Mining Monero with a Raspberry Pi Zero
A couple of months ago, a friend joking said I should try to mine Bitcoin with a Raspberry Pi and see just how far I can get. While I initially laughed it off, the thought grew on me, and just days later, I purchased a wireless raspberry pi zero for about $10.00 US, found an old 32GB MicroSD card, and got to work. While the device definitely would not do too great mining Bitcoin or any other ASIC coins, I decided to try my luck with a CPU mineable coin. In the end, I settled on Monero.
Raspberry Pi Zero Specs:
- CPU: Single Core 1GHz
- RAM: 512MB
- Connectivity: 802.11 b/g/n wireless LAN
- Bluetooth: Yes
- Power consumption: Under 1.5 watts at 100% CPU power
So... What happened?
The device itself was entirely silent, but I knew right off the bat that temperature was going to be a problem. So... I attached a small heatsink ontop of the CPU, and also used a USB fan to cool off the device. It ended up able to mine Monero with the Cryptonight algorithm at just over 1 Hash per second... Which means I could earn a whole 3 American cents per year if I don't pay anything for electricity or pool fees... In other words, I would need free electricity for centuries to even dream about breaking even...
Long story short... Is it possible to mine cryptocurrency off a Raspberry Pi 0? Definitely yes. Is it practical? No way. Is it fun? In a way, yes.
Obviously, this is probably the worst way to mine cryptocurrencies if you're trying to make a profit. But hey, if you're looking to learn about how mining works, this is probably the cheapest thing you can do!
Disclaimer:
I am not affiliated with RaspberryPi or any other computer/crypto/crypto-related company. This is definitely not a good investment if you're looking to profit... Don't say I didn't warn you...
