Why I'm Investing in Baltic Horizon Fund (NHCBHFFT)

| Investments | 14 seen

Baltic Horizon Fund has been on my radar since the August 2017. Actually first spotted in March 2017, while doing a quick research on Top Dividend Paying stocks in the Baltics. 

Despite being listed on Nasdaq Tallinn (aka Nasdaq Baltics) I was not able to purchase fund units from my existing brokerage account. After I sent a short message both to the fund managers and my current broker, informing about the problem I was facing (and I believe a dozen of other customers with a brokerage account in Latvia) the problem was solved and I was able to purchase Baltic Horizon Fund units. Sometimes all it asks is just a brief message.

Disclosure: I'm not a financial advisor and I don't give you any advice, I'm just sharing my own experience. Investments in stocks, funds or bonds are risk investments and you could lose some or all of your money. Do your due diligence before investing in any kind of asset. 

Now, there is one bold reason I like this fund, quarterly dividend payments (at least in 2017, and hopefully in 2018), the yield is around 7-9%,…


How to Prepare for Upcoming Callisto Airdrop (Ethereum Classic)

| Servers | 70 seen

Now, this is huge and exciting for ETC holders - Ethereum Classic development team recently announced the Callisto Network Project which will result in a 1:1 CLO airdrop for ETC holders.

As a holder of ETC, and in fact as a miner of ETC (How To Mine ETC (Ethereum Classic) with SimpleMining OS) I find this very exciting and decided to look - how to prepare for this upcoming "fork" to get most out of it. But before digging into technical details on how to profit from this Callistio Airdrop, let's familiarize with this project a little better.

According to the update:

Callisto is a separate blockchain that is based on Ethereum protocol with its own cryptocurrency (CLO). Callisto has a fixed cap monetary policy similar to ETC. Unlike ETH, ETC is posing itself as a value storage. It should be noted that the ETC does not have any incentives for coin holders. The whole emission is completely controlled by miners and their influence grows with the growth of the network. Callisto introduces a Cold staking protocol that rewards coin holders for being a network participants.

Cold staking is a smart-contract based process that…


How To Mine ETC (Ethereum Classic) with SimpleMining OS

| Servers | 75 seen

For the past couple of weeks I've been experimenting with crypto mining and started with Claymore's dual miner to learn that I can dual mine both Ethereum and Siacoin out of the box, I put my mining rig as it is and let the machine to mine coins for me. See: I'm Making $0.98 Per Day By Mining Ethereum and Siacoin, and I want MORE!

Meanwhile, in crypto space, a lot has happened, and I decided to explore my options to mine some other coins using SimpleMining OS, which IMHO is awesome.

At the end of January, it started to look that mining Siacoin is not any more profitable with gpu's (Is It Profitable Mining Siacoin (SC) in 2018?) and I went solo mining Ethereum only, also I decided to pause adding new graphics cards to the mining rig before reaching ROI at least 20% - Mining Ethereum @ ~53 MH/s and Siacoin @ ~310 MH/s Earns me $5.53 Daily - And It's Time to take a Pause

Now, I decided to explore my options mining other altcoins, at start I wanted to test mining Monero, but as I have  a mixed AMD + NVIDIA mining rig, seems Simplemining is not yet supporting both cards for Monero, and it looks like just…


Deep in The Forest (Winter Edition)

| | 8 seen

It was on some February's (2018) afternoon, we decided to make a simple hiking in very familiar to us Latvian forests, unfortunately, the temperature outside was way too freezing and our hiking ended after some 15 minutes, fortunately, I managed to capture some HDR's here.

Followers of Piece of Life series will recognize this forest from Deep in the Forest or Wandering In The Woods B&W Photography series. 

Winter in Latvia

No mushrooms or will berry this time of the year.

Marvelous golden hour in forest


Rixwell Elefant Hotel Riga Review

| Hotel reviews | 18 seen

Rixwell Elefant Hotel is a 4-star superior hotel and it is conveniently located between Riga International Airport, which is a 5-minute drive away, and the city centre. Shopping center Spice is within walking distance from the hotel and 10 km away is the famous water park Livu Aqua Park in Jurmala.

Rixwell Elefant hotel in Riga is among the cheapest 4-star hotels I've stayed so far, both in Riga and elsewhere, in total for a one night stay here we paid EUR 46, which is decent for a 4-star hotel in this part of Europe. Click here for more Riga hotel reviews. 

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links to Booking.com, by clicking on links on this page and by making a reservation on Booking site, I might earn an affiliate income from that at no cost to you.

The rooms are bright and modern. All rooms come with a flat-screen TV with cable channels, a minibar, tea and coffee making facilities,a safety deposit box and ironing facilities, as well as a direct dial telephone. The private bathrooms also come with free toiletries and a hairdryer.

Rixwell …


January 2018 Dividend Income Report - $100.95

| Investments | 12 seen

Welcome to the ninth (#9) dividend income report, covering earnings I've made from dividend-paying stocks, peer to peer lending (both fiat and cryptocurrencies) in January 2018. 

Surprisingly, but January 2018 turned out much better I thought before, an unexpected dividend payment from Silvano Fashion Group boosted total earnings in January, and I was able to generate $100.95 income in a very passive way. Silvano Fashion Group have been in my portfolio since the July of 2017, I literally chased to buy this stock for a couple of days back then.

As usual, I was doing nothing much, just investing in great companies, playing a little bit with cryptocurrencies and lending out money via peer to peer marketplace. Most of the January was on autopilot, just at the start of the month I deposited some chunk of money to Mintos.com peer to peer lending marketplace, bought Lietuvos energijos gamyba and ENERGIJOS SKIRSTYMO OPERATORIUS  stocks at Nasdaq Baltics.

See a complete list of things going on behind the scenes and my investment plans for 2018: 2017 in Review…


How To Connect to SimpleMiningOS using Putty SSH Terminal And Few Simple Commands to Get You Started

| Servers | 69 seen

Putty is a nice and neat free SSH terminal for Windows OS, I've been using Putty for years, mostly to perform server-side tasks (Ngnix, Drupal and so on). About a month ago when I started gpu mining experiment and decided to build 12 GPU Ethereum mining rig, I didn't know much about many options available for mining and soon found SimpleMiningOS, which is brilliant (IMHO) - plug and play ready to go from an 8 GB USB stick.

I was pleasantly surprised learning that I could manage my rig using Putty SSH terminal, and for this article, I have decided to list some basic information on how to connect via Putty and some simple commands to get you started.

Locate your internal network IP address (You could run this over internet, but that would require port forwarding and so on, it's not recommended to administer your rig over internet)

In case you are not sure what your internal Ip is, just hover over your rig name in SimpleMiningOS

Detecting your rig's internal IP

Next:

  • Open Putty
  • Enter IP address
  • Default username/password: miner:miner

Enter screen…


Bākūži Winter 2018

| | 7 seen

Made a couple of HDR's back at Bākūži, the country house where for the last couple of years we have done some home remodeling.

In today's Piece of Life series, simple winter mood from Latvian winter (January 2018)

Fishpond

A decent level of water, not to say more, see: Waiting For The Water Level To Rise In The Pond

Back view of the house

Apple orchard

For those of you interested how it all started, see: Home Remodelling - How It All Starts


Lost Siacoins after Depositing to Poloniex.com Exchange (Probably because of Wallet Maintenance)

| Crypto | 13 seen

Hmm, this is not nice, but that what happened to me, Siacoins I had mined using GPU mining rig,got lost somewhere in Poloniex.com

A brief background - since I started to experiment with gpu mining rig, I opted for Claymore's dual mining Ethereum and Siacoin, mining Siacoin didn't seem very profitable (see: Is It Profitable Mining Siacoin (SC) in 2018? ), but I decided to keep mining just in case Siacoin goes to the moon (like many other altcoins) and maybe someday my Siacoins would be worth millions of dollars? He he. For Siacoin Withdrawal address I entered the one I have on Poloniex.com exchange. 

In total, I had mined 131.61 SC. And everything seemed nice. It would take me a couple of months to reach minimum 500SC withdrawal limit, but it all happened suddenly. I had a flight and obviously, I was not checking what's happening with SC or ETH withdrawals - why would I? There are still plenty of time to reach that 500 SC minimum threshold. Before boarding my plane I last time checked my e-mail and read following comment regarding Siacoin mining:

SIAcoin is no longer profitable to…


Mining Ethereum With Asus Geforce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB ROG Strix OC Edition Review

| Servers | 47 seen

Asus Geforce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB ROG Strix OC Edition is the latest addition to my Ethereum mining rig, which currently consists of 4 GPU. 

Bought back in Tbilisi, and I believe that I just overpaid about $100 for this card, in total spending $296 for this card. Not very cost effective. A couple of weeks ago I bought Zotac Geforce GTX1050Ti card for about $220. And in fact, this time I visited a store I was looking to purchase another Zotac, but unfortunately some had reserved all cards already and I was left either to purchase SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon™ RX 560 4GD5 or search for another store.

I choose the second option, and that's how I acquired Asus Geforce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB ROG Strix OC Edition for about $300. It seems this card is sold on Amazon for the same ~ $300, see: ASUS Geforce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB ROG STRIX HDMI 2.0 DP 1.4 Gaming Graphics Card (STRIX-GTX1050TI-4G-GAMING) Graphic Cards

Check out this article, if you are building your mining rig in Tbilisi (Georgia) - Buying Graphic Cards (GPU) and Computer Parts in Tbilisi,…


Mintos.com Review After 12 Month of Investing in Peer to Peer Lending

| Peer to Peer Lending | 50 seen

I've been investing in Mintos.com peer to peer lending marketplace since the beginning of 2017, or it has been already 12 months or one year since I've been exposing my funds to this Latvian fintech platform. 

In the past 12 months I've made a nice revenue of EUR 311.42 (before tax) and in today's article, I decided to share a quick overview for the past 2017 and also make a quick glimpse for my plans for 2018.

Both individuals and entities can invest through Mintos. Individual investors must be at least 18 years old, have a bank account in the European Union or third countries currently considered to have AML/CFT systems equivalent to the EU, and have their identity successfully verified by Mintos. At the moment, US citizens or taxpayers cannot register as investors at Mintos.

Affiliate link here: Sign up to Mintos.com here. By using this affiliate link for registration both you and I will receive — 1% of your average daily balance which should be paid in 3 installments for the first 90 days.

Remember - investments are risky, never invest more you can afford to lose.

Background…


Mining Ethereum @ ~53 MH/s and Siacoin @ ~310 MH/s Earns me $5.53 Daily - And It's Time to take a Pause

| Crypto | 41 seen

Each time I add some new graphics card to my existing gpu mining rig or some other major happenings happens I make a quick update into the blog. 

There are two major updates since my latest post from cryptocurrency mining experiments - I have installed another gpu card (in total there are  already 4, giving a hash power of about 53 MH/s) and second, Ethereum price has dropped by about 40% in the last days (from $1,430 in January 13, 2018, to $1,007.41 in January 23). Both things heavily affect daily payouts when mining Ethereum (or any other altcoin)

The mining rig has been up and operating little more than 30 days, base core system has been extended to 4 GPU's and the current investment for this rig is $1,661. 

Make sure to check out previous updates:

  • I'm Making $0.98 Per Day By Mining Ethereum and Siacoin, and I want MORE!
  • I'm Making $2.44 Per Day By Dual Mining Ethereum and Siacoin, and I'm NOT HAPPY YET!
  • Simple GPU Overclocking Boosts Ethereum Mining Profitability by 20.65% - Now Making $2.66 Daily

Mining Ethereum With ZOTAC GeForce® GTX 1050 Ti OC Edition Review

| Servers | 23 seen

ZOTAC GeForce® GTX 1050 Ti OC Edition is the third graphics card installed on my mining rig. 

Bought back in Tbilisi and paid about $220 for this card, see: Buying Graphic Cards (GPU) and Computer Parts in Tbilisi, Georgia. Currently sold on Amazon for about $260 - ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1050 Ti OC Edition 4GB GDDR5 Super Compact Gaming Graphics Card (ZT-P10510B-10L)

Out of the box, this card gives ~12 MH/s in Dual mining mode on SimpleMining OS. I believe with solo mining and little overclocking this card has a potential of 15MH/s for Ethereum mining.

Currently, this card is installed on a mining rig and I noticed following measurements for temperature and fan speed

  • 76 Celsius
  • 47% Fan speed

In general, I would love to get the temperature below 70 Celsius, as I believe lower temperatures and slower fan speeds extends the total lifetime for graphics cards. On the other hand, the ventilation in the room I'm storing this rig could be much better and in fact, the next big thing I'm planning to add to this rig - a rig frame, probably a…


Learning To Programm Ethereum Smart Contracts

| Servers | 12 seen

From simple crypto investments (buy & hold), speculative day trades, investments in cloud mining contracts, to building a custom 12 GPU ethereum mining rig. Sound enough? Not for me, it was yesterday I decided to get my hands dirty and understand this blockchain economy better and building a few test ethereum smart contracts.

There is one simple explanation I can find for my desire to explore more - just to understand how this blockchain economy works from the technical point of view. You see - setting up a mining rig is one thing  - giving a direct benefit to me as a miner in a form of block rewards. I fact I don't like the name mining or miner - I better prefer transaction verifier or something.

Now, back to the subject -

Learning to code Ethereum Smart Contracts

A great starting place to learn more and code your first ethereum smart contract in Ethereum's official guide ( Building a smart contract using the command line)

Smart contracts are account holding objects on the ethereum blockchain. They contain code functions and can interact with other contracts, make decisions, store data, and send ether to others. Contracts…


HashFlare.io Review After 1 month Bitcoin Cloud Mining Experiment

| Crypto | 14 seen

A month ago (on December 21, 2017) I decided to explore bitcoin cloud mining contracts and decided to give it a try for HashFlare.io

HashFlare.io (Affiliate link here - if you will click, register and decide to invest, I might earn 10% commission from that) - Estonia based cloud mining company

Please note - I'm not a financial advisor, services mentioned in this article use at your own risk and remember your capital is at risk, you could lose some or all of your money.

At the start it took me to spend a good amount of the afternoon, to collect both good and negative reviews about HashFlare.io before taking a final decision and developing plan - kind of dollar cost averaging by investing in additional hash power once in a month.

Here is what I told a month ago: I Just invested $50.60 in Hashflare.io Cloud Mining

Dude, this has been one crazy cryptocurrency investment year - at least for me. Starting simple buy and hold operations on Coinbase.com, extending to swing trades, crypto lending and now at the end of December 2017 ordering details for 12 GPU…


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