This blog post will discuss how you can help medical research by running Folding@home on your computer and at the same time earn crypto through Curecoin's Research Core and Gridcoin Solo Mining.

Introduction

Folding@home (F@H) is a distributed computing platform that focuses on disease research, specifically on how proteins fold. Knowing how a protein fold means we can determine its function in different kinds of diseases like cancer and Alzheimer's disease. What Folding@home does is that they send CPU and GPU work units to connected computers to predict protein structures. 

They have done research on diseases like Alzheimer's, cancer, Huntington's, and Parkinson's disease. This is where we can help and I will discuss below how you can also contribute to Folding@home. I will also discuss how can you mine two cryptocurrencies, Curecoin and Gridcoin,  at the same time and earn rewards. 

Note: If you are not interested in earning crypto rewards, proceed immediately to Step 2. However, if you want to earn both Curecoin and Gridcoin, I would suggest that you follow the steps in order.

Step 1: Set up Gridcoin Solo Crunching

If you want to earn both Curecoin and Gridcoin, you must first be a Gridcoin Solo Cruncher. This is because you need to get a CPID which can only be obtained if you are already solo crunching in a Gridcoin wallet. The CPID from Gridcoin is used as part of your folding@home username. As of the moment, this is the way Gridcoin tracks your Folding@home contributions in order to earn GRC rewards. This means that you must have both the Gridcoin Wallet and BOINC. This might be too much for beginners but it is pretty easy to do as long as you follow the steps. You can watch this easy video guide to getting started. 

If you already are a Gridcoin solo cruncher or not interested in Gridcoin mining, you can immediately proceed to Step 2

Step 2: Set up the F@H client

1. First, you need to download the Folding@home client from their website. The process is pretty straightforward. They have versions for Windows, macOS, and Linux.

2. After installing the client and opening it, you will be given two options, you can either "Fold Anonymously" or "Set up an identity". Please choose "Set up an Identity" if you want to earn Curecoin.

3. After choosing "Set up an Identity", you will be asked for a "Name" and email address where they will send the passkey. You will need the passkey in order to create an account so make sure you give a valid working email address. In order to earn Gridcoin rewards from folding@home, you must create your name in this format: friendlyname_GRC_CPID

• friendlyname can be any name you want, it can include underscores

• GRC must remain in the middle and must be capitalized

• CPID should be your CPID (you can see this from your Gridcoin wallet)

• Your entire username should not exceed 50 characters.

4. Once you already received the passkey from the email, copy it and paste it into the "Passkey" field on the folding@home client together with the Name. You are also asked to place a "Team Number". Paste “224497” on the team number field and proceed. Make sure the number is correct because you won't be given Curecoin if you didn't place the correct team number.

Step 3: Set up the Curecoin Research Core Pool

1. In order to receive Curecoin rewards, you must first get a Curecoin Wallet. The website provides Curecoin wallets for both desktop computers and android (which is a third-party wallet). Whatever you chose, all you need is a valid Curecoin address. This wallet address will serve as a withdrawal address for your Curecoin rewards.

2. After getting a Curecoin wallet address, proceed to https://researchcore.curecoin.net/ to create a pool account. You will be asked for your name, Curecoin wallet address, password, and email. In addition to this, you will also need to create a pin. Please don't forget your pin because you will need it if you want to change your withdrawal wallet address.

Note: Curecoin Research Core replaced the old Cryptobullions folding pool. If you have an account on the old folding pool, you can use the same credentials to log in, no need to register again!

After logging in, you will see this nice dashboard showing your CURE rewards. Soon, they will allow users to see their badges and folding ranks progress here. 

3. That's it. All you have to do is to run the folding@home client wherever you want. You might have to wait for a couple of days for your crypto rewards to reflect. Your CURE and GRC rewards will be sent to the respective wallets you set. For CURE, you will automatically receive CURE once the withdrawal threshold is reached (you can set this on the Curecoin Research Core settings). On the other hand, you can get claim your Gridcoin rewards using the MRC option on the wallet beside the settings button.

Thank you for your time in reading this post. If you are also interested in helping fight diseases, you can also try playing Foldit. It is a protein-folding game that also tries to find a cure for COVID-19. On the other hand, you can also participate in Alzheimer's research by playing Stall Catchers.

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Stall Catchers: A Game that Speeds Up Alzheimer's Research

Foldit: A Game that Helps Predict How Proteins Fold

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