So far in this series of articles, I have covered getting paid in crypto while you browse the web using Brave browser and getting started with Alien Worlds; a free-to-play digital card-game which occasionally pays out random NFT prizes. I've also covered the process of trading in your mined TLM virtual ore for other crypto or actual cash.
A couple of weeks ago I looked into whether or not it was possible to earn free bitcoin. I was left with a conclusion of well it's technically possible but... not really worth the effort. This was based on the fact that so much is now mined in China that it's not worth the energy costs trying to compete. I even read somewhere that many of the alt-coin miners actually mine bitcoin for the developers and then trade a fraction of this to buy the alt-coin to pass on to the person mining.
It's not that bitcoin mining is difficult or there are a lack of people and companies out there desperate to help you to mine some for yourself. It's just that the returns don't warrant running your PC into the ground for a few pennies per day. The only time it makes sense is if you get free electricity (be that solar or through some energy-inclusive rental agreement). The next level down from this is if you can earn some from a background application while using your PC normally and without detriment to whatever you're working on.
This is where today's suggestion comes in. Notice I'm calling it a suggestion at this point, rather than a 'nugget' because I've known about it for a while but ignored it because of my previous experiences with bitcoin. I may have mentioned that I set something up in 2009/2010 and had a few tiny fractions of bitcoin and over the years have lost all trace of my original wallet. I remembered moving the mouse around to generate the random seed for the wallet but not much else. Interestingly, wallets have come a long way since then and I wish paper wallets had been a thing when I got started. I would still probably have lost the paper version but it would have been more likely to survive the numerous hard-drive and flash-memory drive upgrades I've gone through over the last decade. There's a lesson here for everyone
So my suggestion for today is to try CryptoTab (affiliate link / Non-affiliate link) - another replacement browser (similar to Brave; it looks like another Chromium variant). This browser claims to mine bitcoin in the background, but there's a bit of a twist. It asks you to sign in with a Google, Facebook or Twitter account - so your bitcoin doesn't get lost. I'm not convinced that any crypto (which we know means hidden) should be linked to social media accounts.
There's also a hint of multi-level marketing involved and this feels very wrong which is why I've also included the non-affiliate link above. It seems wrong to be earning 15% of someone else's mining proceeds which are likely to be minimal to start with. Also, since I can not remember who first told me about CryptoTab does that mean I get 15% more coins as a result of not having some higher level affiliate who benefits from my download?
There are also lots of on-screen tool-tips and the like encouraging me to try 'cloud boost' which I assume involves paying for some sort of cloud service to mine crypto for me; maybe this is the developers true product. Then you have to ask 'Well if it's such a good money-earning system, why would you sell it rather than use it yourself?' Still, I never did manage to get my few dollars worth of Enj coin that I wanted to test some crypto games for junior so I figured it might still be worth running a bitcoin miner for a couple of days to convert some of my electricity to bitcoin (and then to Enj). There's logic here somewhere as at least it avoids using debit/credit cards.
According to the Cryptotab blurb, 'You need to earn at least 0.00001 BTC which is our minimum amount for withdrawing. It won't take long and you can probably reach this amount right on the first day!'. Ok so I think we're ready to test this claim. I have had the Cryptotab browser running for about 24 hours now. Initially for 2 hours after download and then I started it up mid-morning yesterday and left it running overnight. Let's have a look at my earnings...
Ok so we're not yet at that magic 0.00001 BTC level; looks like just over a third of the way there. To be fair, $0.20 per day is roughly about what I expected and is comparable to what other mining programs have offered on my PC. At around $0.27 per kw/h for the juice, the truth is it's just uneconomical these days. This is partly due to all the 'asic' miners which are built for hashing and way more efficient at it than a standard PC, especially one that's a few years old now (for full disclosure it's an i7 3770k at 3.5Ghz with 16GB ram and an RX550 radeon card)..
It's a shame the reality has not matched up to the advertising blurb as there's a summer promotion underway from Cryptotab so if you're not already aware of it, you are likely to be seeing a lot of adverts for it over the next month or two as their advice for users is to funnel others to their referral links to increase earnings potential. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if they decide to up the first 24 hour earnings rate to ensure that new users get that first pay-out.
Next week will be a good time for a review of my past months progress and a round-up of all the crypto schemes I've looked at. I realise that recently my blog has strayed from it's tech fixes and commentary into what is already an overly saturated market of crypto news and views. Still there may be value to others somewhere in the information I put out there. It's not my usual domain so you can be sure I'm not being paid to promote any of these things, so the data I present is likely to reflect other peoples results except where there are reasons why this might not be the case (such as the external factors around the time I started playing Alien Worlds).
Anyway that's it for today. Just a reminder that the usual disclaimers apply as ever.
Usual disclaimers
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I'm not a doctor, legal professional or financial advisor. This article reflects my own opinions and should not be taken as financial, legal or medical advice. Do your own research and never invest anything you cannot afford to lose (including your time).
