According to InvestoPedia, Crypto mining is a term used for the process of verifying transactions on the blockchain by solving complex mathematical problems which is accompanied by a crypto reward as an incentive for its execution safeguarding the decentralized character of the Blockchain. The name originates from the similarity between being rewarded for the PoW of a blockchain and acquiring precious metals such as gold, silver, copper and other mineral resources through excavation.
"Crypto Mining" is performed with the operation of specialised mining computers using high-performance hardware such as High-End GPUs, ASICs (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit) or FPGAs. These mining devices are using specialised software that is executing complex mathematical computations to generate a cryptographic number that matches the sequence of the blockchain, enabling the validity of the transactions on it. The first mining device aka miner that finds the solution to that problem receives a predefined crypto-asset reward and the process begins again for the next block of the chain. Unfortunately the cost for the supply of the specialised computing equipment required for the crypto-mining is enormous and the maintenance including electricity cost can be extremely high, making crypto-mining inaccessible to many.
Developed with LimeWire AI
This is where Mining Simulator Platforms and Cloud Mining can be useful. Users of the mining simulator platforms can earn rewards by acquiring virtual equipment without the need of spending huge amounts on PoW equipment and electricity but by dedicating their spare time in Play-to-Earn gaming, their internet bandwidth or the CPU/GPU usage of their personal computers to the mining simulator platform. This article is focused on the most interesting play-to-earn ventures of mining simulators that emerged following the amazing recent success and popularity of RollerCoin
The Play-2-Earn Trend
Why should someone consume hours of PlayStation or Xbox gaming without earning any profit of it when there are several opportunities of combining the gaming satisfaction with crypto-profit from the comfort of an ordinary laptop connected to the internet?
Therefore, Play2Earn games are considered the future of the gaming world as they allow users to combine fun with the generation of profit. This can be in the form of in-game credits, NFTs or even actual cryptocurrency and theoretically they are free to play providing that the user isn't required to purchase any subscription. Yet, in-app purchases might provide to the user a higher gaming experience but also profit. Some games might be a lot more fun, combining cool features and possibility of unlimited earning potential, however, others might be a little bit more mundane.
RollerCoin - Online Bitcoin Mining Simulator
Launched in 2019, the Brazilian-based RollerCoin has been established as the most popular play-to-earn mining simulator platform with over 4,000,000 users across the world as of January 2024, allowing users to virtually mine crypto-assets. The core idea of Rollercoin is a distribution of a block reward between users every 10 minutes depending on the "mining power" of the user that is attributed through virtual "mining devices". The higher the mining power of a user through the mining devices, the higher is also the percentage of the block reward that has been allocated to the user. Mining power can also be extracted through playing a collection of simple arcade games that might also provide several bonuses such as free mining devices or mining power.
Rollercoin generates crypto profit in several cryptocurrencies i.e. BTC, DOGE, ETH (ERC-20), USDT (ERC-20), MATIC plus RLT and RST which are Rollercoin's digital currencies. RLT and RST are used for in-game purchases mainly for the purchase of the virtual mining devices that generate the mining power but also supplementary equipment such as the mining racks. RLT can be bought with crypto-assets directly or earned through the TaskWall section that includes all the major survey and offers dashboards.
The main RollerCoin interface consists of a retro 80s-90s style office setting full with mining racks that are used to store the mining machines connected with user's main computer unit. More information about RollerCoin can be found at my article "My ROLLERCOIN Progress
Limercoin Universe
Limercoin was established in 2023 as a mining simulator with an ambition to grab a respectful share of the continuously popular mining simulators market. Therefore, It shares the main core idea with RollerCoin for the distribution of a block reward between users every 10 minutes depending on the "mining power" of the user that is attributed through virtual "mining devices". The higher the mining power of a user through the mining devices, the higher is also the percentage of the block reward that has been allocated to the user. Mining power can also be extracted through playing a collection of simple arcade games that might also provide several bonuses such as free mining devices or mining power. For the time being, Limercoin generates crypto profit in only BTC, DOGE and Limertoken (LMT) which is the native digital currency. LMT is used for in-game purchases mainly for the purchase of the virtual mining machines that generate the mining power but also supplementary equipment such as the mining racks. The main Limercoin interface consists of an old garage full with mining racks which are used to store the virtual mining machines without the use of a main computing unit. My suspicion is that Limercoin could have been actually developed from ex RollerCoin engineers, but this is just a hypothesis.
Robocoin - Cryptocurrency Mining Simulator
Similar to RollerCoin was established also in 2023 as another ambitious mining simulator. It also shares the same main core idea with RollerCoin for the distribution of a block reward depending on the "mining power" of the user that is attributed to virtual "mining devices". The higher the mining power of a user through the mining devices, the higher is also the percentage of the block reward that has been allocated to the user. For the time being, generates crypto profit in only in BTC and includes 2 native digital currencies RBT and BNT. BNT can be earned though the faucet lucky wheel and it can be converted to RBT which is used for the purchase of the mining equipment but also for the purchase of the supplementary equipment such as the mining racks. BNT is also acquired as a reward of the PTC Ads section. The main interface consists of an old garage full with mining racks which are used to store the virtual mining equipment.
SimpleBits - Earn Free Bitcoin
Launched also in 2019, SimpleBits is normally a GPT (“Get-Paid-To”) website. The site features a range of earning activities, including a 30 mins faucet, PTC ads, shortlinks, and offerwalls that include all the major survey dashboards, paying out in Tokens, the primary currency of the website.
Competing for shares of a virtual mining pool
SimpleBits includes a virtual mining pool of the three main hashing algorithms, SHA-256 for BTC, Scrypt for LTC and Ethash for ETH eliminating the need for the purchase of expensive virtual mining equipment (miners) from the user.
Each mining pool round lasts 8 hours, during which the user earns a share of the block reward based on the pool hashpower contribution from the user. The block reward is paid out in “Bound Tokens” which is the withdrawal currency of the website and it can be exchanged for cryptocurrency in BTC, LTC, DOGE, ADA, BCH and DASH.
By participating in the earning activities of the site, the user earns XP points that can be used to increase user's virtual “hashpower” contribution to the participated mining pool.
Renting hardware with a return on investment
SimpleBits? also offers the option of renting virtual mining hardware, that provides a return of investment on the form of "Bound Tokens". These Bound Tokens can't be used for further hardware rentals, but can be withdrawn and exchanged for cryptocurrency. There are 2 types of virtual mining hardware; high-end mining hardware priced on 5000 Tokens and Mid-range mining hardware priced on 1000 Tokens. For each type of virtual hardware there are 3 options of leasing.
- STARTER HARDWARE of a 60 day duration and a 6% monthly interest rate
- SUPERIOR HARDWARE of a 90 day duration and a 8.33% monthly interest rate
- ADVANCED HARDWARE of a 120 day duration and a 8.75% monthly interest rate
LarvelFaucet
Normally, LarvelFaucet is a typical Paid-to-click (PTC) site that includes all the usual earning ways, PTC Ads, OffersWalls, ShortLinks, a Lottery gambling game and a faucet that help the user to collect points which can be exchanged directly for BTC, LTC or Dogecoin either on direct on-chain wallet or on FaucetPay. Yet, LarvelFaucet includes also a mining simulator that generate points automatically. The user can use the points earned from the above activities to purchase up to 8 virtual mining machines of the mining simulator but also the energy needed for their operation on 8 hours mining cycles. The user is advised to make a wise purchase of the available miners since there are only 8 slots available and the operation of removing a miner from a slot costs 10,000 points. There is also an option of upgrading a miner that costs again 10,000 points and the miner is downgraded after 24 hours of inactivity. Eventually, miner's health also deteriorates and needs to be replaced when it is completely worn out due to the continuous use in high-performance mining conditions.
So far there are 4 different mining machines to buy with different performance and cost.
GoMining - NFT Mining
Last but not least, there is , an NFT-based mining simulator. Yes, you heard well. Most of people so far are purchasing NFTs on OPENSEA gambling on whether the creator artist will become famous, hoping to capitalize from the artist's fame to raise the price of the purchased NFT. Most of the times, it doesn't work unless you have an inside information as the artist often pumps the value of the NFTs by purchasing huge amounts of them, hoping that OpenSea will consider the pump as a genuine interest of the community. On the contrary, in , NFTs are generating profit through the mining of bitcoin satoshis on 24 hours mining cycles.
How does it happen? I am not sure, and the price of the NFTs are also significant. Does, possibly just trade the profit from selling the NFTs and if the trading is profitable, they provide to the users a dividend on their investment ? Yet, according to , with the purchase of an NFT, they claim that the user is actually buying a share of their REAL mining infrastructure that is already been engaged in Bitcoin Mining. Are there any proofs about that? No!
Interestingly, a 7-day FREE trial provided me 11,286 Satoshis.
To me it looks that the whole venture is too good to be true but it might worth to try it instead of investing on OpenSea NFTs on ETH Mainnet. Finally, mind that in order to be able to withdraw your funds, you need to pass a KYC verification by providing your official identity documents (passport, driving license, identity card) which is against Satoshi Nakamoto's Vision for anonymity of the Blockchain transactions.
Final Thoughts
Currently, there is a huge Play2Earn Mining Simulators hype and new platforms are developed every month. Someone can also check CryptoScoop and the older but less popular BitcoinMania
Certainly, the recent Bitcoin Bull Rally has played its role as more and more people are willing to try to earn few satoshis for free. Another Bitcoin halving is approaching in few months which means the reward of auditing the Blockchain transaction will continue to be reduced. So apart from the cost of supplying the necessary mining equipment and the operational - maintenance cost, the challenges and the competition of the real Bitcoin Mining are also increasing. I am not sure which is the business model of the Play2Earn platforms. Of course the in-game purchases is a significant stream of income, however nobody knows whether behind all these virtual mining machines providing the necessary mining power, real mining equipment is hidden taking advantage of our internet bandwidth and CPU/GPU usage without noticing it.
Due to my technological background, Crypto Mining has always been a challenge, a desire something I really wanted to do for years and so far my profits from my Play2Earn crypto mining is limited. Possibly one day I will be able to afford to operate a small mining rig just like Voskoin
These are my Top Play2Earn Mining Simulators. If you already using another one, please feel free to comment below.
Disclaimer: All information found on this article is for informational purposes only. I do not provide any personal investment advice so please make your own research before proceeding to any investment/trading actions
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