How to Mine Helium – A Complete Beginner’s Guide

Helium mining is one of the easiest ways to earn cryptocurrencies. Using the device you already have, you can start to learn how to mine Helium and get right into adding value to your crypto portfolio. Of course, it is essential to pay attention to some aspects of Helium mining, but you are in luck because we have summarized everything you need to know here.

Despite the industry shift towards other staking protocols, Helium is one of those coins that still make mining a profitable endeavor. So that’s something you can start doing today. As a matter of fact, to mine Helium, you don’t need to make any significant investment to upgrade your current setup. Instead, you can get started with what you already own and work your way up using the profits from how to mine Helium coins. 

How to Mine Helium – Introduction

Launched in 2013, the Helium coin (HNT) is correctly styled as the fastest growing decentralized wireless network. Helium has received recognition as a people-powered network, promising to deliver secure, ubiquitous, and affordable connectivity that circumvents the traditional gatekeepers, who are famous for compromising data security and privacy. 

The fact is, Helium is unlike any other mineable cryptocurrency. It’s unique and carries distinguishing features that make learning how to mine Helium so valuable. Moreover, the Helium network is close to achieving a million hotspots at this time, which puts the ecosystem on the path to displacing regular cellular networks concerning connecting devices and collecting data. 

HNT will gain widespread adoption with the growing coverage as the network gains miles of range at a fraction of the cost. Already, Helium network enjoys the support of major companies, from cloud computing giant Salesforce to air pollution tracker, Airly. Helium provides a revolutionary approach to the network edge owned by service providers, allowing it to offer the most innovative solution to customers. 

Guide of How to Mine Helium

The first thing you should know as you learn how to mine Helium coins is that the network uses a new type of algorithm known as the Proof of Coverage (PoC). With this algorithm, just as all the others, the network rewards miners with an HNT coin for validating wireless coverage through the radio waves. The same concept just substitutes transactions for wireless range. 

To mine Helium, there is a cost you will incur that is simply the price of earning free cryptocurrency. What you need to mine Helium is a hotspot miner, which works a lot like a typical BTC miner. The cost of a Helium miner ranges from $300 to $600, which is still considerably affordable compared to the miners one needs to be able to mount a profitable mining operation for BTC. 

Next, you need to identify your Helium hotspot miner frequency, which varies depending on your country:

• AS – 923
• AU – 915
• CN – 470
• EU – 868
• IN – 865
• KR – 920
• RU – 864
• US – 915

How much will you earn from learning how to mine Helium? It depends on your location, the amount of data transferred, and the number of witnesses that verify the amount of input you have brought into the Helium network. The most crucial factor to watch is the amount of data you transfer. This factor should inform how everything you but to start the mining process. 

Another factor that affects how much you earn is the number of challenges your miner participates in solving. For a clearer view of how to mine Helium coins profitably by getting as many witnesses, consider the potentially monthly earnings: 

• 3-5 witnesses > 150 HNT earned
• 5 – 15 witnesses > 500 HNT earned
• 15 or more witnesses > 800 HNT earned

What Do You Need to Mine Helium?

It all comes down to location. When you mine Helium for profit, ensure your mining setup is a location within range of another miner. The recommended distance is at least 300 to 350 meters. From the onset, this doesn’t look like something that can drastically affect the amount of HNT you stand to earn. But a miner can make so significantly less without this. 

At the same time, you will need a Helium miner. Your choice of a miner depends on various factors, including budget and power management targets. Whatever your choice, your Helium miner will determine your experience with how to mine Helium. Here are two miners you should seriously consider: 

Bobcat Hotspot Miner

A favorite among people learning how to mine Helium crypto, the bobcat hotspot miner is recognized as the best Proof of Coverage miner and one of the most potent 4dBi antennas in the market. For mining Helium, the bobcat miner is one of the highest earners by design since it’s built to do the most work possible while keeping costs at bay. 

Bobcat hotspot miner gives off a powerful signal and sends it over a wider distance. That way, you can test the limits of the proximity requirements and still remain within the recommended range to mine Helium profitably. The bobcat hotspot miner is said to be capable of sending a signal as far as a 10-mile radius. Moreover, the minder offers a storage capacity of up to 64GB. 

Nebra Hotspot Miner

An excellent choice for those with enough room to mount a hotspot miner outdoor, the Nebra model is another exceptional choice for mining HNT coins. The value proposition of the Nebra hotspot miner is the fact that it offers the owner two approaches to mining Helium, namely indoor and outdoor mounting. These two options are designed differently and offer unique advantages. 

Nebra outdoor hotspot miner offers better features and more excellent capability. You just need to mount the miner anywhere, and it can pick up signals from adjacent hotspots. It comes with a 3dBi antenna built from fiber-glass, the same as the indoor antenna only built in a plastic casing. With the outdoor option, you will need a mini-card for 4G coverage for internet connection. 

Rakewireless Hotpot Miner

A budget-friendly option, the Rakewireless hotspot miner is less potent than the two but still a capable miner for when you want to apply how to mine Helium. In addition, the rakewireless hotspot miner comes with a 2.8 dBi antenna and a storage capacity of up to 32 GB. So it would be an excellent choice, especially for those who live incredibly close to other hotspot miners. 

How Long Does It Take to Mine Helium?

The average time for generating an HNT from mining is about 48 hours but applies only to powerful mining equipment. All other factors considered; the strength of the hotspot miner is a key feature that determines how long you can mine Helium. Keep in mind that mining is a competition, and everyone in the network competes to complete the process. 

That means only one miner can get the reward for successfully mining Helium at any given moment. Since there are potentially hundreds of thousands of Helium miners currently connected to the network, the odds of single-handedly getting the reward are average but considerably better than the case of BTC. At the end of the day, you can make enough to earn back your investment in no time.

Related articles: How to Mine ETN | How Long Does It Take to Mine 1 Bitcoin

Conclusion

How to mine Helium is a relatively straightforward process and can become a way to generate a passive income, especially if you can manage to purchase a powerful hotspot miner. Now that you know how to mine Helium coins and support the network, you can use this to generate enough returns from your investment and passive income for the long term. 

It is particularly important to observe the process of mining a Proof of Coverage coin and note if there are any changes to expenses you will incur for mining HNT. These costs might affect what you make from mining Helium. Above everything else, the price of HNT will also affect how much you can earn from Helium mining. Luckily, HNT is doing considerably well.