Greetings all,
I am new to mining and have a few questions. I'm hoping that you fine folks will be able to help me get started with your vast amounts of experience.
1. Hardware - How relevant does hardware stay? If I were to buy 10 Antminer S9i's would they continue to be profitable for years to come or would I need to continue buying new hardware periodically in order to stay relevant in the mining community?
2. Software - Are there any mining software that are any better than any others? Is there a list somewhere of software that can be fully trusted to not hijack my systems? Will I need any specialized software for different sized farms or is there a one-size-fits-all solution?
3. Pools - I have seen many pool lists and reviews seem to vary as far as trust worthiness and results. I would be fine with joining a pool to start with but I am more interested in starting my own pool. Does anyone have any advice for pros and cons with starting your own pool?
4. General Advice - Does anyone have any general advice for a new miner?
1. Your profitability depends on the cost of electricity and the difficulty. You can assume that the difficulty will continue to rise until the S9 no longer makes a profit. How long that takes depends on your cost of electricity -- more like months than years.
2. The choice of software is not a major consideration.
3. In order to start a pool, you must have enough initial hash power to make it worthwhile for people to switch to your pool. I would start out using another pool before you create your own.
4. I assume you know very little about mining, so I recommend that you start small. That way your mistakes will be small mistakes. There are so many issues that affect the feasibility of setting up a mining operation. Make sure you are going to make money before you spend any money.