In about 7 hours we will reach:

Frontier block #1,028,201 

Block #1028201 will be formed on the Ethereum tesnet and given a hash. The hash then will be used around the world as a unique parameter to the Genesis block generation script.

Every participant from then on will be able to start mining real ethers by helping to keep the Ethereum network. Exciting times ahead!

It is still early days. All we know at this point is that you will need a GPU with at least 1 GB of video memory however 2 GB minimum would be ideal for the first year of mining.


This is the first ever photo to emerge of an ether miner. It was posted by one of the Ethereum developers on the official forum. At this point GPU mining is 100x  more efficient than CPU mining.

In a few days the Frontier release will go live and it will be possible for more technical participants to start to mine real ethers.

For more information check this forum post How to help secure the Ethereum network FAQ on the official Ethereum forum.