Cryptocurrency mining is a business with a high entry threshold. A powerful farm of 6 graphics cards costs $10,000 or more, so mining has become unaffordable for many people. To do it and not spend a lot of money, crypto miners come up with new ways to save money. One of them is mining on GeForce NOW. The gaming service is not designed for this task, but users have found a way to bypass the restriction.
Is it possible to start mining on GeForce NOW
When the game service first appeared, developers did not take into account that crypto miners can use video cards for their own purposes. The companies did not provide protection against mining digital currencies, so a vulnerability appeared. Although GeForce NOW does not give direct access to the hardware, users figured out how to run the mining program through the Steam online store client.
The advantage of this method is that no powerful hardware is required. You only need to set up the software and leave the PC on. The PC must be running to maintain a connection to the GFN server and pool.
How the GFN cloud service vulnerability came about
GeForce NOW was created for users who wanted to test new shooters and MMOs, but their computers didn’t fit the minimum requirements for the games. In 2015, the developers of the platform for gamers did not take into account that Steam runs third-party software. Mining on GFN is possible because of the peculiarity of the online store. Users download special software to their game library in Steam and secretly mine cryptocurrency.
Efficiency and profitability of the method
In 2019-2020, when mining through the cloud service was popular, NVIDIA GRID RTX T10-8 graphics cards stood on the servers. They had good characteristics for games, but in the case of token mining, they were inferior even to devices of the middle price category. Because of this, the service turned out to be an unsuccessful option for mining.
RTX T10-8 mined cryptocurrency more efficiently than GTX 1070, but was inferior to GTX 1660. The difference when working with 5 tested digital coins reached 20%.
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On average, when mining cryptocurrencies with the Ethash algorithm, the video card produced 10 Mh/s. To calculate the approximate yield in 2019, when the GFN was mined on the GFN, it is worth taking a specific digital coin. When mining BEAM, a user could receive $0.2 per day. Other assets were less profitable, according to Cryptocalc. The table collects data for 2019 on earnings using an online service and your own farm with GTX 1660.
| Model | Profit per day | Hashrate | Expenses | Payback |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Mining via GFN is an interesting idea, but 2019 seemed questionable. During the mining boom, when blockchain hash rates were skyrocketing, running on a weak graphics card was not beneficial. In the case of GeForce NOW, the expensive subscription reduced the profit to zero.
Ways to start mining
To customize the software and bypass the protection of GFN, you first need to buy a premium subscription. Further steps:
- Sign up on the Nicehash website and copy the address.
- Create a new bat file for the software. You need to insert the code kawpowminer -U -P stratum+tcp://(address for mining) [email protected]:3385 ([email protected]:3385) pause.
- Save the “bootnik” and upload it to any cloud file-sharing service.
- Bind an account in Steam in GeForce NOW personal cabinet.
- Open the online store in Big Picture mode and go to Picteon.dev site through the built-in browser.
- Download the ssfn_GFNTools bat file.
- Click on the “Add Game” button and specify the path to About Java.
- Open the “Properties” tab of the program and change the location to ssfn_GFNTools.bat.
- Download the “batnik” via file sharing and open the console of the miner.
In it, information about the first performed balls and hashreit will appear. It is worthwhile to immediately look at the Nicehash personal account to check whether there is income or not.
Service protection
In 2020, cloud mining became more popular as cryptocurrency rates began to rise, and then the cost of equipment rose. NVIDIA developers detected suspicious activity and blocked the possibility of circumvention. Now an error appears when trying to connect a miner.
The new protection determines what exactly server graphics cards do. If a user manages to bypass the restriction and launch token mining software, the system will detect suspicious activity and block the profile.
Frequent user questions
🔥 Is it possible to mine without buying equipment and hacking game services?
Yes. There are special Cloud Mining platforms for users without the budget to buy their own farm. Crypto miners buy capacity on Binance, Bitdeer, KuCoin Cloudmining and other sites.
🛒 Why GRID RTX T10-8 is not in stores?
The graphics cards are created specifically for GFN, which is the reason why such devices did not arrive at retail. For the same reason, there is little information on the internet about their hashrate when working with different digital coins.
📢 Is it legal to mine on a GFN?
The user agreement states that the equipment is allowed to rent only for games. Therefore, a client mining cryptocurrencies violates the signed agreement. NVIDIA limited itself to blocking accounts and did not contact law enforcement.
🔔 What is better – your own farm or a cloud farm?
There are advantages to each option. Cloud Mining is characterized by a low entry threshold, but you have to pay a monthly subscription. You need to spend a lot of money on your farm at the start, but you can provide a stable passive income.
⚡ Are there any analogs of GFN for mining?
The VK website has created its own cloud service where users can rent other people’s computers. However, miners have not yet figured out a way to bypass the built-in protection and run token mining software.
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Author: Saifedean Ammous, an expert in cryptocurrency economics.
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