Some months ago, after blogging about my Skycoin due diligence process, I declared that I was going to build a Skyminer. Well that didn't quite go as planned. Apart from the difficulty of sourcing the components due to it all being sold out (seems I wasn't the only one harbouring Skyminer dreams), life just kinda got in the way and so I decided to purchase an official miner instead. This then, is the story of that miner.
First off, and to avoid any confusion, let it be clear that a Skyminer doesn't actually mine cryptocurrency in the accepted sense of the word. Skycoin did away with the need for mining. To be exact, it was designed to render the concept of mining superfluous as the Skycoin developers correctly surmised that incentivised mining leads to centralisation tendencies as can be seen with the Bitcoin network which is currently controlled by a few large mining pools. Skycoin relies instead on their Obelisk consensus algorithm to secure their network. Skyminers are the hardware units which make up this network.
The official miner consists of an OpenWRT router, Power Supply Unit and 6 Orange Pi prime boards housed in a sexy aluminium and acrylic frame. In addition to functioning as a confirmation node for the network, the Skyminer is in actual fact a router for Skywire, the new, privacy focused and decentralised community owned internet being rolled out by Skycoin. Participation in Skywire is incentivised as those who host a Skyminer (either official or DIY) are rewarded with Skycoin for doing so.
My journey to establishing the first Skywire footprint in Africa started when I visited the miner page on the official Skycoin web site and put my email address on the waiting list. Shortly afterwards I received an email from Skycoin confirming my status in the queue along with a link to a form where I had to supply shipping details. A few weeks later it was followed by another one stating that I have been selected to purchase a Skyminer and requesting me to check my shipping details and make payment to the Bitcoin address supplied.
The official miner cost 1BTC. Yes that is correct. 1 whole Bitcoin! And as the scam chorus starts resounding in the background, let me nip it in the bud by clarifying that 0.92BTC was refunded as Skycoin to my wallet a couple of days later. The actual cost of the official miner is around U$600 including shipping and you can build your own DIY version much cheaper with the help of the community on the Skywug forum
Before long I was contacted by a courier company and my miner was delivered to my doorstep. Well.... to be technically correct, a box with the Skyminer logo and containing a bunch of components was delivered.
See, the official miner doesn't ship assembled and you have to build it and install the software yourself but don't panic gentle reader as the Skycoin crew holds your hand every step of the way. In addition to the detailed step by step instructions and clearly marked components, there is a dedicated Telegram channel for supporting official Skyminer assembly and a host of official and community contributed resources including this video:
Within days my miner was assembled and the official software was easily downloaded and flashed to the Orange Pi SD cards. A couple of minor configuration issues were quickly resolved on the Telegram support channel and hours later I was plugged in and surfing anonymously via the miner which doubles as a VPN.
Next step was to apply for whitelisting to join the Skywire testnet via the webform. It was about 3 weeks before the arrival of an email stating that my miner has been whitelisted! My miner was now officially part of the Skywire testnet and Skywire has landed in Africa!
To remain eligible for the rewards during the initial phase of testnet which breaks down as follows;
- DIY Skyminers earn 6 SKY per node with a maximum of 8 nodes per unit, meaning that custom-built miners can earn from 6 to 48 SKY per month
- Official Skyminers are rewarded at a flat rate of 96 SKY per month.
a miner has to maintain 75% uptime. Rewards are then paid out around the 5'th of each month but, being uncharted territory, things change during testnet and the first rewards to my node was paid out a few days after the 5'th along with a healthy chunk of coinhours.
So for the financially minded out there, Skycoin is trading at around $7 at the time of writing. 96 SKycoin is thus worth $672. After the rebate, my Skyminer cost me about $600 so I have ROI on my investment after the first month! I challenge your ASICS miner to beat that.....