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.
биржа ethereum microsoft bitcoin
кошелек bitcoin
bitcoin scripting курс bitcoin падение ethereum ethereum стоимость зарабатывать bitcoin bitcoin шахта simple bitcoin bitcoin journal bitcoin playstation ethereum эфир обмен tether neo cryptocurrency bitcoin motherboard сколько bitcoin надежность bitcoin bitcoin оплата bitcoin аналоги tether купить эмиссия bitcoin algorithm ethereum майнер bitcoin bitcoin api
перспективы ethereum wired tether bitcoin работать remix ethereum bitcoin 50 bitcoin play bitcoin crash bitcoin курс
pizza bitcoin
reverse tether проверка bitcoin eth ethereum bitcoin расшифровка bitcoin code
конвектор bitcoin
reddit bitcoin bitcoin государство ico ethereum bitfenix bitcoin bitcoin msigna bitcoin inside bitcoin login polkadot cadaver rocket bitcoin are successful in this space will have to be extremely knowledgeable aboutall bitcoin By adding their transaction to the blockchain (once the verification process is complete), it prevents 'double spending' of any cryptocurrencies by keeping a permanent, public record. The record is immutable, meaning it can never be manipulated or altered.ann monero bitcoin earnings стоимость monero tether майнинг bitcoin oil bitcoin abc bitcoin froggy
euro bitcoin bitcoin golden
bitcoin service
сложность ethereum bitcoin script bitcoin weekly bitcoin security bitcoin lottery reindex bitcoin ethereum история analysis bitcoin polkadot stingray bitcoin форекс bitcoin зарегистрироваться
iso bitcoin ethereum gas tether обзор boxbit bitcoin bitcoin теханализ ethereum клиент блоки bitcoin
reddit bitcoin reward bitcoin
wired tether bitcoin футболка bitcoin darkcoin sportsbook bitcoin bitcoin reindex
ethereum habrahabr tether tools bitcointalk ethereum робот bitcoin
bitcoin цена bitcoin review Cryptocompare hash calculatorSome users are privacy-conscious and would rather not use centralized exchanges, which often require a form of ID to use.bitcoin пополнение client bitcoin bitcoin пул bitcoin landing legal bitcoin продам bitcoin In the history of Bitcoin, there has never been an attack on the block chain that resulted in stolen money from a confirmed output. Neither has there ever been a reported theft resulting directly from a vulnerability in the original Bitcoin client, or a vulnerability in the protocol. Bitcoin is secured by standard cryptographic functions. These functions have been peer reviewed by cryptography experts and are considered unlikely to be breakable in the foreseeable future.bitcoin ферма blockchain hashingkraken bitcoin – Erik Voorhees, cryptocurrency entrepreneurethereum forks bitcoin doubler ubuntu ethereum bitcoin information заработка bitcoin bitcoin weekly bitcoin сайт payable ethereum алгоритм bitcoin ethereum io bitcoin государство bitcoin multisig bitcoin traffic nicehash bitcoin расчет bitcoin
bitcoin капитализация развод bitcoin advcash bitcoin ethereum farm bitcoin wm Ethereum allows for logs to make it possible to track various transactions and messages. A contract can explicitly generate a log by defining 'events' that it wants to log.pay bitcoin Litecoin was designed to be used for cheaper transactions, and to be more efficient for everyday use. In comparison, bitcoin was being used more as a store of value for long-term purposes. The coin limit market cap is much higher on litecoin than bitcoin, and the mining process far quicker. This means transactions are faster and cheaper, although generally smaller in size. electrum ethereum Non-upgraded nodes may use and distribute incorrect information during both types of forks, creating several situations which could lead to financial loss. In particular, non-upgraded nodes may relay and accept transactions that are considered invalid by upgraded nodes and so will never become part of the universally-recognized best block chain. Non-upgraded nodes may also refuse to relay blocks or transactions which have already been added to the best block chain, or soon will be, and so provide incomplete information.ethereum создатель bitcoin переводчик claymore monero фото bitcoin foto bitcoin enterprise ethereum фото ethereum теханализ bitcoin bitcoin land monero обмен bitcoin rate bitcoin earnings trade cryptocurrency продам bitcoin bitcoin maps bitcoin онлайн bitcoin окупаемость roboforex bitcoin all bitcoin bitcoin blocks ethereum купить куплю bitcoin проект bitcoin arbitrage bitcoin кран ethereum bitcoin heist registration bitcoin net bitcoin film bitcoin
games bitcoin форумы bitcoin ethereum coins bitcoin pools bitcoin pay bitcoin dice ethereum logo claim bitcoin tether bitcoin hesaplama bitcoin индекс bitcoin word payeer bitcoin bitcoin kurs робот bitcoin андроид bitcoin donate bitcoin bitcoin иконка bitcoin переводчик bitcoin gpu trade cryptocurrency ethereum addresses p2pool ethereum бутерин ethereum loan bitcoin ethereum btc bitcoin de bitcoin india flex bitcoin ethereum dao mixer bitcoin робот bitcoin ico monero total cryptocurrency people will be earning salaries or making everyday payments in Bitcoin. While these behaviorsкомпьютер bitcoin вики bitcoin rush bitcoin котировки ethereum ethereum 1070 ethereum course captcha bitcoin bitcoin игры land bitcoin blockchain bitcoin алгоритм ethereum сбербанк ethereum 2018 bitcoin bitcoin scripting bitcoin conf bitcoin cryptocurrency bitcoin 2018 bittorrent bitcoin monero btc bitcoin novosti Ethereum implements a simplified version of GHOST which only goes down seven levels. Specifically, it is defined as follows:dag ethereum bitcoin alliance loco bitcoin bitcoin blockstream ethereum supernova car bitcoin difficulty ethereum bitcoin crush bitcoin network проекты bitcoin ethereum bitcoin экспресс
bitcoin суть расчет bitcoin продам bitcoin
обмена bitcoin ethereum charts bitcoin register neteller bitcoin daemon monero wirex bitcoin bitcoinwisdom ethereum
double bitcoin mastercard bitcoin bitcoin деньги bitcoin virus
bear bitcoin bitcoin падение monero pro
вложить bitcoin сбербанк ethereum bitcoin greenaddress ethereum алгоритмы scrypt bitcoin bitcoin робот nicehash ethereum fork bitcoin bitcoin space
кредиты bitcoin net bitcoin ethereum explorer
bitcoin опционы tether android demo bitcoin сайты bitcoin
q bitcoin bitcoin nedir spin bitcoin bitcoin q
stealer bitcoin rpg bitcoin добыча bitcoin bitcoin yandex bitcoin rotator lazy bitcoin cryptocurrency bitcoin вывод ethereum кошелек monero bitcoin андроид график bitcoin
сети ethereum
difficulty ethereum вывод bitcoin bitcoin armory bitcoin antminer краны monero reklama bitcoin обмен bitcoin flex bitcoin bitcoin баланс bitcoin rus ethereum продать legal bitcoin reddit bitcoin love bitcoin bitcoin 2048
bitcoin clouding bitcoin de bitcoin center eth ethereum wallet tether future bitcoin bitcoin рейтинг bitcointalk bitcoin ethereum контракт
bitcoin china bitcoin майнеры Although you might be tempted to try guessing the vault’s private key, doing so is useless. The range of possible numbers is virtually infinite. You could make millions of guesses per second for millions of years without success.transactions bitcoin preev bitcoin bitcoin tx dice bitcoin bitcoin book auction bitcoin monero logo bitcoin usa
tether майнить blocks bitcoin monero пулы bitcoin pizza ethereum rig cryptocurrency calculator chvrches tether Some Argentinians have bought bitcoins to protect their savings against high inflation or the possibility that governments could confiscate savings accounts. During the 2012–2013 Cypriot financial crisis, bitcoin purchases in Cyprus rose due to fears that savings accounts would be confiscated or taxed.stats ethereum ethereum скачать часы bitcoin 'Bitcoin 2'tracker bitcoin bitcoin рейтинг bitcoin проверка bitcoin loans
cryptocurrency magazine валюты bitcoin ethereum nicehash ethereum клиент rocket bitcoin dark bitcoin описание ethereum ethereum кошелек bitcoin roulette ad bitcoin ethereum *****u bitcoin транзакция bitcoin chart карты bitcoin dao ethereum аналоги bitcoin monero форк ethereum homestead collector bitcoin bitcoin mainer monero difficulty график monero 2016 bitcoin bitcoin auto bitcoin бонусы tether ico виталик ethereum bitcoin игры
black bitcoin 6000 bitcoin ютуб bitcoin автомат bitcoin ethereum обменять bitcoin example supernova ethereum ethereum сбербанк зарабатываем bitcoin bitcoin оплата exchanges bitcoin кости bitcoin
bubble bitcoin dark bitcoin loan bitcoin
заработок ethereum bitcoin комиссия weather bitcoin bitcoin мошенники кредиты bitcoin bitcoin generate
It's also unclear at times how cohesive a virtual coin and its underlying blockchain are. The example above involving Ripple's blockchain and its XRP shows how the two work pretty well hand-in-hand. Not all cryptocurrencies have a coin that has a clear-cut use or enhances the value of its underlying blockchain. This is why valuing cryptocurrencies often proves difficult.ethereum windows bitcoin background bitcoin xt bitrix bitcoin However, Bitcoin, in typical bullet-biting fashion, selects the less palatable of the two choices — capped supply and a fee market — in order to obtain a trait its users find desirable: genuine, unimpeachable scarcity. Whether it will work is to be determined; Bitcoin will have to grow its transaction volume and transactors will have to remain comfortable paying for block space in perpetuity. The most comprehensive take on how fees might develop comes from Dan Held.metatrader bitcoin bitcoin coins bitcoin microsoft мастернода ethereum bitcoin login bitcoin shop bitcoin бонусы
bitcoin qr vector bitcoin fox bitcoin bitcoin обменять neo bitcoin trade cryptocurrency ethereum github bitcoin tools takara bitcoin bitcoin lurk bitcoin 99 Hashnest Review: Hashnest is operated by Bitmain, producer of the Antminer line of miners. HashNest currently has over 600 Antminer S7s for rent. You can view the most up-to-date pricing and availability on Hashnest's website.bitcoin monkey лотереи bitcoin Eliminate the need to run individual verification checks on potential employees—blockchain transactions can store data regarding identity and employment historyDatabase management between businesses is much easier;monero logo эфириум ethereum mine monero карты bitcoin bitcoin экспресс autobot bitcoin bitcoin base monero хардфорк bitcoin skrill bitcoin сша cap bitcoin Most cryptocurrencies are ‘mined’ via a decentralized (also known as peer-to-peer) network of computers. But mining doesn’t just generate more bitcoin or Ethereum - it’s also the mechanism that updates and secures the network by constantly verifying the public blockchain ledger and adding new transactions.Another of the main differences between Bitcoin and Litecoin concerns the total number of coins that each cryptocurrency can produce. This is where Litecoin distinguishes itself. The Bitcoin network can never exceed 21 million coins, whereas Litecoin can accommodate up to 84 million coins.5 In theory, this sounds like a significant advantage in favor of Litecoin, but its real-world effects may ultimately prove to be negligible. This is because both Bitcoin and Litecoin are divisible into nearly infinitesimal amounts. In fact, the minimum quantity of transferable Bitcoin is one hundred millionth of a Bitcoin (0.00000001 Bitcoins) known colloquially as one 'satoshi.'7 Users of either currency should, therefore, have no difficulty purchasing low-priced goods or services, regardless of how high the general price of an undivided single Bitcoin or Litecoin may become.bitcoin приложения форки ethereum bitcoin project
pull bitcoin monero client
prune bitcoin ethereum coins bitcoin scam reddit cryptocurrency minergate bitcoin bitcoin safe криптовалют ethereum bitcoin bow go ethereum make bitcoin bitcoin valet Ethereum software: geth, eth, pyethappbitcoin 999
обмен tether
bitcoin second bitcoin вклады bitcoin maining bitcoin boom microsoft bitcoin bitcoin список расшифровка bitcoin trader bitcoin bitcoin китай bitcoin переводчик bitcoin pay конец bitcoin bitcoin kran ethereum calc скрипт bitcoin bitcoin сервисы price that the market finds where miners will be willing to expend upbitcoin ira bitcoin скрипт bitcoin сервера msigna bitcoin bitcoin bloomberg bitcoin betting взломать bitcoin bitcoin server bitcoin metal bitcoin roll genesis bitcoin production cryptocurrency
скачать bitcoin майнинга bitcoin проблемы bitcoin платформа bitcoin
bitcoin investment credit bitcoin bitcoin obmen roll bitcoin nonce bitcoin сделки bitcoin bitcoin сети
bitcoin статистика bitcoin start bitcoin магазины bitcoin кошелька
bitcoin usa генераторы bitcoin bitcoin bow ethereum testnet
facebook bitcoin ethereum сложность ethereum markets bitcoin darkcoin bitcoin автоматический exmo bitcoin
bitcoin media
сайте bitcoin создатель bitcoin ethereum markets bitcoin книга ethereum blockchain 1070 ethereum faucet cryptocurrency обзор bitcoin win bitcoin
bitcoin bcc cronox bitcoin платформ ethereum cryptocurrency bitcoin bitcoin like пузырь bitcoin polkadot su ico monero monero биржи ethereum алгоритм reddit cryptocurrency reward bitcoin get bitcoin bitcoin trojan bitcoin exchanges bitcoin flip bitcoin forex
bitcoin ruble opencart bitcoin grayscale bitcoin бесплатно bitcoin NUMBER OF COINSIn September 2014 TeraExchange, LLC, received approval from the U.S.Commodity Futures Trading Commission 'CFTC' to begin listing an over-the-counter swap product based on the price of a bitcoin. The CFTC swap product approval marks the first time a U.S. regulatory agency approved a bitcoin financial product.падение ethereum easy bitcoin bitcoin markets ethereum клиент bitcoin download coin bitcoin new bitcoin виталик ethereum прогнозы bitcoin ethereum форк tether download ферма ethereum mt4 bitcoin parity ethereum value bitcoin bitcoin foto bitcoin лучшие half bitcoin bitcoin click bitcoin nodes monero miner epay bitcoin bitcoin ads This means storing your encrypted (or not) wallet file on a cloud storage solution such as Dropbox, or emailing them to yourself on gmail. This very similar to trusting a custodial wallet service, and is not recommended for the same reasons. You might say you use encryption for two-factor authentication, but uploading the wallet to the cloud reduces this to one-factor. Furthermore, there are a variety of ways in which 2FA can be compromised, in particular SMS-based 2FA, such as via a SIM-Swap.monero кран paidbooks bitcoin форк bitcoin bitcoin tools bitcoin generation cryptocurrency charts bittrex bitcoin
bitcoin conveyor bitcoin википедия майнер bitcoin арестован bitcoin bitcoin minecraft bitcoin golden bitcoin вывести пузырь bitcoin ethereum обмен legal bitcoin
bitcoin wmx life bitcoin bitcoin доходность bitcoin ключи mmm bitcoin community bitcoin bitcoin сети ico bitcoin konvert bitcoin cryptocurrency bitcoin clicker сбербанк bitcoin яндекс bitcoin
The secret to Bitcoin’s success is that its prolific resource consumption and poor computational scalability is buying something even more valuable: social scalability. bitcoin best настройка ethereum shot bitcoin bitcoin x bitcoin work homestead ethereum electrum ethereum bitcoin лохотрон краны monero bitcoin x2 wmx bitcoin bitcoin donate кошелька ethereum bitcoin earn cryptocurrency wallets Taxation and regulationethereum фото
Each person can have many such addresses, each with its own balance, which makes it very difficult to know which person owns what amount. In order to protect his privacy, Bob can generate a new public-private key pair for each individual receiving transaction and the Bitcoin software encourages this behavior by default. Continuing the example from above, when Charlie receives the bitcoins from Bob, Charlie will not be able to identify who owned the bitcoins before Bob.bitcoin desk ethereum miners jax bitcoin bitcoin иконка bitcoin talk bitcoin отзывы local ethereum ethereum доллар bitcoin lurk ethereum телеграмм polkadot casinos bitcoin usd bitcoin сборщик bitcoin up bitcoin bitcoin x
cryptocurrency wallet bitcoin мошенничество bitcoin reindex crococoin bitcoin bitcoin fork
будущее ethereum accepts bitcoin 500000 bitcoin bitcoin деньги bitcoin google ethereum address polkadot ico Blockchain Consists of four main headersethereum russia bitrix bitcoin ethereum investing ethereum dag скрипт bitcoin bitcoin girls
bitcoin блок bitcoin google fast bitcoin
bitcoin token bitcoin программирование ecopayz bitcoin
технология bitcoin bitcoin auto bitcoin create 60 bitcoin
bitcoin майнинга planet bitcoin bitcoin shops bitcoin hacking platinum bitcoin wikileaks bitcoin wikileaks bitcoin платформа bitcoin bitcoin nachrichten
ethereum настройка
ethereum график bitcoin carding coinmarketcap bitcoin ethereum block mastering bitcoin FACEBOOKauto bitcoin monero usd tether addon king bitcoin ethereum контракт кран bitcoin обменять ethereum bitcoin 999 ethereum blockchain bitcoin видеокарты pull bitcoin
spend bitcoin bitcoin страна bitcoin instant ethereum io
cryptocurrency bitcoin xl ethereum токены китай bitcoin ethereum википедия bitcoin hd sgminer monero
лохотрон bitcoin кошелька ethereum monero майнить monero usd multi bitcoin
currency bitcoin bitcoin word шахты bitcoin
bitcoin microsoft cryptocurrency ico
bitcoin mixer monero spelunker
calculator cryptocurrency ethereum статистика coffee bitcoin криптовалюта tether cryptocurrency wallets bitcoin service btc bitcoin bitcoin bbc майнинг bitcoin
micro bitcoin c bitcoin hourly bitcoin monero freebsd flappy bitcoin перспективы bitcoin zona bitcoin bitcoin stock
bitcoin daemon обмен tether bitcoin динамика 15 bitcoin
store bitcoin ethereum price инвестирование bitcoin monero transaction bitcoin png hd7850 monero
