My lightweight C# Bitcoin Miner

[lithander]

I've written a very simple CPU based Bitcoin Miner in C#. Only about 300 lines of code but functional.

It uses the basic GETWORK protocol to connect to pools and mines at 400Kh/s a second. Not enough for serious mining but enough to find a valid share eventually, submit it to the pool server and be happy about the fact that you understand every single line of code that made it happen!

If you are trying to understand how Bitcoin mining works and are frustrated about not finding a reference implementation that is minimal and easy to understand (like me, 2 days ago) here's my contribution:

https://github.com/lithander/Minimal-Bitcoin-Miner

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[TrollByFire]

Thank you for this.  I'm currently doing some development work, and this minimal implementation will go a long way.

[shodan86]

looks like an interesting way to learn a bit more about the technical site of bitcoins, thanks a lot will have a look.

[betonbro]

Hi, nice

Is it possible to use it to mine Litecoin or Feathercoin?

Have tried it with mining-foreman.org pool but it says:
ERROR Didn't find valid 'data' in Server Response

[lithander]

glad you like it!

@betonbro: I implemented the pool communication based on the information on: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Getwork and tested it with btcguild and bitcoin.cz pools.

I'm not familiar with Litecoin and Feathercoin so no idea what it would take to mod it to support that.

[judasiscariot]

This is awesome!  Thank you.  I'd also be interested in how to go about an scrypt implementation. 

[lithander]

I haven't looked into litecoin mining, yet. So I can't help you with scrypt!

I just started to learn all that stuff a couple of days ago. In fact when I wanted to write a blogpost about my miner I realized how awkwardly unfamiliar a lot of terms and principles still are. If you could have a quick look and correct potential misconception before I make a fool about myself that would be awesome. Blogpost is here: http://blog.pixelpracht.net/

[OB1]

Nonetheless incredible amounts of electricity (~1 GW/h) are wasted on mining Bitcoins which is basically spend calculating zillion’s of SHA256 hashes.

Failed.
Source also failed (Virtual Bitcoin Mining Is a Real-World Environmental Disaster)
With that, how much of a failure is this lightweight C# Bitcoin Miner?

[flatfly]

Really nice and easy to understand! Thanks for this.

[lithander]

Nonetheless incredible amounts of electricity (~1 GW/h) are wasted on mining Bitcoins which is basically spend calculating zillion’s of SHA256 hashes.

Failed.
Source also failed (Virtual Bitcoin Mining Is a Real-World Environmental Disaster)
With that, how much of a failure is this lightweight C# Bitcoin Miner?

Failed in what way? It doesn't reflect your opinion or factual errors?

[flatfly]

About the binary that is included in your repo: could you post instructions on how to build it?
Can it be built using a free compiler? I have zero C# experience...

That way, anyone can verify that it is indeed derived from the source code. I'm sure it is, and am running it in a VM as a safety measure anyway, but this community is paranoid about new binaries in general, as I'm sure you'll understand.

[SunCoin]

Hey,
that was a great work ... Now i can see how it works in a simple way ...
Thanks a lot

[ppcko]

Nice. Thanks for sharing.

[FaradayC]

Wow... That's amazing... I'll check out your code

[aes1]

Neat. I had no idea mining could be that simple.

I compiled the source on an OS X machine by downloading Mono SDK from http://www.go-mono.com/mono-downloads/download.html. The compilation step and running the compiled binary was as easy as:

$ mcs Program.cs
$ mono Program.exe

Let's see if I actually manage to get any bitcoins with my 180 Kh/s miner

Next step: actually understanding what it does

[JS2007]

Good job, will look into this when I got some spare time... Easy sample code is always helpful for understanding concepts

[flatfly]

Neat. I had no idea mining could be that simple.

I compiled the source on an OS X machine by downloading Mono SDK from http://www.go-mono.com/mono-downloads/download.html. The compilation step and running the compiled binary was as easy as:

$ mcs Program.cs
$ mono Program.exe

Let's see if I actually manage to get any bitcoins with my 180 Kh/s miner

Next step: actually understanding what it does

Hmmm sorry to dampen your enthusiasm, but consider yourself lucky if you get one cent per week...

see:
http://tpbitcalc.appspot.com/?difficulty=11187257.4614&hashrate=0.2&exchangerate=114.40&bitcoinsperblock=25.00&rigcost=99.00&powerconsumption=40.00&powercost=0.10&investmentperiod=355

[aes1]

Hmmm sorry to dampen your enthusiasm, but consider yourself lucky if you get one cent per week...

see:
http://tpbitcalc.appspot.com/?difficulty=11187257.4614&hashrate=0.2&exchangerate=114.40&bitcoinsperblock=25.00&rigcost=99.00&powerconsumption=40.00&powercost=0.10&investmentperiod=355

Yeah,

after a day or so of mining, I finally got one share in btcguild... worth 0.00000071 BTC. Hurray!

Funny to think that it's more profitable to spend your time at bitcoin faucets. Or to collect recyclable bottles and return them to the store. Well, it was a nice exercise.

[Constantinex13]

Awesome, This is much more effective than running lets say bfgminer, on a mid-range laptop (might as well mine while I'm at work!) lol

[yager]

Awesome, This is much more effective than running lets say bfgminer, on a mid-range laptop (might as well mine while I'm at work!) lol

Good Idea, I might get my work pcs "working" for a change lol.