Pleb Miner Month Celebrates Home Bitcoin Miners – Bitcoin Magazine
This is an opinion editorial by Barnminer, a Bitcoiner focused on improving self-sovereignty and onboarding home miners.
Bitcoin mining began at home with Satoshi Nakamoto mining the first 50 bitcoins in the genesis block on what would probably be considered an antiquated desktop computer by today’s standards. Mining has since transformed into a multi-billion dollar industry with publicly traded fiat-style mining groups with market capitalizations well into the billions. This includes large companies such as Marathon Digital Holdings, Riot Blockchain, Hut 8 Mining, Hive Blockchain and the like.
This article is not about whale mining or public fiat companies. It’s about the little guys: the men and women who run an Antminer S9 to heat their homes; the immersion nuts that drop electronics into dielectric fluid and heat the pools, hot tubs and radiant floors; even the two megawatt ballers sharing rack space for one or two local Bitcoiner brothers and sisters.
One of my biggest motivators and mentors started in his garage. He now runs a private farm in a converted industrial building. He once contacted me in a Telegram group to give input on my build. This is a type of person I want to discuss.
Don’t get me wrong, there are some based big boys, but they are not the topic here. Bitcoin was always designed to be decentralized and accessible to everyone. Anyone who wants to mine should be able to mine. There are big mining conferences aimed at big companies and anyone who can pick up an $800 ticket to the show plus airfare, hotel, food and drink. You can easily drop $2000 in a two or three day event.
These can be great networking events, and they can be action-oriented educational workshops. However, there is not a single mining event that is truly Bitcoin only. The leak of the “super altcoin token bonanza” is evident as soon as you scan your RFID tag to enter the conference. Personally, this year I’d rather buy another ASIC at these lower prices or buy some additional hardware right now.
Enter: Pleb Miner Month
John and Sarah DiGiacomo, MaxBitBuyBit and a group of other miners are planning Pleb Miner Month in September.
This will include long-term interviews to highlight small-scale and cottage miners as well as the organizations and people who support them. There will be some short features like “Bitesize Bitcoin” and “FUD Busters” covering various mining related topics. Throughout the month of September, we will be raffling off mining equipment and accessories.
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Pleb Miner Month is not only for Bitcoin Plebs, but also for their families. Children are encouraged to get involved; our children will be! Kids can ask questions that will be answered by the Pleb Miner Month crew at Ungovernable Misfits. Some of the participants want their children to produce “Bitesize Bitcoin” recordings as well.
Recess setup by AirPro Energy
Jon DiGiacomo made a statement to kick off this festive month:
“Nakamoto was obviously the first Bitcoin miner; it is estimated that he had up to 48 CPUs mining with another controlling the operation and/or on standby to protect against a 51% attack. The signature of his mining was later analyzed by Sergio Demian Lerner, he named Nakamoto’s miner as Patoshi and its signature as the “Patoshi pattern.” Nakamoto mined solo until he invited Hal Finney and Martti Malmi to join the network. Famous, on January 10, 2009, at 22:33, Hal Finney was ‘running bitcoin’, soon others joined. It is fascinating to look back at the first blocks; difficulty one, block reward 50 BTC, the delicate balance of the 10 minute mark was not quite there yet. As we review this brief Bitcoin history lesson, we bring to light the fact that Nakamoto did not run a giant mining operation with a cool name, a board of directors, investors and billions in capital expenditures. He was possibly in the basement, the garage, the laboratory, if you will. He shared the code with colleagues he knew online. Their goal was to detect blocks and secure the network. He mined because he was passionate about the innovation he was building. He was the first miner, he was a pleb miner. Sometime in May 2010, Nakamoto fired the Patoshi miner, convinced that he had passed the torch to the next generation of miners.
“At a record block height later, Bitcoin is still running. Much of the hash rate on the network is coordinated through large mining pools, such as F2Pool, Antpool, Binance and Foundry. Companies such as Core Scientific and Marathon Digital control a commanding amount of the Bitcoin network’s hash rate, but 30 % of all blocks ever discovered are marked as discovered by “unknown” and nearly 20% of all blocks categorized as “other” (or extreme). small miners). There is something beautifully mysterious about the fact that nearly 364,000 blocks, about half of all blocks discovered throughout the entire time chain with different block rewards, have been discovered by “anonymous” miners. This fact conveys the sense that not all hash rate is controlled by pools or large mining operations, that individuals have had a huge contribution to the network, individuals as pleb miners.
“Everyone has their own definition of a bitcoin pleb. It’s not defined by how long you’ve been in Bitcoin, the number of stakes in your stack, or how many followers you have on Twitter. The same can be said for a pleb miner. Oh being a pleb miner isn’t defined by your total hash rate, how many watts it takes to run your operations, or the complexity of your setup. The title isn’t something someone bestows upon you or gives you a rite of passage. A pleb miner is simply a Bitcoiner who mines bitcoin A pleb miner is dedicated to the Bitcoin network, contributing their hash not only for the chance to find the next block and receive block subsidies and transaction fees or to help his pool find the next block for a share of the reward, but hashing because they know in their hearts that it is a moral imperative to secure this network. They hack because Bitcoin is a chance for humanity to restore sovereignty to ind ividet and the family. They follow the call that sound money leads to freedom. They know that for Bitcoin to be decentralized, they have to be the ones to do it. Their motivations are not to get more fiat, their motivations are to stack more stakes, and in doing so they innovate and collaborate with other plebs, sharing their failures as well as their triumphs. They spend time chatting and giving advice to the new pleb miners as well as learning from the newest in our ranks themselves, creating guides, videos and how-tos. They share pictures of their setups, not just to share in their innovations and to be criticized, but because they are proud of their work, as they should be. Proof-of-work isn’t just a motto for the pleb miner, it’s a way of life. Pleb miners come from all backgrounds, locales and experiences. They bring different skill sets and crafts.
“To be a successful pleb miner, you quickly learn many subjects. Mining encompasses several scientific and mathematical concepts: basic physics, electricity, thermodynamics, acoustics, and cryptography. Pleb miners quickly become proficient if not masters in trades: electrical, IT, Plumbing, plumbing, welding, carpentry and more, the pleb miner knows that mining is much more than plugging in machines.
“This month is dedicated to you, the pleb miner, the nimble defender of the network, the unsung anti-heroes of Bitcoin. No influencers, no thinkbois, just plebs connecting to machines and hashing. The same way Nakamoto and Finney did, for thousands of quarters ago. This way we are all Satoshi.”
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This group of small scale miners join together to provide a month of content to share best practices for home mining. We learn from each other and can pass that knowledge on to others. Enjoy and participate in Pleb Mining Month. Here are resources that have helped me on my journey:
Mining Related Telegram Groups:
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This is a guest post by Barnminer. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BTC Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.
