Cloud mining is the process of
cryptocurrency mining
A cryptocurrency, crypto-currency, or crypto is a digital currency designed to work as a medium of exchange through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it. It is ...
utilizing a remote
datacenter
A data center (American English) or data centre (British English)See spelling differences. is a building, a dedicated space within a building, or a group of buildings used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommuni ...
with shared processing power. This type of cloud mining enables users to mine
bitcoins or alternative
cryptocurrencies
A cryptocurrency, crypto-currency, or crypto is a digital currency designed to work as a medium of exchange through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it. It ...
without managing the hardware. The mining rigs are housed and maintained in a facility owned by mining company and the customer simply needs to register and purchase mining contracts or shares.
Since cloud mining is provided as a service, there is generally some cost and this can result in lower
returns
Return may refer to:
In business, economics, and finance
* Return on investment (ROI), the financial gain after an expense.
* Rate of return, the financial term for the profit or loss derived from an investment
* Tax return, a blank document o ...
for the miner.
Types of hosting

Users of hosted mining equipment can either lease a
physical mining server or a
virtual private server
A virtual private server (VPS) is a virtual machine sold as a service by an Internet hosting service. The virtual dedicated server (VDS) also has a similar meaning.
A virtual private server runs its own copy of an operating system (OS), and cus ...
and install mining software on the machine. Instead of leasing a dedicated server, some services offer hashing power hosted in data centers for sale denominated in
Gigahash/seconds (GH/s); users either select a desired amount of hashing power and a period for the contract or in some cases can trade their hashing power.
See also
*
Mining pool
In the context of cryptocurrency mining, a mining pool is the pooling of resources by miners, who share their processing power over a network, to split the reward equally, according to the amount of work they contributed to the probability of find ...
References
External links
Bitcoin
Cryptocurrencies
{{Cryptocurrency-stub