Bitcoin VS Ethereum Cloud Mining: Differences and Advantages
It goes without saying that the cryptocurrency world is blooming at the moment with everyone being hyped up about the next big thing. Amidst thousands of altcoins and currencies, Bitcoin and Ethereum appear to be the ones most rely on. The majority of mining operations are focused on those major currencies and, as such, they are the ones presenting the highest interest.
It is interesting to note that the process of cloud mining has become particularly popular recently, especially with the rise in popularity of crypto currencies and the Blockchain in general. This is the process of Bitcoin or Ethereum mining through the usage of a remote datacenter where you share processing power. It enables the individual user to mine without having to worry about hardware maintenance and, as such, it is particularly sought after.
But which cryptocurrency is more profitable? It seems to be the most serious question asked around the last year.
In order to understand this, we’d first have to look at Bitcoin and Ethereum as different crypto currencies throughout history.
History of Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin was first introduced as a concept back in 2008 after an author named Satoshi Nakamoto issued a paper titled Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System. Ethereum, on the other hand got introduced back in 2013 with a goal of building decentralized applications.
Going further, unlike Bitcoin, Ethereum plans to be, and in fact — is, more than just a currency. It is a blockchain-based platform which has a lot of different aspects such as the EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine), as well as smart contracts and it uses a currency which is called Ether for the P2P contracts.
Bitcoin, on the other hand, is designed and functions as a blockchain-based cryptocurrency which is entirely decentralized and functions through a distributed ledger.
Mining of Bitcoin and Ethereum
Mining of ETH vs. BTC is essentially different. Mining of Ether generates new coins at a rate which is consistent and it rarely changes only during the hard forks. Bitcoin, on the other hand, halves its rate roughly every 4 years.
What is more, the transaction fees are considerably lower when it comes to ETH vs. BTC. Of course, the overall price per unit is also substantially lower compared to the one of Bitcoin at the time of writing this.
Bitcoin and Ethereum are both supported by quite a lot of cloud mining services. Some of them include:
- HashFlare;
- Genesis Mining;
- Eobot;
- Nice Hash.
It’s important to note that all of the above have different terms that are to be taken into account. One of these is the term of the contract. HashFlare has 1-year long contracts lasting for SHA-256, SCRYPT, DASH, EQUIHASH, and ETHASH. The contracts on Genesis Mining can be changed depending on the preferences of the user. However, there is a small upfront fee which is being charged.
It’s also important to note out that the prices for the hash rates are also quite different. For instance, common price points for Bitcoin mining starts at about $13.5 USD for GH/S if you get a predetermined 1-year contract and up to $20 for GH/s.
The prices for ETH mining start at about $27 per MH/s if you sign a 2-year contract — as you can see, the prices here are a bit steeper.
Ethereum and Bitcoin Cloud Mining Promotions
Promotions are quite important when you’re looking for a cloud mining platform to work with. They can essentially improve your overall profit and enhance your return on investment.
HashFlare, for example, is currently running 10% promotion — it’s a discount on your mining contract. Genesis Mining offers 3% discount for miners as well.
Don’t underestimate small discounts of the kind. Mining is always to be regarded as long-term investment endeavor and, as such, it is important to treat it with the necessary seriousness.
The good thing about the majority of the services is that there are no cooling costs, maintenance expenses, managing costs, excessive heat, loud noises and others of the kind. Of course, you can always go for hardware mining and set up your own rig but then you’d have to be concerned with all of the above.
Regardless of whether you want to mine BTC or ETH, there are perks to be considered. The thing to be aware here is that you need to treat it as a regular investment and handle the calculations beforehand — find what works and what doesn’t and go for it. Both Bitcoin and Ethereum pose serious benefits and they have their drawbacks — it’s a matter of individual goals and nothing but calculations.