What is MinerGate?

MinerGate is software that proposes to be a one size fits all mining platform that can help people mine with little to no experience. It is easy to set up, all you have to do is download the software, create an account and choose which currency you want to mine from the list below:

This can be very enticing to the new miner, since all it takes is a computer and five minutes on your time to set up.

Why are you telling us to stay away then?

Well, while MinerGate is easy to set up and offers a good selection of currencies, there is some suspicious aspects to the software and the company itself. Let's start with the software itself:

For this test I am using the i7 CPU from my old gaming rig because I think this is where a lot of newbies are likely to start.

This is a screenshot of MinerGate mining XMR with 3 threads:

This is a screenshot of CPUMiner mining XMR, also with 3 threads on the same exact set up:

No matter how much fiddling around with settings in the MinerGate software I couldn't get the efficiency to come anywhere close to CPUMiner. What does this mean? well either MinerGate are stealing hashpower or their program is woefully inefficient. I will leave you to decide that one on your own.

MinerGate also imposes high fees and a high sending limits, meaning if you start mining XMR now, don't expect to be depositing anything into your Monero wallet anytime this month.

Minergate is closed source, which a lot of people wouldn't call a negative, and I suppose when a closed source piece of software is developed by trustworthy people I suppose it isn't, but from my perspective nice open source mining software like CPUMiner, CCMiner or Claymores is absolutely the more trustworthy route.

There is also some evidence, admittedly its rather circumstantial and in no way conclusive, that MinerGate is either run by or linked to Bytecoin, which for those not in the know is a highly suspicious coin.

Conclusion

For new miners it is very tempting to just take the easy option and download MinerGate, but don't. Mining for newbies is tough, there is a lot to learn and understand, but I can't stress the importance of using and understanding command line based miners. If you don't take the time to learn it now you are going to have to learn it later anyway. Do it right or do it twice is the key here folks!

Happy Mining!

Viking