How to Mine Decred (DCR): A Complete Guide for Beginners

If you are looking to mine a digital currency with potential, Decred could fit the bill. Keep reading to find out how to mine Decred in 2020.

Meet Decred

Decred is a decentralised autonomous cryptocurrency built from open-source technology. The cryptocurrency uses both proof-of-work and proof-of-stake consensus mechanisms and the Blake256r14 algorithm. The hybrid system allows stakeholders to vote in the decision-making process while rewarding them for their efforts.

Miners receive 60 percent of the 15.70 DCR block reward while stakeholders get 30 percent. The autonomous treasury gets the remaining ten percent. So far, miners have mined 53.1 percent Decred coins out of the 21 million total supply.

The Decred project began in 2016.

Your Checklist

To mine Decred, you will need an ASIC miner. You could use a CPU or a GPU, but you might not get generate a return on investment. Examples of ASIC miners that you could buy include Innosilicon D9 DecredMaster and the DragonMint B29.

On your checklist, you should also have the following:

• A Decred wallet: ensure that you have a wallet before you start mining DCR. You should consider using the Decredition wallet that you can download from the Decred website. The wallet is compatible with Windows, Linux, and macOS.
• A mining pool: for a higher ROI, mining within a pool is better than mining solo. Therefore, you can join mining pools like f2pool and Luxor Tech.
• Cooling equipment: since your mining rig will produce a lot of heat, you should buy an air conditioner to keep it cool.
• Fast internet: you need an internet connection to mine. Also, make sure your internet is reliable.
• Adequate electric capacity: your electricity supply should adequately power up your mining rig at all times. Moreover, use cheap electricity to increase your ROI.
• Remote location: put up your mining rig in a remote location where the noise will not disturb anyone.

How to Mine Decred

After acquiring everything on your checklist, the second step you should take is to set up your mining rig. To do this, follow these steps:

• Connect the power supply and internet cables to your ASIC miner.
• Select a mining pool. When choosing a pool, consider the reward system, the fees, and the pool latency. You should set up your mining rig close to the server location of the mining pool for lower latency.
• Search for the IP address of your ASIC miner. If you are using DragonMint as your miner, search for the IP address with its IP scanner. Additionally, you can use the admin panel of your internet router to find the IP address.
• Once you find the IP address, paste it to your browser and enter the default login details. You will find the login credentials on your ASIC’s manual.
• After logging in, select “Settings” then “Pools” to enter your pool’s information. You should enter information in all three pool fields to take advantage of the failover function if one pool experiences downtime. Under each pool, enter the pool’s URL, worker (wallet address) and password.
• Click “Update Pools” and wait as the ASIC restarts.
• Click “Miner Status” to view the activity of your miner. If you can see the hash rate, then your rig is working. You can now wait to receive your first DCR in your wallet.

Will you Make a Profit?

Decred mining profitability depends on the factors below.

• The hash rate of your mining pool will determine how often members can mine a block. Therefore, join a pool with a high hash rate
• The power consumption and hash rate of your miner
• The cost of electricity
• The mining difficulty
• The price of Decred
• Your initial investment could determine how soon you make a profit
• The mining pool fees

If you were to start mining Decred today, your estimated earnings are as indicated in the image below.

The calculation above uses DecredMaster’s hash rate and power consumption level. Also, it uses $0.02/kWh as the cost of electricity and two percent as the mining pool fee. Therefore, before you begin Decred mining, use a mining calculator to discover your estimated mining earnings to make sure it makes sense given your mining costs.