This is our second instalment of the Hodlr’s Digest (for Part I, click here) a series of stories about Nervos and $CKB from our community. This time, we speak to Alan, a $CKB miner.
Alan explains his journey into cryptocurrency mining and how he came to hear about Nervos and why he started mining $CKB.
Background
Alan first came across Bitcoin in 2010 where he started mining and managed to amass over 500 BTC simply by using his PC. However, he unfortunately lost the private keys to these coins (which would be worth over $27 million today)
Undeterred, Alan entered the mining industry properly at the end of 2016. He moved on from only mining Bitcoin and Ethereum to diversify towards mining CKB in 2019. From GPU mining to later K5, C1, N1 ASIC machine mining, Alan had a deep part to play in the evolution of CKB mining history.
Q1: When did you start to mining Bitcoin
Alan: “My real entry into Bitcoin mining was at the end of 2016, when the price of Bitcoin was already relatively high, and I also faced a tough spell in my work as an Internet security engineer, so I felt that it is the right time to formally enter the industry.
Q2: When was the first time you heard about Nervos and what about Nervos attracted you to the project?
Alan: In April-May 2019, a lot of Wechat groups were talking about $CKB, I went to study it and felt the team was technical and doing well.
As I learned more, I found that this team was very special in the crypto space. People who have been through 2017 ICO know that the crypto industry was very messy, a lot of projects were pump and dump. By contrast, The Nervos team is totally different.
Q3: When did you start mining $CKB？and what motivated you？
Alan: I used a GPU to mine CKB around November 2019, but soon made the decision to buy ASIC to mine CKB in March 2020. Although I’d seen a lot of blockchain projects at that stage, it’s was only Nervos that was firmly holding my attention
CKB technology solves a lot of challenges that the blockchain industry is facing. Many projects are one way cross chains or permissioned cross chains, and there is no compatibility cross chain mode like CKB (with its Universal Applications). That’s why we followed ASIC mining machine K5, C1, and N1 to mine CKB.
Q4: How do you allocate the $CKB you minedAnd what is your reasoning?
Alan: Although I entered the mining industry at 2016, I was out of business during
2017 bull market. The ideas I had at that time were mine and sold directly. So when the market came up, I didn’t have many coins on hand.
So when I started to mine CKB, It’s impossible for me to mine and sell directly. I also mine Bitcoin and ETH, where my daily living expenses come from. But, my $CKB has barely moved. I am only mining and saving my $CKB
Q5: The $CKB main net launched 1 year ago and the whole crypto space has different ideas about it, what do you think of it?
Alan: People who understand naturally understand, it is not necessary to care about other people’s opinions.
Q6: Would you recommend CKB to others
Alan: Two of my former colleagues came to CKB through me, and now are strong CKB advocates. They planned to mine CKB, but the machines were too expensive so they chose to be a $CKB Hodler.
The reason Bitcoin started doing so well came down to the community. $CKB has to rely on the community too. The more fans who recognize $CKB’s long-term value, the stronger the community will be. $CKB’s hardcore fans are still a big part opf the community at the moment.
Many projects start with a lot of momentum. For example, a pyramid scheme project mining on phones, it had a short-lived boom, but it’s not sustainable and not worth holding in the long term.
I know a big KOL in a Wechat group who says $CKB is designed ahead of the crypto industry, and Ethereum is moving in the direction of CKB.
Q7: What do you think the chance of CKB being a great success in the future? Any reason?
Alan: It’s hard to say, but I believe that the CKB bull market will come one day, and it will be inevitable
I can’t set a time for this, but a team with dreams and ideals will realize its vision one day, and I’m convinced of that.
Q8: What is the biggest mining accident you have ever had?
In the first half of this year, a drainage ditch next to a mining factory was washed away by floodwaters, resulting in my mining operation going down for two months and I faced heavy losses.
Q9: What would you say to new miners as an experienced miner in the industry.
Alan: Miners are not an easy group, and they face a lot of pressure. New miners should consider their ability to take the risk. Mining is a kind of hardware investment, and the investment is not small — you need to bear the loss of machine iteration, natural disaster loss and so on.
The market is always bear long and bull short, you should be patient. Once your target has been determined, don’t care too much about its short-term fluctuations.
The last one, don’t make exchange contracts and leverage!
To stay updated on all things Nervos:
Join our community: Discord — Github — Nervos Talk Forum — Twitter
For discussions or questions join the conversation on Discord or check out one of our community Telegram channels: English, Korean, Russian, Japanese, Spanish, Vietnamese and Chinese.