AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
My feedback
85 results found
-
157 votes
An error occurred while saving the comment An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
Over the next couple weeks we hope to have the Cloud Mining hash rate improve as optimizations get made.
Probably end of January or mid-February for the add-on as it will contain new mining engines as well.
An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
We're working on it. Microsoft changed their policy to ban on-device mining (both CPU and GPU) in Microsoft Store apps and gave us 15 days to replace it with cloud mining or be de-listed. We're working on a new add-on package to restore on-device mining that will be available through our website. Here's a link to the Microsoft policy change:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/publish/store-policies-change-history
Our only choices were:
1. If we did nothing, Bitcoin Miner stops working for everyone on October 31st.
2. Temporarily replace on-device mining with cloud mining until an on-device mining add-on can be developed, Bitcoin Miner keeps working at a hash rate close to Power Saving mode.We're working non-stop to finish the on-device mining add-on. The cloud mining change was the best we could do before the October 31st deadline. While the free cloud mining costs us money to operate, it is the right thing to do for users.
-
41 votes
An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
We are working on it. Microsoft's policy changes are outside our control but we are doing our best.
-
0 votes
An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
The default pool in Bitcoin Miner is actually a multi-pool, where it has your devices mine whatever should get you the best yield that the miner supports, and then converts it over to Bitcoin. This is a fairly complex process as right now the pool pays per share, which means the pool carries all of the risk associated with crediting users up front in Bitcoin for underlying work performed in other currencies (exchange rate risk, risk when the pool has to issue payouts for credited shares when blocks haven't been found yet etc.). Listing found blocks in underlying currencies would be tricky, as it wouldn't have much meaning since blocks found in alt-coin X wouldn't make sense if your miner was mining alt-coin Y. There are several fairly complex calculations in this, but turning it into a user-friendly format that people can make assumptions against is fairly hard since it's tricky to show clearly:
1. How to correctly calculate the spot value of a share
2. Adjust #1 for exchange rate risk (see futures pricing)
3. Adjust #1 and #2 for any exchange fees the pool incurs
4. Do 1-3 on a per-share bases that is unique to each users based on their hardware configuration.This is very different from most "dumb" pools where you only get paid in currency X if you're mining currency X, and only if the pool finds a block in currency X.
On GroupFabric's pool, you get paid in currency X, when you miner could be mining currencies A-Z, and are being credited in currency X regardless of whether a block has been found in currencies A-Z.
-
1,044 votes
An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
Re Robert: At the moment we don't have ASIC support as most ASICs require manufacturer-specific software to work. Our main focus is on restoring CPU and GPU mining as we had to replace it with cloud mining due to the Microsoft Store policy changes.
An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
Chruschow - funds are never lost - please contact support@groupfabric.com with the payout address in question so we can help investigate your account. Also - if the Bitcoin payout address is changed in Bitcoin Miner any unpaid funds get redirected to the new payout address.
An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
DB - we don't charge anything and nothing is denominated in dollars as we only deal with Bitcoin. You may be thinking of another service or company's product. Please contact support@groupfabric.com if you think something is amiss.
An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
Monero (CryptoNight) hashes require ~256x more computation than Scrypt hashes. Also the underlying currencies are different, with different issuance cycles (Scrypt currencies tend to issue 25 per block every 2.5 minutes, while Monero issues 5 per block every 2 minutes). Monero is more rare and harder to mine.
Contrast with SHA-256d in Bitcoin, which is ~2048x EASIER to mine than Scrypt, but is worth significantly less due to it being mine-able with ASICs.
An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
The problem with ASICs is they are a moving target - each ASIC uses a different interface and each model obsoletes the last version. If you have a limited number of engineering hours you can spend, you're going to work on the things that help the most number of users first.
An explicit goal of ours is to enable people to mine without needing external investment, and there are a lot of things we can do to boost existing PC profitability still before ASICs (Ethash, CrytoNight, Xbox, Android, iOS support, etc.).
Also - most ASICs have dedicated mining software, so it's not an under-served market. Generally once folks are looking to explicitly spend money on hardware, they also invest in the specialized software for their hardware.
An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
DreamofBits - users mine keep every thing they mine. You can verify actual mining is happening using Trace View or a network monitoring tool.
An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
Appreciate all the ASIC interest! Right now Bitcoin Miner Pool is designed for PCs and Phones - it mines coins which yields best when mined on PC and Phone hardware which is then exchanged over and paid-out in Bitcoin. This provides a superior payout for most users.
Unfortunately that also means if we enabled support for SHA-256d ASICs on Bitcoin Miner Pool, people using ASICs wouldn't see the superior payouts they do when compared to regular PC hardware, since SHA-256 coins are much more competitive and less profitable to mine (due to there being ASICs).
AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
shared this idea
·
-
25 votes
An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
It's something we want to add eventually - Microsoft recently banned on-device mining from Microsoft Store apps which forced us to replace on-device mining with cloud mining.
Our current priority is restoring on-device mining for users with an add-on from our website, then improving yields with newer hashing algorithms.
After that we want to give users the ability to tune their payout frequency so they can minimize wallet fees, and after that offer an Android version.
Additionally we also want to have an affiliate program so users can also have another way to be successful like you mention.
Everything we're working on right now is to make the mining experience better and more profitable for users. There's only 24 hours in a day and it's a lot of code to write, but we are making progress slowly.
-
16 votes
An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
Hi Justin, agreed - we're not happy with mining performance right now (Microsoft's recent ban of on-device mining meant we had to disable GPU and CPU mining, so right now hash rate is comming out of our own cloud).
We're working on the add-on to re-enable on-device mining; it's a ton of code and we need to make sure it's done right. Hopefully in a month or two it will be ready.
Best,
Alex
An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
Justin Ferber/LuckeY - Bitspeed.io is requesting you to deposit Bitcoin in order to get permanent future payouts; that's likely a pyramid/ponzi scheme (if it's too good to be true...you know what they say).
GroupFabric will never request payments for any sort of perpetual future payout. Our apps are free (ad-supported) and users keep what they mine.
In the future we hope to offer some a way to turn off ads in exchange for a % of what is mined, but it's our belief that the core application should be free and we should only do well if users want to run our apps.
-
would it be possible to label each deposit to the computer making the deposit so we can keep track ?
5 votesAn error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
Do you mean labeling each share listed on the pool website? If so, that is something we do want to do!
-
20 votes
An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
We're working on a version where users can choose to disable ads in exchange for a % of what is mined.
-
190 votes
Coming soon…
An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
At the moment Google doesn’t allow miners on their Play store, so any miner we would develop would only be available via side-loading. Because of this we’re working on improving profitability for users by adding support for more mining algorithms like CryptoNight (Monero) and Ethash (Ethereum) over an Android version.
An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
We're still working on it, but engineering resources are limited and most of our work as been focused on improving or maintaining profitability for users.
-
16 votes
An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
We do have some items planned for website later this year - our first priority right now is improving yields for users with better mining algorithms.
-
22 votes
An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
The reason it's hard to find shares on SHA-256 pools is that the default pool in Bitcoin Miner is actually a multi-pool, where it has your miner mine whatever is most profitable for your PC/Phone, and then converts it over to Bitcoin.
When you directly mine SHA-256d, the hash rates will be higher but yields lower due to the much easier SHA-256d mining function. Directly mining SHA-256d means you end up competing with large datacenters filled with ASIC hardware coupled to dedicated power plants.
What we're working on is improving the internal mining engines to support more currencies so users can use Bitcoin Miner to also mine PC friendly currencies like Monero and Ethereum.
However to make it user friendly also requires a default mining pool (for users who don't want to deal with pool setup or other companies), and for this reason we no longer offer a Litecoin Miner since we'd then have to support more than one payout currency.
On Dogecoin - we no longer offer Dogecoin Miner because Dogecoin was changed so that it could be earned when mining Litecoin (merge mined). Since most Litecoin pools allow dual mining of both Dogecoin and Litecoin, it didn’t make sense to have a standalone Dogecoin miner.
Also, the Dogecoin project hasn’t been updated for over 3 years, so it’s fairly risky as there hasn’t been much developer support. You can view confirm this via their source code repository on GitHub at https://github.com/dogecoin/dogecoin.
-
119 votes
An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
@ Matteo - it's a fair concern, we did do some upgrades over the past two weeks and yields have improved slightly. There's been an overall recession lately however we're continuing to work on improving yields.
An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
Still working on the engineering for improved mining algorithms.
An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
Yields have already gone up - also global mining difficulty is significantly higher than it was months ago which negatively affects yields.
What will have the largest positive impact on yields is when we can get more mining engines online that support more currencies which is what we're currently working on.
This is not something you can wish into existence. It takes months of real R&D to do.
An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
Yes - we're hoping to see significantly improved yields within 1-3 weeks.
An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
Yields are also affected by Bitcoin network fees - the Bitcoin network clears approximately 2000-3000 transactions every 10 minutes, and there are over 100,000 transactions in Bitcoin's queue right now. This number increases or decreases depending on how many people are sending transactions. For up to date stats on this, please see https://jochen-hoenicke.de/queue/#24h
When fees are high yields will also go down, at the moment fees have been exceedingly high for the past two months.
An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
The default pool in Bitcoin Miner is a multi-pool, where it has your miner mine whatever is most profitable for your PC/Phone, and then converts it over to Bitcoin.
Fees are good if they are on the currency you are mining (converting from - these add to the yield).
Fees are bad if they are on the currency you are receiving (converting to - these remove from the yield and can slow payouts).
Directly mining Bitcoin's SHA-256d hash algorithm would unlikely be profitable to PCs and Phones due to the extreme competition from datacenters filled with ASICs, coupled to dedicated power plants.
An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
Another thing to note are the current status of network fees as incurred by the pool, you can monitor this here: https://jochen-hoenicke.de/queue/#24h
An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
More math needed.
Bitcoin dropped from 10k$ to 8k$ for ~10 minutes, then went up to 11k$/BTC.
The yield of 0.2 Satoshis / Share @ difficulty 1 was at 7k$/BTC.
The yield of 0.17 Satoshis / Share @ difficulty 1 represents a 15% drop, however going from 7k$/BTC to 11k$/BTC represents a 57% gain.
Complaining about a 15% yield reduction when the underlying asset has experienced a 57% gain in short period of time doesn't make sense, since you're still earning 33% more (1.57 * .85 ~= 1.33).
-
10 votes
An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
Kiriki is right - we mine the best currency available to try and get the best yield for users. Our main engineering focus is adding support for more currencies behind the scenes to improve yields further.
-
67 votes
An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
Owen - one thing to try is running in Power Saving mode and to test how much energy is being used over the baseline power of your machine. A cheap device for doing this in the states is the Kill-A-Watt ($15-$20), but your local hardware store should have something like this in the UK as well.
An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
I should also say that we do want to build this feature - right now we're working on improving user mining profitability which should make this less of an issue (but still something on our TODO list).
An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
Network fees have been around 1 Satoshi/byte for around 6 months. Make sure your wallet isn't overcharging on fees. Also - many wallets let you set the fee you include when sending. A typical transaction right now should cost under 400 Satoshis @ 1 Satoshi/byte.
An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
We agree! Enabling users to set a higher minimum payout is a feature we want to do. Right now we're working on revamping all of the mining engines to improve user yields because if users earn more, then the minimum payout is less of an issue.
The reason the pool automatically issues payouts instead of user requests is because the mining pool can issue multiple payouts in one large transaction (AKA batching in Bitcoin parlance), rather than lots of small ones. This reduces Bitcoin network load and keeps network fees lower for everyone.
-
3 votes
An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
Blockchain.com doesn't charge to receive Bitcoin - however nearly all wallets charge to send bitcoin (the later is core to the Bitcoin protocol and not specific to any wallet).
An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
We're working on a feature to let users raise the minimum payout, but until this feature is ready, the best thing to do would be to use a wallet that doesn’t have such business practices.
If your only option is to use a wallet that charges fees, we recommend using a wallet like Blockchain.info that doesn’t charge fees to accumulate payouts, then once you have enough, transfer to your main wallet to avoid fees.
-
18 votes
An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
All the comments here are valid - we have been reworking a lot of the internal scheduling code. Hopefully over the next couple months we'll be able to have better fine-tuning of controls so users can set what % of CPU is used for mining.
-
10 votes
An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
Also - to your comment on the Android app - our only release platform at the moment is the Windows Store but we are looking into Xbox and Android versions (after the user profitability work gets done). The Google Play and Apple stores do not allow on-device mobile mining so at best we'd have to offer an option via side-load.
Apps that do not perform on-device mining generally require the users to interact with ads, since otherwise no real value is being created.
We don't take any shortcuts - Bitcoin Miner is a real miner and AFAIK the only DirectX based miner out there (Microsoft only certifies DirectX for GPU operations on the Windows Store).
An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
Hi NS, first thanks for the thoughtful comment.
The default pool in Bitcoin Miner is actually a multi-pool, where it has your miner mine whatever is most profitable for your PC/Phone, and then converts it over to Bitcoin.
We are working on adding more mining engines as right now as we don't have CryptoNight or Ethash cores which negatively affect yields As-is, users keep everything they mine as our app development is ad-supported (this is so we only do well if users want to run the application). While we don't charge fees because of this, some users have asked for an option to remove ads so we're also looking into seeing if we can offer that in the future for a small % of what is mined. Our first priority is improving mining yields for users however.
Our engineering team is fairly small - unfortunately that means that often we have to spend time on mining pool security and scalability work rather than the Bitcoin Miner app itself. This is something that isn't as visible as people only notice when something goes wrong.
As to the company name - the original focus was on something else before we launched Bitcoin Miner back in 2013, and have never bothered to change it as we've been mostly focused on the engineering rather than marketing!
-
1 vote
An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
Thanks for the feedback! It's true we'd like to better organize this information. Generally we issue payouts between Friday and Monday as this is when network fees are congestion is low which lets us keep yields higher for users. It's also correct that we don't publish specific times as otherwise the payout transactions could be targeted by network spam attacks. Our systems do issue payouts every week to all accounts with balances of at least 5000 Satoshis, and if a user doesn't have 5000 Satoshis at the time of a payout the balance simply rolls forward (it is not lost).
-
3 votes
An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
This is a feature we want to do, but for the moment if your only option is to use a wallet that charges fees, we recommend using a wallet like Blockchain.info that doesn’t charge fees to accumulate payouts, then once you have enough, transfer to your main wallet to avoid fees.
Wallets like Xapo, Kraken, Luno, and Coins.ph charge large fees to receive bitcoin (often the entire amount of the transaction). You can change your wallet and payout address in Bitcoin Miner at any time and the server will use the updated payout address during its next payout cycle.
-
31 votes
An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
As a reminder: please contact support@groupfabric.com or file a support ticket if you have questions on individual payouts.
An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
Transactions can't be refused in Bitcoin as they are one way and permanent - your wallet is confiscating those Satoshis; we'd recommend immediately switching to another wallet that doesn't have those business practices. If you need the bitcoin transaction ids of a payout to follow up with your wallet's support department, contact support@groupfabric.com with the payout address used in Bitcoin Miner.
An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
A good time to issue transactions to minimize fees is over the weekend when network congestion is low; at the moment fees are under 5 Sat/byte. Tradeblock is a great resource for identifying when network fees will be low. Another thing is that many wallets are relatively poor at estimating fees, so its a good idea to "get a feel" for how high of a fee to attach to transactions. This is one reason we moved to a weekly payout schedule so we could minimize fees and speed up transactions (plus it lowers fees for users when they receive smaller but larger transactions).
An error occurred while saving the comment AdminAlex
(CEO / Founder, GroupFabric)
commented
We'd like to add features like this, but until we can don't use wallets like Xapo or other ones that charge fees to receive Bitcoin. The Bitcoin protocol doesn't impose fees when receiving, it's purely the poor business practices of these wallets. Blockchain.info and Coinbase.com both do not charge fees to receive Bitcoin.
We're probably ~40% complete on the mining add-on (since November when we were forced to switch to cloud mining); we hope to make faster progress over the next couple months as the holidays are now done.