Is It Possible To Mine Without Downloading The Whole Blockchain?

[bitbadger]

I'm interested in setting up a mining node but having to download the entire blockchain makes it daunting in terms of the storage required.

In particular I'd like to use XMR-Stak miner and use it maybe to mine Monero.

Is it possible to do this? I understand you can configure a wallet to connect to a remote node. I wonder if its possible to do a similar thing with a mining node.

[CjMapope]

I'm interested in setting up a mining node but having to download the entire blockchain makes it daunting in terms of the storage required.

In particular I'd like to use XMR-Stak miner and use it maybe to mine Monero.

Is it possible to do this? I understand you can configure a wallet to connect to a remote node. I wonder if its possible to do a similar thing with a mining node.

of course you will need to get the chain, but you can start sending coins there b4 its synced
you just wont be able to spend the coins till the chain is synced
keep in mind you can just use a ledger address, or in some cases an exchanges address (refer to their faq tho as some exchanges do NOT support this)

[adaseb]

Any reason why you want to start your own daemon instead of just using a pool and paying the low 1% fee? I don't know how it is for XMR but with ETH or BTC if you want to mine it needs to be fully synced.

Reason why is because if you want to find the current block, you need the data from the latest block, such as the hash and merkle root, without this info its not possible to mine because your GPU wouldn't know what the winning block would be.

So in your case, you should just use a pool and pay the small fee. Or look around and maybe you can find a pool with a smaller fee than 1%. Some of those actually exist.

[nc50lc]

Any reason why you want to start your own daemon instead of just using a pool and paying the low 1% fee? I don't know how it is for XMR but with ETH or BTC if you want to mine it needs to be fully synced.

I can't think of anything other than OP is trying to solo mine Monero or opening his own pool.
BTW, Just like Bitcoin and Ethereum, Monero also requires a fully synced node before you can start mining.

Unless he's not informed about mining pools, the only valid reason to mine using a full node is "solo mining".
@bitbadger for DYOR purposes, Check the selection of pools here, there are info and links to their sites too if you need more info.

[jmigdlc99]

Any reason why you want to start your own daemon instead of just using a pool and paying the low 1% fee? I don't know how it is for XMR but with ETH or BTC if you want to mine it needs to be fully synced.

I can't think of anything other than OP is trying to solo mine Monero or opening his own pool.
BTW, Just like Bitcoin and Ethereum, Monero also requires a fully synced node before you can start mining.

Unless he's not informed about mining pools, the only valid reason to mine using a full node is "solo mining".
@bitbadger for DYOR purposes, Check the selection of pools here, there are info and links to their sites too if you need more info.

Great post and very useful DYOR link. However, i'd also like to add that when if and when you eventually decide to go mine using a pool, here are some of the popular mining pools:

• Nanopool - my personal favorite because of ease of use
• Ethermine
• Dwarfpool
• Miningpoolhub

Each have their own payout schemes and configurations but i'll let you figure that tout.

[bitbadger]

Any reason why you want to start your own daemon instead of just using a pool and paying the low 1% fee? I don't know how it is for XMR but with ETH or BTC if you want to mine it needs to be fully synced.

Reason why is because if you want to find the current block, you need the data from the latest block, such as the hash and merkle root, without this info its not possible to mine because your GPU wouldn't know what the winning block would be.

So in your case, you should just use a pool and pay the small fee. Or look around and maybe you can find a pool with a smaller fee than 1%. Some of those actually exist.

I would definitely be joining a mining pool, I will not be solo mining. It's just that I have spare processing capacity on my server but don't have the storage space for the blockchain available at present. I had the idea of utilizing this processing capacity to mine.

Have I understood this correct that If you belong to a mining pool then you don't need to download the blockchain? You would be using the blockchain on the mining pool?

Sorry if these sound like dumb questions, I am just trying to understand this.

[Awesomus Maximus]

In particular I'd like to use XMR-Stak miner and use it maybe to mine Monero.

For Monero, forget about this, unless you have a huge huge huge mining farm. It doesn't pay off to wait to find a new block for too long, as opposed to sharing the reward together with other miners from a mining pool. Eventually, in the limit of very long time, both rewards should be similar, but in the case of solo mining it may take an eternity to see some money.

But if you want to mine some new not yet known coins, it may be wise to do it solo.

Is it possible to do this? I understand you can configure a wallet to connect to a remote node. I wonder if its possible to do a similar thing with a mining node.

In any case you have to download the entire blockchain and be very very good connected with nearby nodes so that when you find a block, your result is quickly propagated.

[bitbadger]

In particular I'd like to use XMR-Stak miner and use it maybe to mine Monero.

For Monero, forget about this, unless you have a huge huge huge mining farm. It doesn't pay off to wait to find a new block for too long, as opposed to sharing the reward together with other miners from a mining pool. Eventually, in the limit of very long time, both rewards should be similar, but in the case of solo mining it may take an eternity to see some money.

But if you want to mine some new not yet known coins, it may be wise to do it solo.

Is it possible to do this? I understand you can configure a wallet to connect to a remote node. I wonder if its possible to do a similar thing with a mining node.

In any case you have to download the entire blockchain and be very very good connected with nearby nodes so that when you find a node, your result is quickly propagated.

Maybe I didn't make it clear at the start, I would only mine using a mining pool, not solo as I know that is not worth it.

So if I mine using a mining pool (ie with my own server, not using a paid-for remote mining service where its all done on the server run by the provider) then I don't need to download the blockchain?

[Awesomus Maximus]

So if I mine using a mining pool (ie with my own server, not using a paid-for remote mining service where its all done on the server run by the provider) then I don't need to download the blockchain?

Correct. Only the mining pool has to download the full blockchain. When you mine with a mining pool, all the heavy load has to be done by the mining pool operator. Your local mining software just has to send shares to the pool as soon as possible. No blockchain has to be download locally.

[bitbadger]

So if I mine using a mining pool (ie with my own server, not using a paid-for remote mining service where its all done on the server run by the provider) then I don't need to download the blockchain?

Correct. Only the mining pool has to download the full blockchain. When you mine with a mining pool, all the heavy load has to be done by the mining operator. Your local mining software just has to send shares to the pool as soon as possible. No blockchain has to be download locally.

That's good news. I wasn't sure if you still had to download the blockchain even if you were connected to a pool.  Thanks for that. Is that pretty well a standard situation for mining pool configurations? 





 

[Awesomus Maximus]

That's good news. I wasn't sure if you still had to download the blockchain even if you were connected to a pool.  Thanks for that. Is that pretty well a standard situation for mining pool configurations?  

As far as I can tell, it is a standard situation with any mining pool, no matter the coin, no matter the algo. You have to trust the pool, of course, that they do their part of the job properly, but that's it. I have mined quite a few different coins in the past, and I never had to worry about the blockchain being updated.

Now that being said, the question is how you will spend the coins you have earned via the mining pool? For that, you may need a fully functional valet and also you may need to download the full blockchain just to send the coins to an exchange, for example. This may depend on the type of valet, and on the type of coin.

[bitbadger]

That's good news. I wasn't sure if you still had to download the blockchain even if you were connected to a pool.  Thanks for that. Is that pretty well a standard situation for mining pool configurations?  

As far as I can tell, it is a standard situation with any mining pool, no matter the coin, no matter the algo. You have to trust the pool, of course, that they do their part of the job properly, but that's it. I have mined quite a few different coins in the past, and I never had to worry about the blockchain being updated.

Now that being said, the question is how you will spend the coins you have earned via the mining pool? For that, you may need a fully functional valet and also you may need to download the full blockchain just to send the coins to an exchange, for example. This may depend on the type of valet, and on the type of coin.

Don't you provide your wallet address in the miner software configuration, or else at the mining pool when you set up your account?

[Awesomus Maximus]

Don't you provide your wallet address in the miner software configuration, or else at the mining pool when you set up your account?

Yes, you do, and you are right, the coins are sent to that wallet address you have provided in the software configuration. But that is not all. Let's say you mine Ethereum. You can spend the coins you have receiving in your mining operation via the myetherwallet website wallet. And that's fine. You don't have to download the blockchain for that. Myetherwallet has to do that for you.
But what about if you mine some less known coin? There is no web wallet for that coin. You have to download the desktop wallet, and in most cases the desktop wallet would have to download the entire blockchain just to send the mining reward coins to an exchange. Unfortunately most of the less known coins have no lightweight wallets.

[edmundduke]

I'm interested in setting up a mining node but having to download the entire blockchain makes it daunting in terms of the storage required.

In particular I'd like to use XMR-Stak miner and use it maybe to mine Monero.

Is it possible to do this? I understand you can configure a wallet to connect to a remote node. I wonder if its possible to do a similar thing with a mining node.

The only real way to mine without downloading the chain is to mine in a pool i guess. And unless you have a massive farm (or are a gambling man, or do spec mining for specific projects) that is what you should most likely be doing anyway.

[shotgun1969]

In particular I'd like to use XMR-Stak miner and use it maybe to mine Monero.

For Monero, forget about this, unless you have a huge huge huge mining farm. It doesn't pay off to wait to find a new block for too long, as opposed to sharing the reward together with other miners from a mining pool. Eventually, in the limit of very long time, both rewards should be similar, but in the case of solo mining it may take an eternity to see some money.

But if you want to mine some new not yet known coins, it may be wise to do it solo.

Is it possible to do this? I understand you can configure a wallet to connect to a remote node. I wonder if its possible to do a similar thing with a mining node.

In any case you have to download the entire blockchain and be very very good connected with nearby nodes so that when you find a node, your result is quickly propagated.

Maybe I didn't make it clear at the start, I would only mine using a mining pool, not solo as I know that is not worth it.

So if I mine using a mining pool (ie with my own server, not using a paid-for remote mining service where its all done on the server run by the provider) then I don't need to download the blockchain?

because ot the way some pool do payout i personally run my own wallets.   now because of size of some of these old ones
you need to make a conf file for each wallet and research each coin as far as pruning.  there is no standard wallet
that you just run and it doesnt need the blockchain.   there is some tho like multidoge wallet and myetherwallet.
you would need to research each wallet.

[starkovblue]

I'm interested in setting up a mining node but having to download the entire blockchain makes it daunting in terms of the storage required.

In particular I'd like to use XMR-Stak miner and use it maybe to mine Monero.

Is it possible to do this? I understand you can configure a wallet to connect to a remote node. I wonder if its possible to do a similar thing with a mining node.

From what I understand in this market, I think the pool is the best and more stable opportunity to earn small players. Although I do not deny that this of course harms decentralization, which means that there is a lot of power in pools.