypto of your choice. So I am not really sure if it is a good idea. I don’t know which exchange rate is applied for this conversion. And I am asking my self why I don’t do the work that Unmineable does ? I mean, why don’t I mine Monero for example and once I get the payout I convert it to the crypto of my choice ?
I say this because I am mining Monero with xmrig and supportXml pool and I am mining Dogecoin with xmrig and Unmineable pool. And it seems that the rewards of supportXml are much more frequent than Unmineable.
Enough talking :)
Now let’s see how to mine DogeCoin with any laptop using its CPU.
Dogecoin mining
1. Install your wallet and generate a receiver address
For DogeCoin, I am using the officiel wallet that I found on DogeCoin site. But I am not sure if it is secure because it did not ask me to add a password like other wallets. So I recommend that you use a more secured wallet.
- Install the wallet from DogeCoin site
- Generate a reception adress (“File” > “Much receiving adresses”)
- Copy the address
Warning : you cannot change a receving address until you get your payout, so choose a good wallet before starting mining.
2. Install the mining tool
I am using xmrig which is a CPU miner that we can launch with command lines.
- Download your OS version on github : https://github.com/xmrig/xmrig/releases
xmrig could be reported as torjan by your antivirus, you need to change your security settings in order to add xmrig folder as exception.
- Extract the archive to a local folder on your laptop
- Modify the configuration file as decribed below
2.1 Configure xmrig
In xmrig folder, modify the file named config.json. You need to modify pools section:
- “algo”: “rx/0”
- “url”: “ethash.unmineable.com:3333”
- “user”: “DOGE:Adresse#kiiz-tiwr” // (kiiz-tiwr is my referral code and is optional)
PS : If you have Windows, you can install and use the application proposed by Unmineable (the mining pool described below)
3. Mining pool
I tried many pools and I think that Unmineable* is the best so far:
- It is simple to use
- Unmineable fees is 1% (like most of pools)
- You can reduce this fees to 0.75% if you use a referral code (you can use my code: kiiz-tiwr) or by using my referral link
- Payout minimum is 30 doges on Unmineable
4. Start mining
That’s all, all you need now is to launch xmrig and observe it working
To start xmrig, go the folder where it is stored using the terminal and launch the command ./xmrig.
That’s all, it is quite simple to mine dogecoin and other cryptocurrencies. All we need is to know how to configure xmrig.
It is also important to know that mining cryptocurrencies with your laptop will not make you rich. Unless you have a high performances laptop. And even in this case, you need to calculate the material and electricity cost before start mining.
I also recommend to mine other crypto currency in addition to DogeCoin, because DogeCoin future is still not clear. Elon Musk is manipulating the crypto currency market with his tweets and we don’t know what could happen tomorrow.
*My referral link
I followed this video to write this post: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0yFYyDDt1A