Show HN: My pocket device to mine cryptocurrencies using solar ("Pocket Miner")
by AJTSheppard | 2025-05-07 09:51:19+00:00
I've built a small pocket device for mining cryptocurrencies. I've squeezed a couple of solar panels and quite a bit of electronics into an Altoids tin that neatly fits in your pocket or purse. Just open it up to the sun, sit back and drink your coffee, and start mining.

I call it the "Pocket Miner". Demo video (~120 sec): https://youtu.be/kAskH1c4AmE

Read the FAQs (https://andrewsheppard.com/faq.html)

My motivation behind building this device is summarized in what I call the "Pocket Manifesto".

THE POCKET CRYPTO MANIFESTO ("POCKET MANIFESTO")

What We Believe

+ Money is too important to leave in the hands of politicians and bankers, who historically have been poor custodians of the money supply.

+ For cryptocurrencies (crypto) to work better and best serve people who want to use it, crypto needs to be democratized and put in the pockets (literally!) of the people who use it.

+ The blockchains that underly crypto must be robust and resilient in the sense that they are reliable and available from day-to-day and resistant to attacks whenever and wherever they come from. To that end, the network and compute resources that sustain them must be big and small, and geographically and technologically diverse and not wholly dependent on the grid and internet. Help remove single points of failure and concentration of resources, where possible, from the crypto infrastructure without compromising it.

+ The network and compute that sustain crypto is today too wasteful of energy and more should be done to harvest the abundant ambient energy in the environment around us to power it.

+ By using free energy from the ambient environment we take load off the grid, and make crypto activities more "green", so to speak. And, hey, the energy is free so tokens you mine are free!

+ Also, pocket mining devices are easy to recycle, reducing their impact on the environment at end-of-life.

+ Both ambient energy harvesting and recycling will make the crypto infrastructure more sustainable.

+ Mining and other activities that sustain crypto have become too concentrated in the hands of the few and, for the sake of resilience, diversity, and democratization, needs to be spread and widened to the hands of the many, including those economically disadvantaged (by removing cost as a barrier to entry).

What We Will Do - A New Direction and Future for Crypto

+ Perhaps ironically, we want to create a "solo-miner collective", a group of people that supports crypto infrastructure by people walking around with small devices (ideally, pocket and purse sized) that work by harvesting energy for free from the ambient environment around them.

+ Put crypto figuratively and literally in the pockets of people. Figuratively in the sense that people can acquire and accumulate small amounts of crypto over time. Literally, by using small low-cost (thereby lowering the barrier to entry) devices in their pocket or purse.

+ Give people complete control over what, when, why and how (solo or pool) they mine crypto.

+ Allow anyone to develop new coins and tokens in the crypto space and launch and deploy them quickly onto an existing and established network of widely distributed green devices. Given the numerous small devices onto which they can be deployed, this has the added advantage of a diverse and wide adoption by many people. Allow people to experiment.

+ Encourage people to adopt crypto at low cost and with low risk, and learn something useful about crypto while doing it.

+ Allow individuals, schools and universities to educate themselves about blockchain and crypto in a hands-on and participative way.

+ Explore network topologies and infrastructure to support crypto beyond the internet, both globally and at the campus/community level.