Crypto Mining on FPGA Board!

I was wondering if I could somehow do some crypto mining on my Arty S7-50 board. I know that it might not be much profitable. ASICs are better for this job. But I want to try it just for education purposes.

What does the members think? Will it be profitable i.e. will it be able to mine enough amount of crypto to cover the electricity cost? Where do I start from?

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jure over 2 years ago +5

I haven't looked deeply into it, but as far as I know, it isn't easy to implement. There is also the fact that you need to connect it to the internet, which could be done through an ethernet module or…
Jan Cumps over 2 years ago +3

If the design fits, it will not be profitable
jc2048 over 2 years ago +3

That's impossible to answer because it depends on how clever you are. 'Hard problems' aren't impossible problems, they just take a long time to accomplish using the algorithms that everyone knows about…

Jan Cumps over 2 years ago

If the design fits, it will not be profitable
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KellyGreene over 2 years ago

Personally, I doubt that it'll be profitable. But you can still give it a try. The result might be shocking.
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jure over 2 years ago

I haven't looked deeply into it, but as far as I know, it isn't easy to implement. There is also the fact that you need to connect it to the internet, which could be done through an ethernet module or by communicating with a host PC (you would be limited by the Baud rate probably). In any way, it would be challenging to implement on a single standalone FPGA without using any high-speed communication protocol (USB 2.0 or higher) or even PCIe. It would probably be much easier using an Arty A7 (due to integrated Ethernet). Still, it would probably be much easier to implement into an SoC. There are some boards on AliExpress that are less than 50€ and would suit the needs a lot better (EBAZ4205, colorlight i5/i9) along with the fact that new FPGA boards are getting more and more expensive.
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jc2048 over 2 years ago

That's impossible to answer because it depends on how clever you are. 'Hard problems' aren't impossible problems, they just take a long time to accomplish using the algorithms that everyone knows about. Invent a better algorithm and you might do it much faster than everyone else. Then it would be exceedingly profitable as you'd get all the crypto.
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cbohra00627 over 2 years ago in reply to jure

Yeah, you are right. The Arty S7 doesn't have any ethernet port.

I guess I will do some research by myself and see if it is possible in any way or not.

Thanks!
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bidrohini over 2 years ago

if you are interested in learning about cryptocurrency mining and FPGA development, it could be a worthwhile project for educational purposes. The power consumption of the FPGA is relatively high compared to its hashing power, which would result in significant electricity costs.

I think doing the same with Raspberry Pi is better. You can get an idea about it from here: www.theengineeringprojects.com/.../how-to-mine-cryptocurrency-with-raspberry-pi-4.html
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kevinkeryk over 2 years ago

Hi cbohra00627 at one point, before the custom ASICs came into the picture, crypto mining on FPGAs was the way to go since there was such rapid development underway in this space during the previous decade. There were implementations on several Kintex platforms and even an Open Source project that folks were working on: https://github.com/progranism/Open-Source-FPGA-Bitcoin-Miner

Even if you don't find it profitable to mine with an FPGA, it would be a good learning experience and you could contribute your knowledge back for others to get a head start in this area!
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