Do Steemians Mine in the Cloud?

Hello fellow Steemians, I have a question for you all today. I am trying to learn as much as I can about the new to me technology that is cryptocurrency. The question is, " are there any other Steemians that do any cloud mining?" I have recently purchased a couple of mining contracts through Genesis Mining and was wondering if any of you use them to mine for you? They offer contracts for two years mining in bitcoin, ether, zcash, monero, dash, steem, and others.
Here is a link to check them out, and also a promo code to use for 3% off all your purchases : YCvNch
https://www.genesis-mining.com/a/1581008
If not , do you cloud mine with a different service, if at all? Others I have heard of are: Minergate, and Hashrate, and I know there are more. Perhaps someone uses them? Which is best, if any? Is it really more beneficial to purchase these "contracts" or to maybe purchase crypto through an exchange?
As I have said, I have been trying to learn about cryptocurrency and any valuable thoughts, insight, or inspiration would be immensely appreciated. Please let me know how I did with this post that is full of questions. Thank you, @miningminor