How To Mine Firo (Zcoin)?

What Is Firo?

Firo, Zcoin in a past life, is a cryptocurrency that began its evolution back in 2016. We are talking about evolution, because the team is really constantly developing new technologies and presenting innovative solutions that take mining and crypto management to a new level. Firo’s hashrate has almost doubled recently. On April 1, 2021, Firo announced the integration with the Binance Smart Chain DeFi ecosystem with the introduction of the BEP-20 FIRO and its support in the Binance Bridge, which provides access to on-chain liquidity. It is possible that this is what played a role in increasing the popularity of Firo and connecting more miners to its main network.

The Lelantus protocol, which is an innovative brainchild of the company, invites users to anonymize their funds in order to ensure the confidentiality of transactions sent by official Firo wallets. It’s possible due to the fact that the privacy protocol allows you to burn your coins before transactions and it doesn’t require any trusted setup. 

Firo’s Merkle Tree Proof (MTP) mining algorithm further enhances the practical anonymity of transactions. MTP is memory intensive, which prevents miners from centralizing. It is worth noting that in order to protect Zcoin from ASIC mining, centralization and fraud, the Zcoin mining algorithm has changed. If earlier it was clear and familiar Lyra2z, now an improved and complex Merkle Tree Proof algorithm is used. MTP ( Proof of Work ) is a unique Zcoin algorithm designed to provide high security, high performance, and promote peer-to-peer mining for CPU and GPU. Despite the fact that MTP has a number of undeniable advantages, its introduction has led to increased requirements for mining equipment. This, in turn, led to the fact that some users simply gave up on Zcoin mining, as their rig did not have the necessary power. 

How does Zcoin Mining work?

When talking about mining Zcoin, there are several options. Solo mining is preferable If you have a mining farm and a decent hashing power. Otherwise, it is more profitable to mine in a pool. Let’s consider simple steps to start mining in a pool:

Step 1: Creating a digital coin wallet (Skip this step if you have one for your Zcoins).

Step 2: Download the mining software.

Step 3: Choose a mining pool.

Step 4: Set up the .bat file.

Step 5: Start mining!

Now let’s consider each step in detail.

Step 1.

Zcoin Official Wallet and the Lite version of the Electrum Light XZC wallet for Android and IOS are available for download on the official website. You can store Zcoin in cold wallets, as well as on reliable exchanges. 

Zcoin exchanges are Binance, FEX, QBTC and 12 other trading platforms. To set up zcoin mining with immediate withdrawal to fiat or another crypto, use the xzc deposit on one of the exchanges. But keep in mind that long-term storage of funds on the accounts of trading platforms is risky, in case of a successful hacker attack, you will lose the earned assets.

There are also cold wallets for such operating systems as:

Windows

Mac

Linux

Step 2.

To mine Zcoin, you need to use a miner that supports the new MTP algorithm. Currently supported miners for: NVIDIA, AMD and CPU.

How to mine Zcoin on Nvidia

The following programs can be used on Nvidia video cards for Zcoin GPU mining:

• CryptoDredge (closed source miner, developer fee is 2%);
• Ccminer by djm34 (0,25 % or 0 fee);
• TT-Miner (closed source with 1% fee).

How to mine Zcoin on AMD

The following programs can be used to mine Zcoin on video cards manufactured by AMD:

• sgminer from djm34;
• sgminer;

Please note that the official Zcoin miner listed here is only djm34 by ccminer. Therefore, the use of the rest is solely your responsibility.

Step 3.

If you are not into solo mining you’ll need to register with a pool. The official Firo website recommends the following:

• 2Miners – firo.2miners.com:8080
• F2Pool – firo.f2pool.com:5780
• MintPond – firo.mintpond.com:3000
• Zergpool – mtp.mine.zergpool.com:3000 
• Whibbit – firo.whibbit.cn:30512
• Zellabs – us-zcoin.zellabs.net:7015

When registering with a specific pool, make sure that you get a username and worker details, as well as the address and port of the pool.

Step 4.

To get started, download the program, unzip the downloaded file, and edit one of the .bat file samples using a text editor or enter the required command line arguments.

Example for configuring the Nvidia CryptoDredge miner with 2Miners pool:

Сommand line arguments:

CryptoDredge is the name of the program to run. Don’t change it, otherwise CryptoDredge won’t start. Also, please note that the .bat file must be located in the folder with the program;

-a mtp – algorithm of the mined coin. For Zcoin we write mtp;

-o startum+tcp://xzc.2miners.com – the address of the pool you have chosen. In this case it’s a 2Miners pool;

:8080 is a pool port. Indicated after the colon. Please note that different algorithms have different ports on many pools;

-u stands for username of the pool. Usually the address of the wallet is indicated;

-p is your password. Usually it is not available in pools where there is no registration. Then we specify ‘x’ without quotes. You can also specify special parameters after this command.

Example of a .bat file for mining with official Firo ccminer by djm34 with mintpond pool:

Сommand line arguments:

ccminer.exe – specify which program to run. This file must be in the same folder as the .bat file;

-a mtp is the mining algorithm;

zcoin.mintpond.com:3000 after the long construction “-o stratum+tcp://” specify the address and port of the pool separated by a colon;

aMLjCeLBmBGEJP6dYtWEMdZZuPH4w6uFsK is the wallet, where all mined coins will go. Be sure to write the correct address;

worker – after the wallet we put a period and indicate the name of the worker. You create this name when registering in a specific pool. 

-p stands for password. Usually it is x, an empty space or a specific coin symbol.

Bat file setting up for TT-Miner (example):

If you are looking for possible command line options, please start the miner with the -h or –help option:

TT-Miner.exe -h

Other examples with a full list of arguments can be found on the official website of Firo.

Step 5.

Once you’re done, run the bat file you created. You will see a window similar to this (will differ depending on the miner choose):

Why You Should Mine Zcoin

Since there are many competing cryptocurrencies, the question of why you should start mining Zcoin is quite logical. Of course, it will not be able to compete with such giants as Bitecoin, Ethereum or Litecoin, at least in the near future. But mining zcoin you do not have to worry about your privacy and security, as it is one of the safest cryptocurrencies. In addition, the Zcoin team was focused on improving the Bitcoin protocol and in general they are constantly developing their technologies, which makes Zcoin a very stable currency. In other words, it won’t make you a millionaire overnight, but as a long-term cryptocurrency, it will provide you with a safe and high reward.

Firo (Zcoin) Mining Profitability in 2021

The concept of profitability is very relative, compared to some other popular cryptocurrencies, the value of Zcoin is low. However, in light of recent observations, it has been noticed that sometimes Firo even beats Ethereum in terms of mining profitability. There are enough services on the Internet to help determine the profitability of cryptocurrency mining. As a Zcoin mining calculator fits WhatTomine service that will help you to find out how profitable it is to mine it. All you need to do is to find Firo (FIRO) in the coins column, enter the hash rate and overhead costs (e.g. electrician, pool commission), click the “calculate” button and get the estimated income figure.

Once you’ve decided that Zcoin is worth the mining effort, especially considering that the new algorithm implies new requirements, it’s time to consider the best hardware to mine zcoin.

Best Zcoin Mining Hardware (+ Hardware Requirements)

Mining ZCoin with the new MTP algorithm requires a computer with at least 8GB of RAM. The video card must also have at least 6 GB of memory. All new Nvidia cards will work, and any AMD card with more than 6GB of onboard storage will work as well. If you want to try mining Zcoin using the CPU, you should remember that the miner requires 4GB of random-access memory (RAM) for each active thread, so mining on an 8-core processor at full capacity will require 32GB of RAM. It is best to use an Intel i5 or i7 processor. GPUs should be with at least 5 GB of memory.

The mining speed will directly depend on the speed of your processor, the amount and type of RAM (DDR3 / DDR4 / DDR5). Most gaming rigs will be able to mine ZCoin. If you don’t have a powerful machine, you need to buy more RAM or a more powerful processor. The problem is that it is expensive and not many people will spend money upgrading their computer just to mine ZCoin. If you can already mine ZCoin, it is quite profitable.

Best Zcoin Mining Software

Like any other cryptocurrency, Zcoin has special software requirements. The best one you can find below.

CryptoDredge 

It is a stable and easy-to-use program for crypto mining. The latest version that normally supports the MTP algorithm is 0.26.0. It takes full advantage of modern Nvidia graphics cards through the use of unique optimization techniques. The developers have also paid great attention to stable energy consumption. It is also stated that in the new version of the program, the MTP problem related to the “invalid device symbol” has been fixed.

The current version of CryptoDredge is a (portable) console application. 

Official Firo ccminer by djm34

It has no developer fees (actually, it’s 0,25%, but you can turn it off with the “no-donation” flag), but the default speed is slower than in CryptoDredge. You can try to manage the intensity to increase the hash rate.

An example of a bat file for mining:

TT-Miner

Among the features of TT-Miner there are:

• Farm management from one computer
• Monitoring the performance of video cards
• Hashrate / sec performance estimate
• Switching a farm or just one video card to other pools or another coin within a few seconds
• Low memory consumption and processor power

The profit from mining with AMD will be less than with Nvidia. But if you are interested in mining with AMD, you can use sgminer from djm34 or sgminer.

Answers to the frequent questions

Can I mine Zcoin with mac?

No, you can’t. Fans of Steve Jobs’ legacy are out of luck, as they will have to get a Windows or a Linux machine if they intend to mine Zcoin.

How to mine Zcoin on nice?

Well, you can’t do it for now. Once Nicehash supported the MTP algorithm, but these days it doesn’t.

How much bandwidth to mine Zcoin?

To start mining you need access to a stable Internet connection with at least 1MB/s bandwidth.

How can I earn free Zcoin?

You can get free Zcoins for your online activity, such as playing computer games, completing surveys, watching videos and referring friends. 

Conclusion

Zcoin or Firo may not make you a fortune, but it can definitely be your vehicle for stable long-term income. It is actively working to counter the threat of centralization, and also has a set of anonymity, which is at a significantly higher level than, for example, Bitcoin. Surely, thanks to the MTP algorithm the mining became somewhat expensive as you need a more powerful rig for it. But at the same time, you can be sure that your funds, including personal data, are safe.

Therefore, if you are looking for anonymity and security, probably, you should pay attention to Firo and think about some reasons to start mining it. 

Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that the content of this article is not financial or investing advice. The information provided is the author’s opinion only and should not be considered as direct recommendations for trading or investment. Any article reader or website visitor should consider multiple viewpoints and become familiar with all local regulations before cryptocurrency investment. We do not make any warranties about reliability and accuracy of this information.