NiceHash is a global

cryptocurrency 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 i ...

hash power broker and

cryptocurrency exchange A cryptocurrency exchange, or a digital currency exchange (DCE), is a business that allows customers to trade cryptocurrencies or digital currencies for other assets, such as conventional fiat money or other digital currencies. Exchanges may acce ...

with an open marketplace that connects sellers of hashing power (cryptominers) with buyers of hashing power using the

sharing economy In capitalism, the sharing economy is a socio-economic system built around the sharing of resources. It often involves a way of purchasing goods and services that differs from the traditional business model of companies hiring employees to produce ...

approach. The company provides software for

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 ...

. The company was founded in 2014 by two Slovenian university students, Marko Kobal and Matjaž Škorjanc. The company is based in

The British Virgin Islands ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = Territorial song , song = "Oh, Beautiful Virgin Islands" , image_map = File:British Virgin Islands on the globe (Americas centered).svg , map_caption = , mapsize = 290px , image_map2 = Brit ...

and has offices in

Maribor Maribor ( , , , ; also known by other #Name, historical names) is the second-largest city in Slovenia and the largest city of the traditional region of Styria (Slovenia), Lower Styria. It is also the seat of the City Municipality of Maribor, th ...

, Slovenia. NiceHash users are primarily

video gamers A gamer is a proactive hobbyist who plays interactive games, especially video games, tabletop role-playing games, and skill-based card games, and who plays for usually long periods of time. Some gamers are competitive, meaning they routinely ...

who have powerful graphics cards (GPUs) suited to

. The company has over 2.5 million users in 190 countries worldwide as of November 2021.

History

NiceHash was founded in 2014, a former medical student turned

computer programmer A computer programmer, sometimes referred to as a software developer, a software engineer, a programmer or a coder, is a person who creates computer programs — often for larger computer software. A programmer is someone who writes/creates ...

, and Marko Kobal. NiceHash's original founder Matjaž Škorjanc was allegedly one of the creators of

malware Malware (a portmanteau for ''malicious software'') is any software intentionally designed to cause disruption to a computer, server, client, or computer network, leak private information, gain unauthorized access to information or systems, depri ...

called

Mariposa botnet The Mariposa botnet, discovered December 2008, is a botnet mainly involved in cyberscamming and denial-of-service attacks. Before the botnet itself was dismantled on 23 December 2009, it consisted of up to 12 million unique IP addresses or up to 1 ...

and served four years and ten months in a Slovenian prison. On June 5, 2019, US law enforcement reopened a case in the operations of the Mariposa (Butterfly Bot, BFBOT) malware gang. In 2019,

The FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

moved forward with new charges and arrest warrants against four suspects, including Matjaž Škorjanc. Matjaž was detained in prison in Germany in 2019. Due to international law agreements on

double jeopardy In jurisprudence, double jeopardy is a procedural defence (primarily in common law jurisdictions) that prevents an accused person from being tried again on the same (or similar) charges following an acquittal or conviction and in rare case ...

, he was released in 2020. Matjaž provided the original concept for the company, but is not involved in its operation and the current CEO is Martin Škorjanc. On December 6, 2017, approximately 4,700 Bitcoins (US$64 million at the time of the hack) were stolen from NiceHash allegedly by a

spear phishing Phishing is a type of social engineering where an attacker sends a fraudulent (e.g., spoofed, fake, or otherwise deceptive) message designed to trick a person into revealing sensitive information to the attacker or to deploy malicious softwar ...

attack. Due to the open and transparent nature of the

blockchain A blockchain is a type of distributed ledger technology (DLT) that consists of growing lists of records, called ''blocks'', that are securely linked together using cryptography. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a ...

, the

security breach Security is protection from, or resilience against, potential harm (or other unwanted Coercion, coercive change) caused by others, by restraining the freedom of others to act. Beneficiaries (technically referents) of security may be of persons an ...

received an influx of attention as the stolen sum and movement of bitcoins were visible to anyone on the internet. On December 21, 2017, Marko Kobal resigned as the CEO of NiceHash. On that day, the company also re-opened their marketplace after the December 6th hack. NiceHash announced that they had hired

cyber security Computer security, cybersecurity (cyber security), or information technology security (IT security) is the protection of computer systems and networks from attack by malicious actors that may result in unauthorized information disclosure, the ...

and implemented new security protocols after the incident. NiceHash reimbursed affected users who made a claim by the deadline of December 16, 2020, and returned their

Bitcoin Bitcoin ( abbreviation: BTC; sign: ₿) is a decentralized digital currency that can be transferred on the peer-to-peer bitcoin network. Bitcoin transactions are verified by network nodes through cryptography and recorded in a public distr ...

funds in full. On February 17, 2021, a North Korean hacker group ( Lazarus) was indicted for the 2017 NiceHash attack. NiceHash opened a

in May 2019, where miners and other traders of cryptocurrencies trade their mined coins to other cryptocurrencies or exchange to fiat currency. The platform lists 64 coins and tokens, and 80 trading pairs. In May 2022, NiceHash became the first provider of mining software to unlock Nvidia's LHR (Light Hash Rate).

Business model

Hash power marketplace

NiceHash provides an open hash power marketplace where buyers can bid to purchase computer power to add to their mining pool or operations. In return for providing this service, NiceHash takes a percentage or

fee A fee is the price one pays as remuneration for rights or services. Fees usually allow for overhead, wages, costs, and markup. Traditionally, professionals in the United Kingdom (and previously the Republic of Ireland) receive a fee in contra ...

from each group (buyers and sellers).

Sellers of hash power

Sellers have to run NiceHash mining software and connect their mining hardware or just regular PCs or graphics cards to NiceHash stratum servers and to the buyer's order. Their hashing power is forwarded to the pool that the buyer has chosen for mining. For each valid share they submit, they get paid in bitcoin for the price that is determined by the current weighted average and refreshed each minute. This is all done automatically and the process does not require complex technical skills. The sellers are technically not 'miners' (although the computer hardware is mining) as they do not choose or control which algorithm their hardware operates on. They are renting out the hardware to be used for mining by other people (buyers) in a similar concept to

cloud mining Cloud mining is the process of cryptocurrency mining utilizing a remote datacenter with shared processing power. This type of cloud mining enables users to mine bitcoins or alternative cryptocurrencies without managing the hardware. The mining r ...

Buyers of hashpower (miners)

Buyers bid on the open marketplace for hash power on different mining

algorithms In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific problems or to perform a computation. Algorithms are used as specifications for performing c ...

, and direct it to their mining pool to increase their chances of finding a block reward. Much of the process of bidding is automated b
trading bots

References

External links

* * * licensed CC BY-SA {{DEFAULTSORT:NiceHash Cryptocurrencies Slovenian websites Internet properties established in 2014 Companies based in Ljubljana Slovenian brands Companies established in 2014 Cryptocurrency theft