Is it worthwhile to mine on a MacBook Air laptop in 2018?

Actually, browser mining will let you do exactly that.

Conventional wisdom these days is that laptop mining is not worth it - and it’s true. But projects like Nimiq are aiming to bring mining back to the everyday laptop user.

Nimiq is the world’s first browser-based blockchain. It is designed for simplicity - something currently hard to come by in cryptocurrencies.

Participating in Nimiq’s ecosystem is as simple as accessing the Internet itself. Nimiq’s Luna Testnet lets you mine, receive and send transactions in your browser. And you can do this by simply opening a webpage.

The blockchain does not require any installation or extra hardware to be usable.

But bringing mining back to the ordinary laptop / desktop has advantages other than simplicity:

Protection against 51% attack

51% attack refers to an attack on a blockchain by a group of miners controlling more than 50% of the network's mining hashrate or computing power. The attackers would then be able to prevent new transactions from getting confirmations, which would allow them to halt payments between users. They would also be able to reverse transactions that were completed while they were in control of the network. This means they could double-spend coins.

Hence why centralisation is such a long-discussed concern in the crypto-sphere. Browser mining will theoretically help to combat such centralisation in the blockchain - a browser-based blockchain should achieve a wide distribution of power, because anyone with a browser can partake in mining and maintaining the network.

ASIC resistance

Another concern is that specialised mining hardware, like ASICs, produce massive competition between miners. Requiring more and more hardware and computational power to stay competitive increases the hashing difficulty of a block, bringing up electricity costs too. As such, control tends to centralise into the hands of a few that have enough capital to keep playing this game.

ASICs and GPUs are not efficient in mining Nimiq. The algorithm used in Nimiq is a special, ASIC resistant, algorithm called Argon2d, which provides further protection against network centralisation.

Environmentally friendly

Using our browsers to mine would also be cost-effective and better for our environment.

Recently, Vice reported that Bitcoin, the first Proof of Work coin, currently needs a week’s worth of electricity of a whole household to process a single Bitcoin transaction. In February 2017, Monero, another Proof of Work coin, required an estimated 40 000-80 000 USD in electricity to secure its network every single day.

Most of us use our laptops every single day for activities surrounding our lives. Nimiq would place the mining and upkeep of its blockchain right inside our everyday life. ASIC resistance and the 2–1 laptop mining through browsers would reduce electricity and hardware costs significantly.

Bringing cryptocurrencies to the mainstream

Nimiq states that their core aims are:

• To tear down the technical and mental borders that exclude the majority of Internet users from participating in the Blockchain Revolution

• To unleash the Blockchain potential by making it accessible to everyone

Nimiq Community FAQs

An easy and intuitive mining platform would most likely be able to achieve exactly that. Imagine, if mining takes place in your browser while you surf, play games and generally work on your laptop. No need for separate and costly hardware and no need for complicated extra steps to get started. It could very well be what brings cryptocurrencies to the mainstream.

All in all, browser mining is an interesting new approach to solve some of the issues in cryptocurrency. And it could make it profitable again to use your laptop for mining.

Hope this helps!

CAUTION: There is another side to browser mining. Websites can run mining software that uses your computing power to mine their chosen cryptocurrency while you surf their website.