Is Bitcoin Mining Still Profitable?
FACEBOOK
TWITTER
LINKEDIN
By KRISTINA ZUCCHI
Reviewed By JULIUS MANSA
Updated Jun 30, 2020
Bitcoin mining is the process of earning bitcoin in exchange for running the verification process to validate bitcoin transactions. These transactions provide security for the Bitcoin network which in turn compensates miners by giving them bitcoins. Miners can profit if the price of bitcoins exceeds the cost to mine. With recent changes in technology and the creation of professional mining centers with enormous computing power, as well as the shifting price of bitcoin itself, many individual miners are asking themselves, is bitcoin mining still profitable?
There are several factors that determine whether bitcoin mining is a profitable venture. These include the cost of the electricity to power the computer system (cost of electricity), the availability and price of the computer system, and the difficulty in providing the services. Difficulty is measured in the hashes per second of the Bitcoin validation transaction. The hash rate measures the rate of solving the problem—the difficulty changes as more miners enter because the network is designed to produce a certain level of bitcoins every ten minutes.1 When more miners enter the market, the difficulty increases to ensure that the level is static. The last factor for determining profitability is the price of bitcoins as compared against standard, hard currency.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Bitcoin is mined using computing rigs which include expensive hardware.
Miners are rewarded with bitcoin for verifying blocks of transactions to the blockchain network.
As more miners compete for bitcoin rewards, the process becomes more difficult.
To determine whether bitcoin mining is profitable for you, consider costs of equipment and electricity as well as the difficulty associated with mining and how the price of bitcoin will impact potential rewards.
The Components of Bitcoin Mining
Prior to the advent of new bitcoin mining software in 2013, mining was generally done on personal computers. But the introduction of application specific integrated circuit chips (ASIC) offered up to 100 billion times the capability of older personal machines, rendering the use of personal computing to mine bitcoins inefficient and obsolete.2 While bitcoin mining is still theoretically possible with older hardware, there is little question that it is not a profitable venture. This is because of the way that mining is set up: miners are competing to solve hash problems as quickly as possible, so those miners at a serious computational disadvantage essentially stand no chance of solving a problem first and being rewarded with bitcoin. When miners used the old machines, the difficulty in mining bitcoins was roughly in line with the price of bitcoins. But with these new machines came issues related to both the high cost to obtain and run the new equipment and the lack of availability.
Profitability Before and After ASIC
Old timers (say, way back in 2009) mining bitcoins using just their personal computers were able to make a profit for several reasons. First, these miners already owned their systems, so equipment costs were effectively nil. They could change the settings on their computers to run more efficiently with less stress. Second, these were the days before professional bitcoin mining centers with massive computing power entered the game. Early miners only had to compete with other individual miners on home computer systems. The competition was on even footing. Even when electricity costs varied based on geographic region, the difference was not enough to deter individuals from mining.
After ASICs came into play, the game changed. Individuals were now competing against powerful mining rigs that had more computing power. Mining profits were getting chipped away by expenses like purchasing new computing equipment, paying higher energy costs for running the new equipment, and the continued difficulty in mining.
Difficulty of Mining Bitcoin
As discussed above, the difficulty rate associated with mining bitcoin is variable and changes roughly every two weeks in order to maintain a stable production of verified blocks for the blockchain (and, in turn, bitcoins introduced into circulation). The higher the difficulty rate, the less likely that an individual miner is to successfully be able to solve the hash problem and earn bitcoin. In recent years, the mining difficulty rate has skyrocketed. When bitcoin was first launched, the difficulty was 1. As of May 2020, it is more than 16 trillion.34 This provides an idea of just how many times more difficult it is to mine for bitcoin now than it was a decade ago.
Shifting Rewards
The Bitcoin network will be capped at 21 million total bitcoin. This has been a key stipulation of the entire ecosystem since it was founded, and the limit is put in place to attempt to control for supply of the cryptocurrency. Currently, over 18 million bitcoin have been mined. As a way of controlling the introduction of new bitcoin into circulation, the network protocol halves the number of bitcoin rewarded to miners for successfully completing a block about every four years.5 Initially, the number of bitcoin a miner received was 50. In 2012, this number was halved and the reward became 25. In 2016, it halved again to 12.5. In May 2020, the reward halved once again to 6.25, the current reward.6 Prospective miners should be aware that the reward size will decrease into the future, even as difficulty is liable to increase.
Profitability in Today’s Environment
Bitcoin mining can still make sense and be profitable for some individuals. Equipment is more easily obtained, although competitive ASICs cost anywhere from a few hundred dollars up to about $10,000. In an effort to stay competitive, some machines have adapted. For example, some hardware allows users to alter settings to lower energy requirements, thus lowering overall costs. Prospective miners should perform a cost/benefit analysis to understand their breakeven price before making the fixed-cost purchases of the equipment. The variables needed to make this calculation are:
Cost of power: what is your electricity rate? Keep in mind that rates change depending on the season, the time of day, and other factors. You can find this information on your electric bill measured in kWh.
Efficiency: how much power does your system consume, measured in watts?
Time: what is the anticipated length of time you will spend mining?
Bitcoin value: what is the value of a bitcoin in U.S. dollars or other official currency?
There are several web-based profitability calculators, such as the one provided by CryptoCompare, that would-be miners can use to analyze the cost/benefit equation of bitcoin mining. Profitability calculators differ slightly and some are more complex than others.
Run your analysis several times using different price levels for both the cost of power and value of bitcoins. Also, change the level of difficulty to see how that impacts the analysis. Determine at what price level bitcoin mining becomes profitable for you—that is your breakeven price. As of May 2020, the price of bitcoin is hovering around $8,000. Given a current reward of 6.25 BTC for a completed block, miners are rewarded around $50,000 for successfully completing a hash. Of course, as the price of bitcoin is highly variable, this reward figure is likely to change.7
To compete against the mining mega centers, individuals can join a mining pool, which is a group of miners who work together and share the rewards. This can increase the speed and reduce the difficulty in mining, putting profitability in reach. As difficulty and cost have increased, more and more individual miners have opted to participate in a pool. While the overall reward decreases because it is shared among multiple participants, the combined computing power means that mining pools stand a much greater chance of actually completing a hashing problem first and receiving a reward in the first place.
To answer the question of whether bitcoin mining is still profitable, use a web-based profitability calculator to run a cost-benefit analysis. You can plug in different numbers and find your breakeven point (after which mining is profitable). Determine if you are willing to lay out the necessary initial capital for the hardware, and estimate the future value of bitcoins as well as the level of difficulty. When both bitcoin prices and mining difficulty decline, it usually indicates fewer miners and more ease in receiving bitcoins. When bitcoin prices and mining difficulty rise, expect the opposite—more miners competing for fewer bitcoins.
Mining and Circulationfree bitcoin bitcoin brokers
top tether
bitcoin nedir
bitcoin bloomberg ethereum course форум bitcoin bitcoin бонусы миксер bitcoin bitcoin trading cryptocurrency dash cryptocurrency analytics отдам bitcoin bitcoin значок flypool monero bitcoin миллионеры автомат bitcoin tether приложение excel bitcoin
лохотрон bitcoin ethereum charts bitcoin rotators monero algorithm bonus bitcoin bitcoin captcha bitcoin разделился приложение tether bitcoin коды обмен tether x2 bitcoin
x2 bitcoin bitcoin доллар bitcoin 9000
bitcoin pools bitcoin лохотрон autobot bitcoin
bitcoin doubler ethereum twitter bitcoin терминалы lurk bitcoin bitcoin config red bitcoin dark bitcoin bitcoin ishlash 2. Crypto Mining Is Expensivechina bitcoin
bitcoin bloomberg
bitcoin click electrum bitcoin ethereum видеокарты bitcoin мерчант мониторинг bitcoin cryptocurrency charts json bitcoin rotator bitcoin bitcoin download ethereum erc20 tether обменник ethereum проект bitcoin make bitcoin сделки
Blockchain has come to the forefront of many discussions because of its role in distributing cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. In the long run, these digital cash transactions may become a small part of blockchain technology's overall footprint and the way assets are transferred online.ethereum кошельки bitcoin клиент monero client In this case, let’s say you’re just lucky enough to be the one to solve it. You send a shout-out to all of the other miners on the network to say that you’ve done it and to have them verify as much.Supports more than 1500 coins and tokensbitcoin автоматически monero 1070 bitcoin legal cryptocurrency charts fee bitcoin bitcoin rpc ethereum падение bitcoin adress cubits bitcoin instaforex bitcoin pool bitcoin keepkey bitcoin
block bitcoin bitcoin market
bitcoin uk майн bitcoin cryptocurrency bitcoin prune explorer ethereum ethereum mine clame bitcoin стоимость monero ethereum android auction bitcoin bitcoin purchase продажа bitcoin hashrate bitcoin bitcoin nyse bitcoin metatrader plasma ethereum bitcoin bazar ethereum курс ethereum ethereum contracts ethereum blockchain wikipedia ethereum bitcoin spinner майнер ethereum bitcoin мастернода
Now, if your bank gets hacked similarly - 5 key operatives in the bank decide to swipe your money and pretend it was external hackers - SWIFT transfers are made to accounts in Russia and China. Here it will always ultimately be at the discretion of legal agencies whether you 'actually' still have the money that is stolen. Because dollars are not real, they can be created at a whim, and while reversing international transfers is not quite so simple, very often that reversal can be achieved (e.g. recent SWIFT hack at bangladesh bank; $1 billion stolen, all but $80 million 'recovered' (just means wire transfers reversed)). Added to that consider that fiat money is insured, so even when transfers can't be reversed, the money can be 'recovered'. If too many banks get hacked all at once the Federal Reserve and the government together can make up some 'fund' that magically reassigns balances any time they like, with sufficient political will (that's essentially what was happening in 2008 TARP etc).cryptocurrency mining kong bitcoin ethereum transaction bitcoin pro ethereum miner bitcoin trust forum bitcoin wallets cryptocurrency bitcoin удвоить bitcoin коллектор кошелек bitcoin nanopool ethereum отзывы ethereum bittorrent bitcoin bitcoin вложить bitcoin коллектор
index bitcoin bitcoin карты
ethereum mist bitcoin 123 Where to Buy Ripple and What Is Ripple - A Full Ripple ReviewTWITTERrub bitcoin Of course, like all Antminer units, the R4 is built by the Chinese Bitcoin mining giants Bitmain. Bitmain is something of a controversial company. In fact, in 2017, they were accused of delaying the important SegWit upgrade to the Bitcoin network. bitcoin оборудование anomayzer bitcoin bitcoin code
token bitcoin ethereum news bitcoin carding bitcoin payeer bitcoin переводчик scrypt bitcoin antminer bitcoin bitcoin msigna bitcoin neteller ethereum хардфорк bitcoin machine ethereum txid bitcoin clouding china bitcoin bitcoin project bitcoin мастернода alipay bitcoin pay bitcoin charts bitcoin Once enough transactions are added to the block, additional info is added as well, including the header data and hash from the previous block in the chain and a new hash for the new block. What happens here is that the header of the most recent block and a nonce are combined to generate the new hash. This hash gets added to the unconfirmed block and will then need to be verified by a miner node.Until crypto is more widely accepted, you can work around current limitations by exchanging cryptocurrency for gift cards. At eGifter, for instance, you can use Bitcoin to buy gift cards for Dunkin Donuts, Target, Apple and select other retailers and restaurants. You may also be able to load cryptocurrency to a debit card to make purchases. In the U.S., you can sign up for the BitPay card, a debit card that converts crypto assets into dollars for purchase, but there are fees involved to order the card and use it for ATM withdrawals, for example.circle bitcoin ethereum mist bitcoin grant alien bitcoin bitcoin hub bitcoin stellar bitcoin fund cryptocurrency gold mining bitcoin bitcoin транзакция mastering bitcoin registration bitcoin ethereum dag сбербанк bitcoin ethereum twitter кошелька bitcoin валюта bitcoin bitcoin poker otc bitcoin bitcoin demo bitcoin phoenix bitcoin dogecoin bittorrent bitcoin алгоритмы bitcoin battle bitcoin people bitcoin
bitcoin терминал flappy bitcoin agario bitcoin
bitcoin генераторы arbitrage cryptocurrency доходность ethereum in bitcoin field bitcoin bitcoin win bitcoin difficulty автомат bitcoin рост bitcoin cryptocurrency gold
bitcoin pro ava bitcoin
bitcoin txid fasterclick bitcoin armory bitcoin playstation bitcoin maps bitcoin bitcoin инвестирование 5 bitcoin ethereum биржа 4 bitcoin bittorrent bitcoin bitcoin перевод autobot bitcoin bitcoin solo reindex bitcoin bitcoin brokers торги bitcoin rigname ethereum
bitcoin wm майнинга bitcoin coinmarketcap bitcoin mercado bitcoin bitcoin вконтакте bitcoin tools bitcoin p2p trade cryptocurrency stealer bitcoin bitcoin создать So, besides statistics, how exactly do Bitcoin and Ethereum match up?форк ethereum
bitcoin алгоритм ethereum
bitcoin scan
planet bitcoin all bitcoin bitcoin cracker bitcoin faucet monero xeon ethereum io land bitcoin
planet bitcoin ethereum покупка ethereum miners bitcoin игры js bitcoin шрифт bitcoin bitcoin обзор аккаунт bitcoin
bitcoin node Bitcoin paper wallet helps you to print your own tamper-resistant Bitcoin wallet. It minimizes the threat of hacking.bitcoin paper bitcoin заработок ethereum twitter miningpoolhub monero bitcoin nvidia
casinos bitcoin rocket bitcoin bitcoin даром coins bitcoin bitcoin future ethereum mist bitcoin сайт hd7850 monero
cryptocurrency capitalisation airbit bitcoin bitcoin betting bitcoin форум фермы bitcoin bitcoin bittorrent tether приложение криптовалюта monero
bitcoin математика japan bitcoin bitcoin перевести blocks bitcoin bitcoin golden bitcoin capitalization bitcoin cards monero cpuminer доходность bitcoin
Lack of ability to change the Bitcoin mining softwarebitcoin get blogspot bitcoin 0 bitcoin bitcoin easy эфир bitcoin программа bitcoin
xpub bitcoin minergate bitcoin bitcoin валюты bitcoin arbitrage bitcoin доходность bitcoin client trust bitcoin bitcoin fox Ethereum, and with it Ether, are user-supported products that are built on a ledger system, allowing all computers on the network to see the full history of all transactions. This creates continuous transparency but as networks and supporters grow, factors emerge that can affect the protocols and price of Ether.monero cryptonote
ann bitcoin bitcoin lucky bitcoin valet bitcoin nyse продажа bitcoin plus500 bitcoin bitcoin scan bitcoin security What makes a double spend unlikely, though, is the size of the Bitcoin network. A so-called 51% attack, in which a group of miners theoretically control more than half of all network power, would be necessary. By controlling a majority of all network power, this group could dominate the remainder of the network to falsify records. However, such an attack on Bitcoin would require an overwhelming amount of effort, money, and computing power, thereby rendering the possibility extremely unlikely.13 14monero logo
бесплатно bitcoin market bitcoin kinolix bitcoin tether кошелек ethereum создатель bitcoin antminer bitcoin hd бесплатный bitcoin dance bitcoin ethereum pools ethereum проекты all cryptocurrency A private blockchain, just as it sounds, allows a business to place restrictions on who has access to data, and who can make transactions on the network. Meanwhile, public blockchains allow anyone to join and participate. Bitcoin is an example of a public blockchain.купить ethereum polkadot stingray bitcoin currency coffee bitcoin ethereum forks bitcoin forbes
проверка bitcoin red bitcoin bitcoin script bitcoin основатель usb bitcoin
bitcoin script bitcoin вложения bitcoin prominer
bitcoin ann microsoft bitcoin ethereum mist bitcoin heist dorks bitcoin
In the example from the picture below, we’re using a single DragonMint T1 miner mining on the Slush mining pool. Our electricity is about the average rate in the UK. You’ll want to shop around to find the lowest cost of electricity in your area possible, however!How to mine Bitcoin: calculate expected profits on CryptoCompare.ethereum биржа bitcoin краны bitcoin что coinder bitcoin Bitcoin and Ethereum are currently using a PoW (Proof-of-Work) system to validate transactions. However, Ethereum plans to do an update this year which will move Ethereum over to a PoS (Proof-of-Stake) system. The difference between the two systems is complicated but put simply, they are two different ways of verifying transactions on the blockchain.работа bitcoin fields bitcoin
bitcoin satoshi bitcoin cranes bitcoin hyip
dollar bitcoin 777 bitcoin bitcoin goldmine golang bitcoin ethereum регистрация ico monero bitcoin weekly скрипт bitcoin bitcoin хайпы аккаунт bitcoin ethereum упал bitcoin форумы bitcoin check wallet tether best bitcoin bitcoin millionaire tether gps faucet cryptocurrency bitcoin xl команды bitcoin Central banks create more and more money which causes savings to be perpetually devalued. The entire incentive structure of money is manipulated, including the integrity of the scorecard that tracks who has created and consumed what value. Value created today is ensured to purchase less in the future as central banks allocate more units of the currency arbitrarily. Money is intended to store value, not lose value and with monetary economics engineered by central banks, everyone is unwittingly forced into the position of taking risk as a means to replace savings as it is debased. The unending devaluation of monetary savings forces unwanted and unwarranted risk taking on to those that make up the economy. Rather than simply benefiting from risks already taken, everyone is forced to take incremental risk.daemon monero биржа ethereum Bitcoin uses encryption, and thus is not really able to be confiscated other than through legal demand. However, governments can ban exchanges and make it illegal to own Bitcoin, which would drive out institutional money and put Bitcoin into the black market.bitcoin qiwi dog bitcoin payza bitcoin форк ethereum hack bitcoin bitcoin bitrix bitcoin farm bitcoin баланс bitcoin local php bitcoin wmx bitcoin
monero price bitcoin capitalization block ethereum bitcoin fasttech bitcoin команды bitcoin упал moneypolo bitcoin технология bitcoin
polkadot bitcoin rt algorithm ethereum системе bitcoin
blocks bitcoin
новости monero windows bitcoin monero fr bitcoin easy bitcoin accepted
bitcoin fields
monero price bitcoin habr
bitcoin converter trust bitcoin space bitcoin
blocks bitcoin xpub bitcoin ethereum биткоин monero minergate mikrotik bitcoin bitcoin хабрахабр Difficulty of Mining Bitcoin