There was a recent video on how it is possible to mine Monero on a M1 Macbook Air Pro or Mini. Those who want to experiment with mining can take help from the YouTube Video BarTechTV. This is one of the ways to potentially get Monero without having to go through an exchange.

First of all it is important to have a wallet. There are lots of wallets. There is an official Monero GUI Wallet, Coinomi Default Wallet, CakeWallet for Monero and Bitcoin. MyMonero wallet has been around for a few years. It is simple to use, open-source, it has a desktop GUI coin for MAC OS and it is maintained by the Core Monero Dev Team. And, it is important to be careful to download it only from the official MyMonero.com website and from nowhere else.

Users need to go to the MyMonero Website and click on the Wallet for MAC.  Once it is downloaded users should open the download folder and should double click the DMG file and the MyMonero icon to the applications folder.

In the applications folder, by double clicking the My Monero Icon and the first time when running the MyMonero app users should create the wallet. Users should click create new wallet at the bottom and choose the name and color for the wallet. Then when clicking on next, users will be able to see some warnings about security and keeping the wallet safe. Every Monero Wallet gets a 25 words sequence code – it is important for the users to write it down and to keep the code securely somewhere. Those who lose it will no longer gain access to the cryptocurrency.

Once done, click on Next and there will be a window which shows the special word sequence and users should write all of these on a paper on the same order that they appear on the screen. Once done with that, users can click on next. After choosing next users will be asked to verify the mnemonic by choosing the first 7 words in the correct order. It becomes important to click each of the words in the same order that it was written down.  

Getting the wallet and being careful about the privacy keys is the most important.  You can download the mining software, find a pool, configure the miner, start mining and eventually get paid from the earnings.