For those who don`t know, bit.tube is a video platform, similar to youtube but without any ads. Its based on blockchain and rewards, in TUBE cryptocurrency, both the user and the publisher. Being a POW crypto means that mining approach is used to keep the blockchain up and running and that the miners are rewarded for their involvement. The used mining algorithm is suitable mostly for video cards mining. A part of those mined TUBEs is redirected automatically to the bit.tube platform in order to reward both the viewer as well the publisher. For more info about the TUBE coin go check this out: https://coin.bit.tube/
The problem: Although the price of video cards had decreased in the first half of 2018 the price of video cards is still high and the cost-reward ration is very low. While this might not be a problem as one can purchase TUBE coin through crypto exchanges(as opposed of mining), having a cheap, low power, computer that “viewes” video 24/7 might diminish viewer and publisher rewards and artificially increase the number of platform users. This might lead in time to a “zombie” platform that will throw out real creators and real users.
This article is all about a little experiment that I did to see if bit.tube is prepared to face viewing bots.
The experiment is done using a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ single board computer. The scope is to show that using this computer the TUBE reward is a lot higher than mining using video cards.
This leads to 2 major drawbacks for the platform:
- viewers reward is not distributed to real users — leading to a bot populated platform
- decrease in miners as they prefer the more reward efficient Raspberry variant — instead of supporting the network by mining with GPUs
Setup:
- Raspberry Pi 3 Model B
- 16Gb SD card with Raspbian Stretch(desktop)
- 5.1V 2.5A Micro USB Power Adapter
Total cost: 40USD
Time to setup: 30 minutes
Reward comparison is done between the Airtime Statistics from bit.tube where the Raspberry had been autoplaying random videos and one RX 580 8GB GPU with the reward specified by WhatToMine.
- Raspberry:
Reward: 0.1 TUBE/hour as seen in Fig 2; 2.4 TUBE/day
TDP: 4 W(measured)
Cost: 40 USD new
- RX 580:
Reward: 6 TUBE/day(whattomine)
TDP: 120 W(specs)
Cost: 280 USD used
Head to Head ROI at 0.1 USD / TUBE:
Raspberry: 40usd/(2.4 tube * 0.1 usd) = 166 days
RX 580: 280 usd/(6 tube * 0.1 usd) = 466 days
Conclusioning the Head to Head ROI we can clearly see that the best way to “mine” for TUBE is actually using a cheap single-board computer like Raspberry instead of using GPU, even if we don`t take in consideration the electricity costs which for Raspberry are almost null and for the GPU are 30x higher.
This experiment and the results are not intended to encourage using automated mini-computers in obtaining TUBE coins but to raise awareness to the bit.tube team on the fact that this practice already might take place on a wider scale. Bit.tube is a great video platform and I highly encourage everybody to check it out.
Twitter: @fraidycat28
