Honeyminer, the crypto mining app that lets users earn bitcoin with laptops, is fast gaining traction.
Revealed exclusively to CoinDesk, the startup's user base has swelled to almost 50,000 since launching in June. A third of the new customers are located in emerging markets and 5 percent hail from Africa, the company said.
In the startup's Telegram channel, one such user in Kenya responded to a survey saying he is using Honeyminer to acquire his first bitcoin stash.
"I've had an interest in bitcoin, cryptocurrencies and blockchain but I never quite understood what they meant," wrote the user, Steven in Nairobi. "I am trying to raise money to buy a more powerful gaming desktop in the future where I can earn an average of $3 – $4 per day. So far I am one happy miner."
Other developing nations with thousands of users flocking to download Honeyminer include India, Indonesia and the Philippines, co-founder Noah Jessop told CoinDesk.
He said:
"We've stumbled into something that was far bigger and more international than we imagined."
This flood of users is proving the mining pool software can work on computers with 1,100 different types of graphics processing unit (GPU) cards, according to Honeyminer co-founder Larry Kom. Honeyminer converts mining rewards from GPU-mineable cryptos such as ether and zcash into bitcoin and then deposits it directly in users' digital wallets.
Kom told CoinDesk the sheer diversity of insights users have provided about GPU mining with various hardware types is invaluable. Jessop said he has also been inspired by the variety of new miners.
"I've been so struck by people who are trying to get a rig set up," Jessop said. "We're coming up on 10,000 folks that are running homemade rigs, or even industrial-type rigs."
Image via Honeyminer
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