5 weird things people have transformed into crypto miners
Can you turn everyday items into crypto miners? Yes!
Crypto mining Game Boy
Ahh, is there anything the humble RaspberryP i can’t do? An old-school Game Boy predates the commercial internet, meaning it doesn’t have the Wi-Fi to communicate with a Bitcoin node. Therefore, a Raspberry Pi Pico microcontroller board attaches to the Game Boy’s link port, and a USB flash card is used to establish a connection to a BTC node running from his computer. Mario would approve.
Cryptomining on an Android phone
Hasan Aboul Hasan from H-educate has produced areallygreat plain language how-to video for anyone wanting to give crypto mining on their Android mobile a try.
You need to understand some basic coding — don’t worry, he provides the scripts — and to follow the instructions step by step.
It walks you through determining if your software works with aCPU,creating a wallet, installing an Android miner, and getting started.
Heatbit
A heater that warms your roomandgenerates crypto?
This isn’t the first attempt at this. In 2017, TNW even had acrypto-miner in the office for a monththat warmed the room from the heat it generated from stacking Ethereum.
ButHeatbitis the first commercial offering, a heater that mines Bitcoinwhich you can control via an app.
According to the company, the heater generates a comparable amount of warmth as a standard heater (or even more) while mining.
It earns up to €3.50 ($4 income per day). That said, a heater will set you back about €880 ($1000), so it’ll take a while for it to earn its keep. Then you have to consider the additional cost of electricity and the fact that you won’t be earning in the warmer months unless you’re making your living room into a sauna.
Crypto mining cars
The impact on the car’s hardware and the motor is a worry, but it’s an interesting idea nonetheless.
An internet network
Heliumis creating its own P2P internet network. The network is powered by privately owned hotspots that mine a cryptocurrency called HNT while also creating an open-sourced P2Plong-range wireless network. Effectively, people use their broadband as the equivalent of aLoRa gateway.
It generates crypto whenever the hotspot supplies proof of network and when a Helium customer transfers data on the network. It’s a great way to earn income, while reducing the need for cellular networks.
You cancheck out my interview with Heliumfrom last year.
Cate’s caveat — read the fine print!
To be clear, before undertaking anycrypto miningat home, do your due diligence. Research thoroughly, especially any potential security ramifications. Also, don’t be afraid to ask stupid questions. Most mining clients only function with high-endGPUsand CPUs. Make sure you don’t end up spending a ton of cash on hardware that won’t do what you want.
Further, someone has to pay for the electricity, so unless you have sweet solar energy set up, it’ll be you. While the costs may be negligible for small projects, they can add up, especially if you’re not sending much in terms of financial return because of the instability of the cryptomarkets.
And don’t forget, overheating your devices makes them unhappy, so it’s probably not a good idea to mine yourAndroid tv boxunless you’re planning to replace it with something better for its original function.
But still, if you’re the kind of person who likes tinkering around, give one of these ideas a go, or better still, create your own – you might just make a crypto mining success out of your office photocopier or fridge at work.
Story byCate Lawrence
Cate Lawrence is an Australian tech journo living in Berlin. She focuses on all things mobility: ebikes, autonomous vehicles, VTOL, smart ci(show all)Cate Lawrence is an Australian tech journo living in Berlin. She focuses on all things mobility: ebikes, autonomous vehicles, VTOL, smart cities, and the future of alternative energy sources like electric batteries, solar, and hydrogen.
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