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Topic: What role are faucets and freebitco.in playing in BTC mining? (Read 265 times)

legendary
Activity: 3262
Merit: 1376
Slava Ukraini!
I'm not sure where  did you got information that faucets mine Bitcoin. No, they simply give away Bitcoins which were already mined. From where they get it? If we talk just about Freebitco.in, in simple words they are paying Bitcoins which were lost by other people on this website. It's very simplified answer without going deep into details.
Other faucets paying Bitcoins that they got as revenue from advertising networks.
In 2010 Gavin Andersen launched first ever Bitcoin faucet which wasn't commercial  and gave 5 BTC for every user. But still, these BTC already were mined by him before, it wasn't made by faucet.
legendary
Activity: 1568
Merit: 6660
bitcoincleanup.com / bitmixlist.org
Freebitco.in is more than just a faucet. If i remember correctly, they were allocating a portion of the funds from interest accounts (users earn interest for keeping their BTCs in their platform) to their bitcoin mining facility.

I think people are forgetting that freebitcoin is a gambling website that just happens to include a generous faucet, so you can't lump all that with a mining operation they happen to run and say that these somehow affect the mining process (which is most likely a small one anyway - they use your own deposits to purchase the mining rigs which then give you a tiny commission).

So, if there was a mass exodus from Freebitcoin, it would lose liquidity very quickly.
hero member
Activity: 2786
Merit: 902
yesssir! 🫡
Ah yes I forgot they exist... but since we're talking about bitcoin, I'd stay far away from any browser miner who claims they're mining bitcoin given how unprofitable it is with CPU/GPU, you won't get good results from it.
I have not seen this before, what I have seen before are apps and sites that confuse people that they are mining sites in a way to think you can use your laptop and phones to mine but not actually how it works. Some even are mining but no more profitable. The faucets that I know like freebitco are the real faucets that reward people for solving captcha and the reward is not that profitable compared to the time used to be solving captcha.

There are CPU mineable coins and it could work if you manage to get ahold of a huge chunk of ppls PC/smartphone's processing power. In terms of profitability only the service provider and/or the website owner has the chance for it, average users who are mining using one or two PCs can't expect more than a beer money.
legendary
Activity: 1652
Merit: 1208
Gamble responsibly
There were/are faucets which use your computer processing power to mine crypto while you are accessing them. It was announced as a passive earning method, but I fear it can lead to prejudice and damage to the desktop components or invasion of the system by malicious virus and hackers. It really doesn't sound good...

Ah yes I forgot they exist... but since we're talking about bitcoin, I'd stay far away from any browser miner who claims they're mining bitcoin given how unprofitable it is with CPU/GPU, you won't get good results from it.
I have not seen this before, what I have seen before are apps and sites that confuse people that they are mining sites in a way to think you can use your laptop and phones to mine but not actually how it works. Some even are mining but no more profitable. The faucets that I know like freebitco are the real faucets that reward people for solving captcha and the reward is not that profitable compared to the time used to be solving captcha.
hero member
Activity: 2786
Merit: 902
yesssir! 🫡
I also remember it was mentioned somewhere in the website they had some btc mining operations, but looking at their FAQ and EARN BTC tabs now I haven't found this information anymore...

I just checked and you're right!! it's not there anymore, it used to be:

How do you make money to pay us interest?

When you hold money in your FreeBitco.in account, we split it into 3 parts - the first part is used to cover user withdrawals, the second part is used to bankroll our MULTIPLY BTC game and the third part is used to expand our bitcoin mining operation (which is currently 9.065Petahashes or 0.019% of the total hashpower of the bitcoin network).

There were/are faucets which use your computer processing power to mine crypto while you are accessing them. It was announced as a passive earning method, but I fear it can lead to prejudice and damage to the desktop components or invasion of the system by malicious virus and hackers. It really doesn't sound good...

Ah yes I forgot they exist... but since we're talking about bitcoin, I'd stay far away from any browser miner who claims they're mining bitcoin given how unprofitable it is with CPU/GPU, you won't get good results from it.
hero member
Activity: 2044
Merit: 784
Leading Crypto Sports Betting & Casino Platform
Freebitco.in is more than just a faucet. If i remember correctly, they were allocating a portion of the funds from interest accounts (users earn interest for keeping their BTCs in their platform) to their bitcoin mining facility.
I also remember it was mentioned somewhere in the website they had some btc mining operations, but looking at their FAQ and EARN BTC tabs now I haven't found this information anymore...

But what about these "other faucets" OP? cause a faucet-only website which claims to be mining BTC doesn't sound good...
There were/are faucets which use your computer processing power to mine crypto while you are accessing them. It was announced as a passive earning method, but I fear it can lead to prejudice and damage to the desktop components or invasion of the system by malicious virus and hackers. It really doesn't sound good...



https://freebitco.in, and other faucets claim to mint BTC. Now, the estimated amount of BTC in circulation is 21 million, but with these other sources BTC mining here and there, are we not expecting more than the estimated amount? Because on a norm, before BTC gets minted, there must be a confirmation of transactions from miners just like regular banks do in the normal Fiat.
 My question lies in the area of where these other faucets and freebitco.in get their coins from.
Just keep in mind the balance displayed by the faucet doesn't mean those bitcoins really exist. That is only a demonstration. I've already used faucets which showed me a personal balance of 0.1BTC or more, while in fact I had nothing, since the sites were scam. The bitcoins only exist in a wallet when you can confirm it by checking the address on the blockchain by yourself. Officially, realistically and proven there will never be more than 21 million bitcoins. That is an immutable fact.
legendary
Activity: 3668
Merit: 6382
Looking for campaign manager? Contact icopress!
https://freebitco.in, and other faucets claim to mint BTC

No, they don't. Some are lying, some you've misunderstood.
They are websites, they have wallets the owner and users (paying customers) transfer money to and winners/claimers are paid from.
No minting (what on earth is that for a PoW coin like Bitcoin?!), no mining.

Now, the estimated amount of BTC in circulation is 21 million, but with these other sources BTC mining here and there, are we not expecting more than the estimated amount? Because on a norm, before BTC gets minted, there must be a confirmation of transactions from miners just like regular banks do in the normal Fiat.

Every entity that mines (for real) bitcoin does it in the same way: hashing. Every mined coin comes from block rewards. There's no other way, hence the rules cannot be "bent" and your question relies on misunderstood things which you may have to ask one by one until you're good.

My question lies in the area of where these other faucets and freebitco.in get their coins from.

From transfers/transactions, like any wallet.
legendary
Activity: 2702
Merit: 4002
My question lies in the area of where these other faucets and freebitco.in get their coins from.

I think the members have explained to you the difference between mining and faucets but you have to realize another difference which is that all sites that claim to mine bitcoins are 99% scam.

Bitcoin mining is done by specialized devices, and you can read more here[1]. Honest sites buy bitcoins or buy mining tools to get bitcoins and then distribute them to users.

So where do these sites make the money? In fact, most of these faucets (honest one)  take advantage of either the clicks you make, the ads you see, or access your cookies and try to sell your data, thus generate profits and give you a portion of it.

Finally, you should know that these sites are databases meaning that they can claim that they have 30M bitcoins but in fact unless you withdraw those coins (there are only less than 21 million bitcoins) to your wallet, you cannot believe their claims


[1] https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=14.0
legendary
Activity: 1820
Merit: 2700
Crypto Swap Exchange
initially, they started as a faucet site. then it might have made sense to say that they are miners and share free coins, it made it easier for beginners to accept this business model. earnings were supposed to come from web traffic and advertising.
overtime they implemented some casino games, in order for users to spend free coins earned with them. I would say they are more of a casino now than a faucet and it is certain that many users make a deposit there. I guess it's clear to everyone how the casino works.

Yes, the founder of freebitco.in, wetsuit, started it as a hobby site to promote Bitcoin with just three things - a free faucet, a dice game, and a lottery, but has now evolved into a very successful business. As far as I know, it is the only faucet site that has been successfully transited from a simple faucet idea to a full-fledged casino, and it is now one of the oldest and best-known Bitcoin casinos around, and is probably the most visited site when it comes to Bitcoin casino gambling.
legendary
Activity: 3472
Merit: 3507
Crypto Swap Exchange
initially, they started as a faucet site. then it might have made sense to say that they are miners and share free coins, it made it easier for beginners to accept this business model. earnings were supposed to come from web traffic and advertising.
overtime they implemented some casino games, in order for users to spend free coins earned with them. I would say they are more of a casino now than a faucet and it is certain that many users make a deposit there. I guess it's clear to everyone how the casino works.
hero member
Activity: 2786
Merit: 902
yesssir! 🫡
Freebitco.in is more than just a faucet. If i remember correctly, they were allocating a portion of the funds from interest accounts (users earn interest for keeping their BTCs in their platform) to their bitcoin mining facility.

But what about these "other faucets" OP? cause a faucet-only website which claims to be mining BTC doesn't sound good...
legendary
Activity: 2534
Merit: 1233
My question lies in the area of where these other faucets and freebitco.in get their coins from.
From their Bitcoin wallet of course.

You need to understand how faucets and mining work on their own and they aren't the same.

It's been said above, that a faucet is a way to introduce Bitcoin by completing such a small task as solving a captcha or viewing ads because faucet owners usually benefit and get revenue from the advertiser.  It's free that you can collect a tiny one, but the problem how much the minimum withdrawal before you can withdraw.

In mining, that's how you will generate Bitcoin via claiming a reward once you present the valid partial proof-of-work (PoW).
While mining needs investment and faucet is totally free that you can get on the platform where it is hosted.
legendary
Activity: 2898
Merit: 1253
So anyway, I applied as a merit source :)
https://freebitco.in, and other faucets claim to mint BTC.
Faucets dont mint BTC. The balance is kept in a hotwallet which is funded by the owners at regular intervals. This funding comes from the payments from advertisement networks being on the site and being shown to the incoming traffic.

Quote
Now, the estimated amount of BTC in circulation is 21 million, but with these other sources BTC mining here and there, are we not expecting more than the estimated amount? Because on a norm, before BTC gets minted, there must be a confirmation of transactions from miners just like regular banks do in the normal Fiat.
The total amount in circulation is fixed at 21mil. They are transacting within the fraction of 21mil that has already been mined by different miners.

Quote
My question lies in the area of where these other faucets and freebitco.in get their coins from.
From the current total supply. People spend on these sites via their casino, sports bets, lottery, golden tickets, ad traffic etc. This money is recycled back to the hotwallet and the cycle continues.

Freebitco.in does run a mining scheme where you can invest, but that is separate from faucet dispenses.
legendary
Activity: 1512
Merit: 7340
Farewell, Leo
https://freebitco.in, and other faucets claim to mint BTC.
Nope. They claim to give away BTC. They don't create it, same as casinos in real life. They don't print the bank notes.

Because on a norm, before BTC gets minted, there must be a confirmation of transactions from miners just like regular banks do in the normal Fiat.
If by "regular banks" you refer to commercial banks, then no way. When a miner solves a block, and broadcasts his success to the network it's easy to verify that he worked for it. You just check his Proof of Work, that is the block header and its hash. On the other hand, commercial banks create credit money in a far less transparent way. You can't know how much credit is owed, what's the bank's liquidity, what's the bank's investments etc.

My question lies in the area of where these other faucets and freebitco.in get their coins from.
Same as you do; from other people.
hero member
Activity: 2954
Merit: 796
https://freebitco.in, and other faucets claim to mint BTC. Now, the estimated amount of BTC in circulation is 21 million, but with these other sources BTC mining here and there, are we not expecting more than the estimated amount? Because on a norm, before BTC gets minted, there must be a confirmation of transactions from miners just like regular banks do in the normal Fiat.
 My question lies in the area of where these other faucets and freebitco.in get their coins from.


Let's assume faucet is indeed mining and rewarding all the captcha solver with there minted Bitcoins, How is this alarming in terms of increase of circulating supply while it's just a small portion compared big time mining company.

The max supply is still the same while the difficulty will adjust accordingly base on the total blocks already solved. Besides this faucet are just earning via captcha and ads while giving back some part of the profit to the solver so they are not mining.
legendary
Activity: 2352
Merit: 6089
bitcoindata.science
https://freebitco.in, and other faucets claim to mint BTC.

They don't mine and neither "mint" BTC.

They are just websites that are paying a very small value (a dust) for your engagement. Your "clicks" are worth money to websites, and they are giving a share of that value when you complete faucets.

This have nothing to do with mining or anything related to bitcoin protocol.

Quote
Now, the estimated amount of BTC in circulation is 21 million, but with these other sources BTC mining here and there, are we not expecting more than the estimated amount? Because on a norm, before BTC gets minted, there must be a confirmation of transactions from miners just like regular banks do in the normal Fiat.

Miners are nothing like banks.
Miners are important to the bitcoin network because they are responsible for creating blocks and verifying transactions (in a process called Proof of work) , and in they are rewarded in newly created bitcoins in that process.

Quote
My question lies in the area of where these other faucets and freebitco.in get their coins from.

They get money basically from the ads that you view while completing faucets.
hero member
Activity: 1190
Merit: 803
Faucet and mining are different.

Freebitco.in or other sites can giving away some satoshi are because they have a reserved funds/mining/bankroll etc. It just a tiny portions of their own funds, faucet doesn't really generating Bitcoin, but it's just a system to distribute for anyone who complete the task.

In mining you're generating new coins using mining rigs and electricity, it doesn't exceed 21 millions based on the Bitcoin protocols.
hero member
Activity: 1008
Merit: 629
https://freebitco.in, and other faucets claim to mint BTC. Now, the estimated amount of BTC in circulation is 21 million, but with these other sources BTC mining here and there, are we not expecting more than the estimated amount? Because on a norm, before BTC gets minted, there must be a confirmation of transactions from miners just like regular banks do in the normal Fiat.
 My question lies in the area of where these other faucets and freebitco.in get their coins from.
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